Tories delay vote on change to anthem
• Ailing Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger appealed Friday to have MPs pass his bill to make the national anthem gender-neutral, but several Conservatives oppose it — saying it would open up a “Pandora’s box” on national symbols — and delayed a vote on it.
Bélanger’s private member’s bill would amend the National Anthem Act to change two words in O Canada from “in all thy sons command” to “in all of us command” — making it gender-neutral.
Liberal MPs have been lobbying parliamentarians to secure all-party support to have Bélanger’s bill passed quickly through the Commons and Senate.
But some Conservatives who continue to oppose the change seemingly used stalling tactics Friday to push back a vote on the bill at second reading.
Bélanger can no longer speak following his diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease — and he communicates with a program on his iPad that reads out text.
Bélanger delivered a 10- minute speech in the House of Commons, using the text-to-voice program, that urged MPs to have “an inclusive anthem that respects what we were, and what we have become, as a country.”
“Canada is all of us, not some of us,” he said.
It is the second time Bélanger has tried to change the lyrics to O Canada. He introduced a similar bill in fall 2014, but it was defeated at second reading in April 2015, with most Conservative MPs voting against it.
On Friday, Manitoba Conservative MP Larry Maguire spoke out against Bélanger’s bill, saying he worries it would open up a “Pandora’s box” and could set a precedent for future changes to other Canadian symbols and issues of identity.
The former Conservative government said in the 2010 throne speech it would have Parliament examine reinstating the original gender-neutral wording of the national anthem. However, that plan was abandoned two days later following angry back- lash from Conservative party members.
The Conservative move to delay a second-reading vote on the bill means it likely will not come up again for debate in the House until early fall, said Liberal MP Greg Fergus, who’s championing the bill.
However, he said discussions are underway to try to swap spots with another MP near the top of the order of precedence so the bill can come back this spring.
Failing that, the Liberals could introduce it as a government bill and ensure it passes, he said.