Liberal MP’s push to make ‘O Canada’ gender neutral back on track

[A Liberal MP has kindly swapped positions with ailing MP Mauril Bélanger on the order of precedence, allowing his private member’s bill to make the national anthem gender neutral to be voted likely on June 1. CP VIDEOS]

A bill that will change Canada’s national anthem will get another chance to move forward this month, following an emotional day in Parliament last week.

The private member’s bill by Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger would make O Canada gender neutral, by amending the National Anthem Act to swap out two words in the English version.

The line “true patriot love, in all thy sons command” would become “true patriot love, in all of us command.”

The C-210 bill was supposed to have finished its current stage and sent to the Canadian Heritage committee on Friday.

But instead a series of speeches mostly by Conservative MPs ran out the clock, and the House couldn’t come to a consensus on extending debate before it had to adjourn for the day. That meant that the bill wouldn’t be heard again until Sept. 19.

Changing the anthem is already a controversial topic, and has been for many years. But the moment was made especially impassioned because Bélanger has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He now must use text-to-speech software, as he cannot speak. His colleagues, who made him honourary Speaker in March, are unsure how long he will live.

“There’s no guarantee he’s going to be here on Sept. 19,” Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Greg Fergus told the Globe and Mail on Friday.

Conservative speeches ate up the majority of the hour set for debate on the bill, leading BuzzFeed Canada to accuse the Conservatives of filibustering, or deliberately stalling. The Conservatives denied this.

But now Liberal MP Linda Lapointe has swapped positions with Bélanger, allowing him to take her spot on May 30, her office confirmed to Yahoo News Canada. A vote is expected for June 1.

Meanwhile, Lapointe’s own private member’s bill on credit card acceptance fees will now get its first hour of second-reading debate in the anthem bill’s old spot of Sept. 19.

“I want to give him the chance to get it through,” Lapointe told the Ottawa Citizen, which first reported the news of the swap. Lapointe’s office told Yahoo News Canada she is travelling with the international trade committee.

Anthem change a passionate debate

Over the years, various efforts to change Canada’s anthem have led to passionate debate on the issue.

In 2013, author Margaret Atwood and other Canadians launched the website restoreouranthem.ca to do the same thing as Bélanger’s bill.

Yahoo Canada commenters overwhelmingly rejected the idea at the time.

But Liberal and NDP MPs have picked up on the issue.

“Canada is all of us, not some of us,” Bélanger told the House on Friday, when justifying the change.

Part of his argument is that the anthem has already been altered. In 1908, he said, the original English version of the anthem had the line “thou dost in us command,” but it was changed in 1913 to “all thy sons command.”

He also says that since Canada has changed its national flag, the anthem can also be changed without disrespecting Canada’s roots.

NDP MP Sheila Malcolmson, who spoke in favour of the bill that day, told the House that her party supports efforts toward gender equality in Canada.

“A national symbol’s value is tied to its ability to reflect every one of us and bring us together,” she said.

The Conservatives see the issue differently.

MP Larry Maguire, while thanking Bélanger for his “dedication and commitment” to his constituents, Parliament and Canada, said, “rewriting the lyrics of our national anthem in the name of political correctness would go too far.”

He argued that it would set a precedent for “future changes on other issues of Canadian identity.”

Maguire and his Conservative colleagues, Kelly Block and Harold Albrecht, who also spoke that day, touched on that slippery slope theme, pointing out that there are many other Canadian symbols, like the beaver.