OTTAWA - The wrath of the dominion is raining down on a tiny elementary school in rural New Brunswick -- a year and a half after it stopped playing O Canada on its morning public address routine.
The September 2007 decision by the principal of Belleisle Elementary School in Springfield, N.B., suddenly found its way Friday to the floor of the House of Commons.
"This is political correctness run wild," Mike Allen, the Conservative MP for Tobique-Mactaquac, told parliamentarians.
"There is nothing more inclusive than O Canada. It is a song that belongs to each and every Canadian."
Allen was soon joined in his condemnation by a junior minister in the Conservative cabinet.
"We have soldiers in Afghanistan on a continuous basis rotating in and out and the least we can do is show pride for our country and our flag," Keith Ashfield, secretary of state for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, told reporters in the Commons foyer.
The federal Conservative party followed up with a news release calling on the school to reverse the decision -- but repeatedly and erroneously referred to the anthem as "O'Canada."
The Dominion Institute, a non-partisan foundation devoted to promoting Canada's history, also waded in, urging the school to reconsider.
"We believe that our schools are an ideal place to help instill this (national) pride in the next generation of citizens," Marc Chalifoux, the institute's executive director, said in a news release.
The storm was unleashed, rather belatedly, after Belleisle principal Erik Millett was quoted in local New Brunswick media explaining the policy.
The small, 11-classroom school with about 230 students stopped playing the anthem during a redesign of the morning routine in September 2007.
Two families had complained about the anthem, Millett told the Saint John Telegraph Journal.
"There are people of particular faiths who would say the Lord's Prayer should be brought back," Millett told the newspaper.
"Other people of particular faiths or beliefs say they don't want their child to sing the anthem.
"It's not up to me, as a school administrator, to subject kids to something their parents don't want them exposed to. I have to protect the minority rights as well as the majority rights."
The anthem's elimination was one of several changes, he said, that made for a more productive start to the school day. The singing of O Canada was reserved for monthly assemblies.
"We thought we could give more prominence, more importance, to the anthem than playing a taped version over a crackling PA system," Millett told the Telegraph Journal.
"Our decision to change the time, location and frequency is to provide an enhanced experience for the student."
Policies vary across the country on the playing of the national anthem. In Ontario, all schools must open or close the day with O Canada.
