Wednesday, November 23, 2011

NDP MPs Require Help With Oh Canada Lyrics

Tonight CTV's Lisa LaFlamme Tweeted @LisaLaFlammeCTV "Just watched HoC vid of NDP MP's using cheatsheets to sing the National Anthem. Wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it. We'll air at 11." Isn't that sweet, members of our official opposition require assistance to sing Oh Canada. I'm not quite as shocked as Lisa LaFlamme. Can anyone really be surprised? Patriotism has never struck me as a strong suit of the Dippers. Maybe it isn't fair to poke fun at them at them for needing cheat sheets; it isn't like their caucus is fully bilingual and knows how to sing the English version. Their leader can barely speak English and often has to read from a script to ask questions in the House.

Today's poll question: do you know the lyrics to our national anthem? What percentage of Canadians can actually get the words right? There has been polling on this. 62% of French Canadians report that they can sing the french version without effort, so the percentage of francophones who can sing the English version is probably below 50%. The older you are, the more likely you are to know the lyrics. 77% of Canadian born respondents said they knew the words. 64% of foreign born Canadians knew the words. Immigrants report to have better anthem knowledge than francophone Canadians.

When I'm at events and our anthem comes on, I just shut up and listen instead of singing, but I do hold the song in reverence.

27 comments:

  1. I know the words I learned as a child, singing it every morning in school. I still sing it but refuse to sing the french words.

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  2. When I was a child in school we sang The Maple Leaf Forever. I'm pretty sure I know the words to Oh Canada, excpt of course, the French part which I really don't care about.

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  3. If you want to go to Ottawa and represent us in the House Of Commons, take our money for your salary - you dam well better know how to sing our National Anthem.....It is a joke - they stand there and criticize our Government because they did not appoint a bilingual judge - a bilingual this and a bilingual that........ their only objective is to take a free ride on Canadian money and most of them want to break up our Country and the rest want to warm a seat!

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  4. At least they tried, the BLOQ MP's NEVER sang our anthem.

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  5. It certainly is a stark reflection of modern day Canada. A few Marxist french talkers from Quebec can't sing the National Anthem, and some people (Lisa Laflame) are surprised? I'm not condoning it, but it's not surprising to me. I know the Oh' Canada National Anthem and I know the Maple Leaf Forever, couldn't sing either of them in french, and have no need, nor desire to. Most of these NDPeer's will be replaced with other Separatists in the next election, probably Blocheads again, and they won't even try to sing it. IMO it's worse when you have a pack of "Liberals" holding cheat sheets and singing the "National Anthem" and replacing the lyrics with their own.

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  6. I will never sing Oh Canada in french and if those quebec people can't learn the national anthem then. they can at least learn it in english. need Pm Harper up there show them all how to sing.

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  7. don't know the french and i think the english version has been changed in the past.

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  8. I drop the word "God" and use "Let's" instead, because god doesn't exist.

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  9. CTV asked "HAVE YOUR SAY: Did MPs need lyrics for 'O Canada'?'

    The answer to that question is yes. I've seen NDP MP St.-Denis on previous occasions holding a sheet of paper while singing the anthem. I can understand if she needed it for the English part, if she's unilingual, but surely she could have managed to learn it by now. It's not rocket science.

    IMO, the Conservatives are doing the best job with the anthem, singing their standardized version of it: beginning with the English version, the middle version in French, and reverting to the English version for the end. Even MPs who don't speak French sing the anthem that way.

    There should be a standard or official version, as far as I'm concerned. If those singing it all choose to sing it their own way, the result is a cacophony of noises. Sing the official version or don't sing it at all. Changing the anthem to suit one's own opinion is questionable, IMO.
    -- Gabby in QC

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  10. My grandson who is 4 can sing the National Anthem solo in English from start to finish and these adult parliamentarians are using cheat sheets. Go figure! My grandson wanted to learn O Canada so he could sing before stick hockey games in the family room, before Hockey Night in Canada games, and at OHL games. My view is if you are an MP or MPP you should be required to know the words to the National Anthem or you won't collect a paycheck or a pension.

