Conservatives block effort to gender-neutralize Canadian anthem

Perhaps it’s something in the water they drink, or maybe conservatism just attracts a certain kind. Because whenever there’s a social issue at hand, particularly one that concerns equality, you just know that most or all of the opposition will come from the Right. And it isn’t exclusive to any one country, either.

Take Canada. There’s been movement for about a year to update our national anthem, “O Canada”, as was the final wish of a terminally ill MP shortly before he passed away last summer. The current (English) version includes the lyric, “True patriot love in all thy sons command,” which a proposed bill would amend the second half to read “in all of us command”. That’s it – two words. I think most would agree it’s a tiny change that doesn’t modify the feel of the song; it would, however, reflect our country’s progressing societal attitudes.

Apparently, that’s too much to bear for some. And guess which political party they belong to.

Although the bill sailed through the House with government approval, Conservative senators opposed to the changes have scored a victory in the Red Chamber. A yearlong campaign successfully punted a vote on the bill until the fall, at the earliest, and even then the legislation faces an uncertain future.

"I'm trying to protect the tradition rather than, you know, water it down with a politically correct version that is historically inaccurate," Conservative Senator David Wells said in an interview with CBC News on Tuesday.

"I don't misrepresent why I'm [using parliamentary stall tactics] … I don't like this bill, and I will do what I can to ensure it doesn't pass."

Ah, the ol’ appeal to tradition, the obstructionist’s favorite argument. Because if something’s always been done a certain way, why bother changing it just because it’s no longer relevant or appropriate? Just because it’s wrong?

He also offered this explanation:

Wells and a number of other senators have said they oppose efforts to tinker with the lyrics written by a man long dead.

(The lyrics have been changed since they were first penned by Robert Stanley Weir in 1908, but not since O Canada officially became the country's national anthem in 1980.)

The fact that Weir is long dead may be reason to believe he won’t particularly care if the words are changed now, but that’s just me. More to the point, the author’s intentions for the lyrics became secondary the moment the song was chosen as the country’s national anthem. It no longer represents the beliefs of the creator; it now represents the ideals of 35 million people. And I’d bet that most of them would prefer an anthem that represents all of them, not only half of the population. Especially if this can be achieved by changing two words.

I’ve been following local and international politics for a long time, yet conservatives still surprise me with their willingness to object to any attempt at dragging the antiquated bits of our culture into the present, no matter how obvious or trivial.