Well, that was a quick a political flip flop as I’ve ever seen in politics.
The federal government, which sparked controversy after suggesting it might make changes to the lyrics of O Canada, has decided to leave the national anthem alone.
“We offered to hear from Canadians on this issue and they have already spoken loud and clear. They overwhelmingly do not want to open the issue,” said Dimitri Soudas, a spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office. “The government will not proceed any further to change our national anthem.”
The government couldn’t have gotten out the announcement that there will be no changes made to the lyrics of the anthem after all any faster than they did.
Talk about democracy in action. No sooner did the proposal see the light of day than the people let the politicians know in no uncertain terms what they thought of idea. I think the kindest words about the change were “political correctness run amok.”
the most trenchant column from the punditocracy was Don Martin’s “Tories backpedal on anthem change.” This is off topic but I can’t help but wonder who’s been pissing in Mr. Martin’s corn flakes this last little while. He’s been having more than few hissy fits about the Tories lately.
According to Mr Martin the initiative to change the lyrics came straight from the Dark Lord himself.
Insiders who have polled the Conservative caucus found more than nine out of ten MPs were opposed to any anthem change.
It infuriated the Conservative base and captivated all political water cooler conversation, dwarfing debate about the Throne Speech and federal budget. If this was intended as a bad-news diversion, it may have worked too well.
Sensing it had a major mistake on its hands, the government reacted almost immediately.
Barely an hour after the Throne Speech was delivered, an MP ‘talking point’ was rushed out from the PMO insisting the government was “not taking a position. We are simply suggesting that a parliamentary committee examine the subject and report back to Parliament.”
That’s politic-speak for backpedalling, which yesterday became a full-on sprint.
I can’t help but wonder though about which “base” Mr. Martin is thinking of. Was he thinking of the Tories who were, with the notable exceptions of Mr. Harper and Ms Ruth, against the plan or the 95%+ of Canadians who voiced their disapproval?
So I guess all the feminists who can’t bear to sing the word “sons” will just have to take one for the team this time around.
Speaking of the people, here are some people singing O Canada at Canada’s national game:
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