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  11. I know the anthem in both languages, also 'God Save the Queen'. Prefer the French version because of the thoughts it expresses, particularly the bit that goes: "protegera nos foyers et nos droits". That sentiment seems very apropos these days.

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  12. Oh for f***'s sake,we're getting as petty as the Liberals who see a scandal in everything any Conservative does!

    I know the words to all the songs we were required to sing in school ,from "Oh Canada" in the morning,to "God Save the Queen" at the day's end,which we sang in fast tempo as we wanted to get the hell out of there before daylight faded.

    We also sang the "Maple Leaf Forever" on some occasions,never realising the insult to Quebecers inherent in that song. I apologize fifty years after the fact. I feel shame.

    This item is beginning to get as annoying as the constant Liberal/NDP attacks on every little thing Conservatives do,say,or imply.

    Take "wafergate",please.

    Let's attack full bore when we have a legitimate reason,otherwise we will eventually fall victim to public "scandal" fatigue,just as the Liberals did before the last election,when the voters turned a deaf ear to their figurative cries of "WOLF".

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  13. I agree to a certain extent with Dmorris's sentiment. However, at times a reply or a comment to a legitimate issue is needed. That is why I once questioned why some conservatives on the blogs I used to frequent were adopting the same language as some on the left, referring to people they disagreed with as just a bunch of "old white guys."

    But, the reality is the media usually allows the opposition to get away with stuff they don't allow Conservatives to get away with. One further example of the NDP getting away with stuff that the Conservatives would not be allowed to get away with: during today's QP, the NDP Environment critic, Megan Leslie, opened her remarks to the Environment Minister by referring to him as a "grumpy old man." We'll see how the media reacts to that: will it be with opprobrium or will they signal approval by suggesting the Minister "lighten up"?

    IMO, Conservative MPs should definitely stay away from such trivia. But we conservatives in our blogs surely should enjoy the privilege of commenting in a civil manner on both major & minor issues?
    -- Gabby in QC

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  14. Just got home in time to hear the points of order, and her remarks were brought up. Also lots of stuff re the disturbance yesterday and who sponsored them-ndp-
    Something has happened to the sound system and the House is suspended to the call of the Chair till it is fixed. One hears strange bits of conversation by people not sitting in the HofC. Must watch QP tonight on the replay.

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  15. Completely agree,Gabby,I just don't like to see Conservatives waste their energy on trivia,there is SO much real skulduggery afoot.

    One of the most effective methods of censuring the MSM for failing to report on Lib/Dip malfeasance,is to E-mail the offender,then send a copy to one of that broadcaster's major advertisers.

    Tell the advertiser you will boycott their products until they demand responsibility from the company who's receiving their advertising dollars.

    Money talks.

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  16. Dmorris, I've tried the route of emailing "the offender" as you put it but I hadn't thought of your idea of CCing their advertisers -- a good suggestion. Some media respond, some on the defensive; others seem to want to engage; and others still, the most serious "offenders", don't reply at all.

    One person I'd like to email is NDP MP Joe Comartin, though. During today's Points of Order discussion about the disturbance that took place in the House yesterday, Joe Comartin said he saw the whole thing, trying to counter some of the points put forward by the Conservatives. I wish I could see/hear a replay of those Points of Order (Nov. 24).

    However, during yesterday's Prime Time Politics, which I'm in the process of listening to again to verify I heard him right, Comartin said that he hadn't seen the incident because he'd come back to the House only at the end of it. Sorry to say, he seems to have lied about how much he saw of that disturbance.
    -- Gabby in QC

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  17. cpac rebroadcasts question period later tonight, 9.00pm AB time.
    I was out most of the morning and just got home to hear Joe so will watch later tonight. Then the sound system went on the blink and no one could hear what anyone was saying.

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  18. Did I miss something or did someone comment that taking issue with MPs not knowing the words to O Canada was trivial. Wow! We have a problem Houston. Knowing the country's national anthem should be a requirement of the position. Seems to me we have a socialist masquerading as a conservative.

