In yesterday's Throne Speech, the Tories floated the idea of changing a line in our National Anthem. I'm sure you've heard and read a lot about the story.
Apparently there has been an uproar about the line 'in all thy sons command.' Some want a return to the earlier version of the anthem, written in 1908 by Robert Stanley Weir which read: “true patriot love thou dost in us command.”
The Tories want to hold hearings headed up by our MP Dean Del Mastro. You're going to waste my tax dollars on hearings because of a few complaints? Give me a break.
The government claims the 'sons' reference has drawn the ire of Canadians, mainly women's groups. Really? I try to keep up on current events and it's news to me. Maybe there wasn't even an "uproar" but it sure has hijacked the news cycle.
“The Prime Minister has heard from some Canadians on this and I think it’s better to have a fulsome debate rather than just shuffling it off,” said Industry Minister Tony Clement, adding the debate will be founded on historical research and “learned discussions” to avoid distraction from a focus on the economy.
Which is exactly what lobbing this bomb into the public forum has done. Even this morning I found myself more interested in the little anthem story than anything else in the Speech. It even caused me to almost forget we have a Federal budget coming down today. Why do we sucked into these things so easily? Look, something shiney!
If women's groups really are upset about the anthem's line, I would suggest to them that they're majoring in the minors. Aren't there more important issues like equality of pay, childcare and affordable housing? Go after the big stuff and stop being so petty.