I am amazed, no I am godsmacked, at the brouhaha over our national anthem sung at the Calgary Stampede. (photo by Joel Morin)
Seems a “stylized” version of O Canada, sung in both official languages, met with complaints when rodeo fans found they couldn’t sing along.
So the wise musical director at the Stampede quickly revamped O Canada into an English-only version for the fans.
A spokesman for the privately run event was quoted as saying “There’s no reason for us to not do a bilingual version other than logistics.”
Well, again and logistics be damned but the mainstream media, the biosphere and especially the Twitterverse went nationally nuclear and not in a good way.
When Tuesday night’s rendition of O Canada was sung, in both official languages, rodeo attendees applauded and raised their cowboy hats in the air.
This is the kind of country we’ve created and I couldn’t be prouder to be a Canadian.
BTW Stampede officials are quick to claim they meant no offence and have said “we’re absolutely sorry if we (offended) anyone.” I’m pleased to take them at their word.
Way to go Calgary! Way to go Canada.
