Tuesday, May 12, 2009

From sea to sea to sea, by the NDP

An NDP MP, Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington, wants to change a phrase in Canada’s motto to "From Sea to Sea to Sea" adding a sea to recognize the Arctic. And he’s gaining bi-partisan support, including from Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff:

"I'm really thankful for the Liberal leader's support of my motion," Bevington said Monday in a statement urging prompt passage of the change by Parliament.
And he stresses this isn’t about partisanship:
"This is not a partisan issue," Bevington said in an interview, adding that he now intends to contact Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office to "see if he's interested in moving this forward."
Just as long as we all remember who gets the credit, and who doesn't:
"However, I hope the media will remember that it was the New Democrats and not the Liberals who have been pushing this issue."

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4 comments:

Skinny Dipper said...

No, no, no! We can't change the motto. That means that I will have to change the motto on the right side of my blog. It's now From Mary usque ad Marie.An option could be to let British Columbia separate from Canada. Then we can have "From (Arctic) Sea to (Atlantic) Sea." Or we can go from the Arctice to the Great Lakes.

Mark Richard Francis said...

Will Harper see to ceed 'sea to sea' to 'sea to sea to sea?'

Repeat 10X fast.

Ti-Guy said...

"However, I hope the media will remember that it was the New Democrats and not the Liberals who have been pushing this issue."

Fine by me. The Dippers can wear this when it hits the fan among the religious conservatives that Canada is removing a part of its heritage that derives from the Bible. "From sea to sea" is from Psalm 72:8:

He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.

These people haven't even gotten over "Dominion Day."

Niles said...

If the Dippers care about the religious conservatives, they've got more problems than a bit of noise.

Myself, I liked the idea of the change the first time I heard it. The motto becomes uniquely Canadian instead of biblical, and psychologically makes people think North as well as East and West. (Or South, East and West in the case of the Northerners), instead of that annoying mental habit of thinking there's nothing North of 60.

In a more poetic way for me personally, it's reflective of the three founding groups of the country. Native, French and English. The three...Cs.