THUNDER BAY – O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all thy sons command.
As the politicians all posture in Ottawa, there is an interesting, and mostly unknown dynamic that may echo across Canada later this year. Standing here today looking over the likely election battlefield, with the polls standing the way they are, there will likely be another Conservative minority government elected. The opposition New Democrats and Liberals according to some pundits would then likely seek to form a coalition government, propped up by the Bloc Québécois.
So what does our national anthem O Canada have to do with that?
Most of the media attention on Parliament is focused on Question Period. Much of what happens in the Green Chamber of Parliament is not reported.
Did you know that one of the daily events in Parliament is the singing of our national anthem?
Did you know that members of the Bloc Québécois, if they are in the House of Commons walk out? Did you know that none of the Bloc Québécois members will stand for the national anthem of Canada? Those members will not enter the chamber until after the anthem is finished.
Perhaps now, before the non-confidence vote, it is time for Jack Layton and Michael Ignatieff to tell Canadians that their “True patriot love” for Canada means that neither party leader would enter into a coalition government with the Bloc Québécois as a supporting member of that coalition.
One can respect that the people in Quebec are free to vote in the person or party who they feel will best represent them. Members of the Bloc Québécois are free to not stand or be in the House of Commons for the singing of our national anthem. That is their right.
Would it be right for the Bloc Québécois who by their actions speak loudly and clearly that they don’t love Canada to be part of a coalition government?
I say no.
Jack? Michael? What do you say?
James Murray