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  19. Yes, thanks, MaryT but CPAC doesn't rebroadcast the Points of Order. They replay QP & Members' Statements, but the Points of Order are usually excluded from that rebroadcast. CPAC & other broadcasters may include snippets of those PoOs but not necessarily the part I'm looking for, for confirmation purposes.
    -- Gabby in QC

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  20. Gabby, I didn't know that, but there were a few mentions of those points of order on the talk shows, but never did get a clear idea of what they all were. Something about megan insulting seniors with her grumpy old man remark. And something about Joe C commenting on Tony Clements letter of privilege yesterday. Then something about the disturber yesterday and Joe saying he come in late and missed it and today saying he saw the whole thing.

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  21. I don't see any of the Blogging Tories "attacking" the NDP for not knowing the lyrics. There might be some heated comments, but my post was by no means an attack. I saw the Tweet from LaFlamme and wrote a post that this was not nearly as surprising as she suggested. I even researched surveys of % of Canadians who know the anthem lyrics.

    This post was more of a mockery than an "attack", though some people do seem to be worked up about it. I'm not sure how anything here warrants DMorris' reaction. Oh, for f**k's sake, what has this world come to if we can't make jokes about the Dippers for not knowing how to sing our country's f**king song?

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  22. MaryT, I was watching QP live today. After it ended, Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski stood to argue a Point of Order regarding yesterday's disturbance, saying that the person engaging in that disturbance had been provided with a pass to the visitors' gallery by the NDP MP from Churchill (Niki Ashton). Lukiwski also condemned the action of NDP members who applauded the disturbance.

    Then the NDP House Whip stood, saying that the NDP MP who had provided the pass was in no way responsible for the disturbance, since she (Ashton) had no prior knowledge of what that person's (the one causing the disturbance) intentions were.

    Wayne Easter put in his two cents' worth, saying that civil disobedience was justified, especially given the government's move to do away with the monopoly of the Wheat Board.

    I believe next it was Conservative Whip O'Connor who stood to confirm that many NDP MPs had encouraged the person in the gallery by standing and applauding, with cameras (their phones) at the ready to snap pictures.

    Then NDP MP Joe Comartin countered he had seen no such encouragement, since he had witnessed the entire episode, and anyway, no MP providing a pass to a visitor could be held responsible for the actions of an individual who decided to create a disturbance. THAT is what I would like to confirm: how come yesterday Comartin clearly said he'd only seen the tail end of the disturbance during Prime Time Politics, yet today he stated he had witnessed the entire incident and was able to pronounce and denounce on it.

    Tomorrow I'll read Hansard's transcript to see whether I heard right.

    Or maybe I'll take Dmorris's advice and just forget about the entire incident, since it's just one more trivial irritant in the long list of political gamesmanship.
    -- Gabby in QC

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  23. If these people don't speak English, or know very little, I personally can't criticize them. I do not know the French lyrics, if I had to sing it in the House of Commons I'd probably rather have a cheat sheet then screw up the words.

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  24. Young Country Star Flubs National Anthem Before Thanksgiving Game; and she did it in front of thousands of fans before the football game. More people have fouled up the Star Spangled Banner, in public than our mps have. A lot of people can't sing it alone, but in a crowd have no problem. And as no mp is asked to sing it alone, they go with the crowd. I just hope that C. Bennet hadn't given them the words.

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  26. OK, just to finish up on the question of whether NDP MP Joe Comartin "varnished" the truth, as I said yesterday @ November 24, 2011 6:25 PM.

    Well, I checked Hansard and here's part of what Comartin said:
    http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=41&Ses=1&DocId=5275129
    Points of Order
    "... I have been through five incidents and in not one of those incidents, and I include the one that happened yesterday, can we point to the member of Parliament, who allowed the person to have the pass, having any foreknowledge that there was going to be an incident.
        We have had five incidents and I do not believe there have been any other incidents. I was in the chamber every single time and there has never been an occasion when we could show that the member who was the sponsor had any knowledge of what was going to happen. ..."

    So, sorry to say, I believe Comartin lied: either he witnessed the entire incident (as he said during the Nov 24 Point of Order, link above) or he didn't (as he said during the Nov. 23 Prime Time Politics, http://www.cpac.ca/forms/index.asp?dsp=template&act=view3&pagetype=vod&hl=e&clipID=6287).
    -- Gabby in QC

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  27. I know the lyrics to the version we sang during the 1960's and before, and refuse to learn any new version.

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