Back to work

While the Parliamentarians were out, I took a break myself. Only participated in one demonstration at City Hall, to keep Council from reopening the debate on expanding Ottawa's urban boundary. (Thankfully, they reaffirmed their prior decision to approve only a modest expansion.) With the Olympics over, and the country aglow with national pride, PM Harper continues to roll out his master plan with a Throne Speech tomorrow and a budget Thursday. The government hopes that this will put the parliamentary narrative on a whole new trajectory, away from the death spiral they were in before and during prorogation as regards the Afghan detainee issue, war crimes, being held in contempt of Parliament, and abusing executive power to suspend the legislature. Hardly a compelling story. We will see how successful they are at "remettre les pendules à l'heure", as we say in French. Maybe this is what he meant by recalibrating.

I don't know about you, but I could not stomach one more shot of PM Harper in the stands at one of the many, many Olympic events he attended. On the other hand, I never got tired of hearing the national anthem, however often it was played or sung (although I could have done without Michael Bublé's version of The Maple Leaf Forever). Hopefully, the national pride and solidarity shown by Canadians at the Olympics, which reminded me of the spirit of CAPP in the early days, will translate into a vigourous defense of our rights and freedoms, standing on guard for Canada as it were, instead of the fawning adulation of the great leader hoped for in the Conservative playbook.

Our national anthem is a funny thing, having two distinct but somewhat complementary versions, one in English and one in French. So what are we singing to each other? Here is a little exercise for today: the French version translated literally into English, and vice-versa.

O Canada ------------ O Canada
Land of our forefathers ---------- Notre foyer et terre natale
Your brow is girt --------- L'amour vrai de la patrie
of glorious fleurons ------------- Tu inspires dans tous tes fils
As your hand can carry the sword -- Avec coeurs ardents, nous te voyons lever
So too can it bear the Cross ------ Le vrai nord, fort et libre
Your history is an epic ----------- De près et de loin, O Canada
Of the most glorious feats -------- Nous montons la garde pour toi
And your valour ------------- Que Dieu maintienne notre pays
Steeled by faith ----------- Glorieux et libre
Will protect ------------- O Canada
Our hearths and our rigths ------- Nous montons la garde pour toi
Will protect ----------- O Canada
Our hearths and our rights -------- Nous montons la garde pour toi


There you have it. If we marry the last lines of each version, we stand on guard for you, you protect our hearths and rights. That's what needs to happen now.