On the evening of May 24, 2015, I shared with you a story about the Town Council of Richmond Hill, Ontario, who had just decided days before to ban the singing or playing of “O Canada” at the start of their Council meetings.  You met the lone hero that exposed the story and took a stand in favor of the national anthem.  And you were exposed to the leftwing lunacy of the Mayor (Dave Barrow) and his band of merry morons.

This story struck a nerve from coast to coast to coast, and became our #1 most read article of all time, drawing the largest one-day number of visitors to our site in our history. As we celebrate Canada’s 149th birthday today (July 1, 2016), I wanted to go back to Richmond Hill for an update on the story. 

Read the original post here:
“O Canada, We Stand On Guard For Thee!”
(Posted May 24, 2015 by Shawn J.)

On May 24, 2015, we introduced our readers to a great patriot, Greg Beros, the Ward 1 Councillor from Richmond Hill, Ontario. You’ll recall that, at the beginning of the week of May 11, he had introduced a motion for Town Council to open their meetings with “O Canada“.

At the time it seemed like the most logical and fitting replacement for the Lord’s Prayer, which the Council had opened meetings with for nearly four decades.  That is, until the leftist Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled on April 15 that this was no longer an acceptable practice.  As CBC reported:

The Supreme Court said Canadian society has evolved and given rise to a “concept of neutrality according to which the state must not interfere in religion and beliefs. The state must instead remain neutral in this regard,” the judgment said.

CBC discusses the Supreme Court decision (Credit: CBC News)

I won’t get into the rationale behind this decision, because leftists aren’t rational – and that again was made painfully clear when, in a 5-4 decision, this Council actually voted to defeat the motion, barring the national anthem from entering their Council Chambers.   As the Toronto Star reported:

“I thought it was going to be a walk in the park,” said Ward 2 Councillor Tom Muench of his colleague’s suggestion. “You’ve got to be kidding me that you can’t play the national anthem. If you can’t agree to that, what can you agree to?”

After heated debate, town council finally agreed 8-1, with Beros as the lone holdout, to launch meetings with a three-sentence inspirational declaration penned by Regional Councillor Brenda Hogg. (emphasis mine)

As an aside, that “three-sentence declaration” was total crap.  But that wasn’t the real story – nor was it the fact that a room full of retards decided that the national anthem was everything from “too religious” to “too long” to play in Council chambers.

No, the real story was this guy named Greg Beros, who just stood alone and defied his Council colleagues.  He went to the media, told them the story, and made sure it was “above the fold” as much as possible.  You could tell that he really meant what he was saying.

And Canadians responded from sea to shining sea, further shaming these morons who actually had the gall to state that the national anthem of Canada was inappropriate for a Town Council level of meeting.  I noticed that they don’t seem to feel the same way about the Canadian flag, which proudly flies outside their Town Hall.

Soon, we all found other equally stupid Libtard stunts to fight against, and this story quietly died. Except that it didn’t.  At least, not completely.  I noticed one little excerpt from the Minutes of a June 9, 2015 Council meeting:

“Councillor Beros extended his congratulations to the City of London and the Town of New Tecumseth for introducing the national anthem at the start of Council meetings…

If I’m reading that correctly, Mr. Beros had the gall to rub it in the faces of his colleagues just how far off the mark they were.  Their mayor had stupidly said that he doubted that any other Council still played O Canada.  Oh was he wrong!  Richmond Hill happens to be part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) – and Toronto City Council itself proudly does so.

But it was the last few words in the Minutes that made me smile:

“Councillor Beros extended his congratulations to the City of London and the Town of New Tecumseth for introducing the national anthem at the start of Council meetings and [he] played a rendition of 0 Canada“.

In an act of extremely civil “disobedience”, he showed his true colors –  he did exactly what a patriot does, what a hero does, what someone who really loves this country does…

He stood up for Canada.  There were no cameras, no lights, no microphones in his face.  All the network satellite trucks had returned back to their bases weeks before.  The hair-primping ego-maniac TV reporters were all safely in someone else’s backyard.

No, this wasn’t for the sake of seeking attention, it wasn’t to get another 15 minutes of fame, to stroke his ego, get re-elected, or to use as a wedge issue to propel him to possibly higher things on the backs of angry voters.

He did it because he loves Canada and he believes in our anthem.  He just walked into the Council meeting that night, probably trying his best to look like he had no agenda.  But soon, throughout the corridors of that building, loud enough for everyone around to hear, you would have caught a familiar tune….

Mr. Beros, I may never get the chance to meet you face to face, speak to you over the phone or correspond directly with you.  But know this – the 5,000+ followers I now am blessed with on Twitter and this blog site all are as deeply patriotic as you are, and are all sick and tired of the lousy, lame-ass left stealing away our heritage, our foundations, our strengths.

And I know many of my followers are giving you a round of applause.  It is men like you that make this country so great.

Canada to you is not just real estate, or borders, or even a place you call home.  It’s bigger than any one of us, it’s even bigger the sum total of all of us.

Those of us who truly understand what Canada means to the world, and it’s role in history and in the future, are united with a bond that no government, no leader, can ever break apart.  We must stand strong for our Canadian values, and we must defend what makes Canada so great.

By Shawn J., Founding Editor
Calling Out Community
Posted June 30, 2016

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