Just as soon as they brought it up, the federal Conservatives are reportedly abandoning the idea of changing the lyrics to ‘O Canada’ to make them more gender-neutral. According to National Post columnist Don Martin, “a senior cabinet minister confides the notion will be quickly and quietly dusty-shelved, never to see the light of actual committee study.” Senior members of the Harper government were reportedly caught off-guard by the promise in Wednesday’s Speech from the Throne and were miffed at all the attention it garnered. So while the Prime Minister’s Office may never formally back away from the idea—”probably because Stephen Harper is believed to be personally responsible for the insert under pressure from feminist Conservative Senator Nancy Ruth,” says Martin—MPs have been assured they’ll never hear of it again.
UPDATE: PMO spokesman Dmitri Soudas has confirmed the government is abandoning changing the national anthem. “We offered to hear from Canadians on this issue and they have already spoken loud and clear,” Soudas said in a press release. “They overwhelmingly do not want to open the issue. The Government will not proceed any further to change our national anthem.”
