National Anthem: Has the government gone nuts?
March 4, 2010 12:25 pm Canadian Politics, Political CorrectnessChanging the lyrics to the national anthem? Surely this is a mind-fuck! But whose minds? I notice the Tory blogosphere is responding with the same tentative feeling I have: have they gone mad? Is the spirit of Sheila Copps guiding our Fearless Leader? It is rather as if Stephen Harper has expressed a taste for rubber bondage fantasies in Chatelaine magazine. So out of character!
Or is this a precursor to the restoration to acceptance of “The Maple Leaf Forever”?
We suspect everything except the government having an outburst of political correctness. Say it isn’t so, Stephen!
I think it is a distraction, but from what?
![[del.icio.us]](http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/delicious.small.gif){kind=small}
Dalwhinnie
Tobermory :
Date: March 4, 2010 @ 1:38 PM
Stephen is leaving no stone (or maple leaf) unturned in his search for that ever-elusive majority – this is a plea to female voters who fear the “secret agenda” of the Tories to reconsider where their vote goes…this complaint against “in all thy sons” command has been around for well over a decade and I have heard any number of women rail against the existing words and insist they ought to be changed to be “inclusive”. The sad reality is that this kind of symbolic gesture often has more resonance with voters than any number of fiscal measures or policy changes that have a real impact on people’s lives…Harper knows it and plays voters like a violin (or piano in his case).
Thucydides :
Date: March 4, 2010 @ 2:07 PM
I suspect there is a bit of special pleading in the proposed change, but in the larger scheme of things it is a distraction or honey pot. While people busily savage each other over the lyrics to the National Anthem, the government will continue to carry on with the rest of the agenda…
Marlin Spike :
Date: March 4, 2010 @ 4:13 PM
The MLF is one great and rousing song! I only wish we were a nation with enough spine to have it as our anthem. Instead we must suffer the slings and arrows or outrageous revisionist history that brought us to where we are today. UP THE RED ENSIGN! – The Maple Leaf Forever!
In days of yore, from Britain’s shore,
Wolfe, the dauntless hero, came
And planted firm Britannia’s flag
On Canada’s fair domain.
Here may it wave, our boast and pride
And, joined in love together,
The thistle, shamrock, rose entwine
The Maple Leaf forever!
Chorus:
The Maple Leaf, our emblem dear,
The Maple Leaf forever!
God save our Queen and Heaven bless
The Maple Leaf forever!
At Queenston Heights and Lundy’s Lane,
Our brave fathers, side by side,
For freedom, homes and loved ones dear,
Firmly stood and nobly died;
And those dear rights which they maintained,
We swear to yield them never!
Our watchword evermore shall be
“The Maple Leaf forever!”
Chorus
Our fair Dominion now extends
From Cape Race to Nootka Sound;
May peace forever be our lot,
And plenteous store abound:
And may those ties of love be ours
Which discord cannot sever,
And flourish green o’er freedom’s home
The Maple Leaf forever!
Chorus
On merry England’s far famed land
May kind heaven sweetly smile,
God bless old Scotland evermore
and Ireland’s Em’rald Isle!
And swell the song both loud and long
Till rocks and forest quiver!
God save our Queen and Heaven bless
The Maple Leaf forever!
Chorus