… But I’m more excited about the fact that Canadians have stood up to the liberal-left politically-correct garbage and forced a common sense change from those on high (and yes, as regular readers know, by “on high” I mean that they might literally be high on something over there on the red side of Ottawa).
Page A3 of the Calgary Herald
(Hat tip to a reader, Sandy G.)
Governor general stands tall for Christmas tree
Valerie Fortney, Calgary Herald
Published: Tuesday, November 29, 2005If the Christmas tree in Rideau Hall is renamed when the head of state is away, does anybody hear?
You bet Santa’s rosy cheeks they do.
On Monday morning, a bleary-eyed Michaelle Jean woke to a hue and cry that threatened to rock her tenure as Canada’s newest de facto head of state. Forget the early charges of harbouring separatist sympathies—this time it was serious.
According to CBC radio’s national morning program The Current, for the first time in our country’s history, the Governor General would refer to her official residence’s Christmas tree as a “holiday” tree.
“At Rideau Hall, we will be putting up the holiday tree as we find that it reflects the tradition of many cultures and is inclusive,” said the Governor General’s spokeswoman, Lucie Brousseau, in a taped voice mail recording played on the air. “So that’s our holiday tree in the front hall.”
The Governor General, against Christmas? Say it isn’t so, Virginia.
It isn’t so, in fact.
“Her Excellency refers to the tree as a Christmas tree and there are no plans to change that,” says Randy Mylyk, another of the Governor General’s spokespeople. “She told me, ‘Randy, ever since I was a little girl, it’s been a Christmas tree, why would I change it and why didn’t someone ask me?’ “
According to Mylyk, who says he “burst out laughing” when he tuned into the CBC Monday morning and heard the so-called news, it’s a case of one misguided employee getting it wrong while the Governor General was in Vancouver at a football game. “We just got back from the Grey Cup at 5 a.m. Monday,” he says, “and we heard this. Her Excellency couldn’t believe it herself.”
While the Rideau Hall “holiday” tree announcement appears to be just a case of a press staffer getting egg—or is that eggnog?—on her face, the incident highlights an emotionally charged debate going on across North America about the trend toward taking the Christmas out of the Christmas season.
Last week, a Nova Scotia spruce tree grower saw red—and no, it wasn’t Rudolph’s nose—when he found out the Christmas tree he sent to Boston was renamed a holiday tree by that city’s parks department. Every year, the province sends Boston a tree as a thank-you for the help it gave Halifax after the devastating 1917 ship explosion. The grower, Donnie Haitt, reportedly said he’d rather see his tree go through the wood chipper than be renamed.
Haitt is among thousands of Canadians raging against what they see as a gradual removal of the word Christmas from, well, Christmas.
Their concern has some merit. Three years ago, the Royal Canadian Mint changed the wording in its advertising campaign from The Twelve Days of Christmas to the Twelve Days of Giving. That year in Toronto, the city administration came under huge fire from citizens when it renamed the tree in Nathan Phillips Square a holiday tree.
After the Toronto fiasco, council there passed a unanimous motion officially designating its tree a Christmas tree.
“I don’t think that’s going to be rescinded anytime soon,” says City of Toronto spokesman Brad Ross when contacted Monday.
Clothing retailer The Gap was also lambasted in the media for allegedly ordering employees to not use the word Christmas in greetings to customers, a charge the company denied.
And then there is the growth in holiday cards that use every salutation—peace, joy, happy holidays, season’s greetings—but the dreaded C word. One website, Proudtobecanadian.com, is even urging visitors to boycott businesses whose advertisements appear to deliberately omit the word Christmas. […]
I like this quote from a local CHRISTMAS tree buyer:
At the tree lot outside IKEA, Calgary tree buyers’ reactions to the Christmas versus holiday tree debate vary widely.
“A Christmas tree is a Christmas tree,” says 35-year-old Alan Jones, owner of Urban Therapeutics Spa. “We respect other people’s traditions, and ours deserve respect, too.”
That’s really it in a nutshell isn’t it?
And by the way, it’s actually officially known as ProudToBeCanadian.ca, but luckily I also managed to buy the dot com and dot org too and they point to the dot ca.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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