Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

'God bless Canada'

by Aaron Wherry on Thursday, July 1, 2010 6:27pm - 14 Comments

The text of the Queen’s remarks to the crowd on Parliament Hill this afternoon.

Prime Minister, Minister, distinguished guests, fellow Canadians.

Aujourd’hui, partout au pays, des Canadiens se réunissent pour célébrer l’histoire du Canada, son identité et ses réalisations. À mon avis, il n’y a pas meilleure raison de célébrer. Thank you for inviting Prince Philip and me to join you all on this special day.

During my lifetime, I have been a witness to this country for more than half its history since Confederation. I have watched with enormous admiration how Canada has grown and matured while remaining true to its history, its distinctive character and its values.

This nation has dedicated itself to being a caring home for its own, a sanctuary for others and an example to the world. Nous venons tout juste de voir des images des Forces canadiennes, des diplomates, et des travailleurs humanitaires à l’œuvre dans le monde entier, apportant leur soutien et leur aide à autrui. These commitments, often in dangerous and hostile circumstances, are undertaken with the support and respect of us all.

At home, Canadians have many reasons for optimism, even in trying times. The recent success of the Vancouver Olympics was about more than just the thrill of a gold medal for Canada’s hockey team. As well as renewing a sense of common purpose within this country, the Olympics showed to others something of the extraordinary warmth and enthusiasm of the people as Canada welcomed participants and audiences from around the globe. À de nombreux égards, le Canada s’affirme fièrement sur la scène internationale, affrontant l’avenir avec confiance.

I wish you all the very happiest Canada Day. God bless you all and God bless Canada.

Tags: Canada, canada day, Elizabeth II, Olympics, parliament hill, Prince Philip, Queen

More by Aaron Wherry

Gaunilon

Amen. God save the Queen!

http://intensedebate.com/people/madeyoulook madeyoulook

(with a nervous eye on the guy taking warm-up swings in the on-deck circle) LONG to reign over us!

http://intensedebate.com/people/Stewart_Smith Stewart_Smith

Remarkably with all the inbreeding involved, the Queen has good genes and is probably good for 15 more years in the throne.

Anon 001

Unfortunately for Prince Charles.

http://viableopposition.blogspot.com/ Open_Democracy

We may complain, but we are so fortunate to be Canadians. Just ask many people in the rest of the world how much they'd love to live in Canada and share in what we have.

http://viableopposition.blogspot.com/
http://intensedebate.com/people/amherstvw amherstvw

My spouse was asking aloud if she even needed a speech writer, given all her experience and knowledge. I suggested that at very least, someone assembles ideas and reviews them with her.

It's just the way things work in a democracy with a hereditary head of state … but we can see "someone's people's" finger prints on aspects of her speech. I suspect, however, she would be more accomplished at fashioning the language of Moliere into a pleasing form better than some we could name.

Anyway, these new guys are more attentive than the bunch that was running the place from afar when my great x11 grandfather and three of his cousins came over from Perche and "chose Canada".

Now … the people who taught us how to survive the winter by making evergreen tea, showed us how to make boats from trees, and how to dress to avoid freezing while working on the Northwest Passage … well, on Canada day, I think we must all take off our tricorns and toques to them …

Cats

According to L. Ian. Macdonald its the PMO who writes the Queen's speeches.

Then she is at liberty to make alterations or additions.

Cats away!

http://intensedebate.com/people/amherstvw amherstvw

Thanks. Makes sense. I've passed the info on to my spousal unit.

In this era of partisanship, it is a great comfort that someone's lifelong professional reputation rests on their *not* being partisan – some francophone journalists were also speaking with warm hearts last night. While some GGs of the past have had political affiliations in their previous lives, one can see the benefit of having permanent, knowledgeable "oversight" to provide the feeling of national continuity.

On the expression itself … at the end of one of his shows, Red Skelton once explained why he made his end of show benediction conditional. In essence, he used "and may God bless" because he felt it was presumptuous that he could speak for God's will … that he could only *humbly* express his hope that God in his wisdom would see fit to bless us.

It is perhaps the conviction that it must be " *we* " who behave in a righteous manner which causes many of us to feel uncomfortable with some ideologies and how they creep into public affairs. Red Skelton would have never said "Gott mit uns" ! And, while we're at it … how would Manitou feel about some of our actions?

What *is* the "Canadian way" ??

http://intensedebate.com/people/Thwim Thwim

Gott mit uns. Heh.. I read that and immediately get associations with the "got milk?" ads and the Canadian olympic mittens that were so popular.

In a way, it's a great slogan for a Canada Day T-shirt.. even though it is in german.

http://intensedebate.com/people/TwoYen TwoYen

While the Queen is at liberty to make changes or additions, especially to allow her to personalize her remarks, these still need to be approved, although I'd be surprised if any of her suggestions are rejected since they probably would be very carefully considered before she made them.

http://intensedebate.com/people/PeteTong PeteTong

Word cloud!
http://intensedebate.com/people/OntarioTown OntarioTown

Too funny, Canadians bragging about our country and it's institutions – all the while Harper is trying to destroy them.

The Queen keeps up-to-date on Canada – as if she doesn't know what Harper's doing.
James Wolfe

"Loyal She Began, Loyal She Remains." Go learn our proud, BNA and UEL history. These were the builders of our country since 1763. Not this phony, revisionist lie, this bilingual, multicultural, 2 founding nations, linguistic duality lie, spin that we’ve been living with since Trudeau forced this upon the nation. We’ve been part of the British Empire since 1763 and officially an English speaking country for over 200 years…just a fact. "Loyal She Began, Loyal She Remains." Happy Dominion Day.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Jenn_ Jenn_

Happy Dominion Day to you, too, James Wolfe. I'm pleased to see you've gone back to 1763–but time didn't stop then. After 1763 came 1775, 1791, 1812, 1836, 1837, 1841, and 1867. We have been part of the British Empire and an officially English speaking country for over 200 years–but we've been other things in addition to that.

Don't sell short that which makes us a truly remarkable, peaceable country.