Dying MP's gender-neutral O Canada bill passes final Commons vote

Dying Liberal MP Mauril Belanger's private member's bill to make the national anthem more gender neutral cleared its final hurdle in the House of Commons today, passing by a vote of 225 to 74.

Bill C-210, which would change the second line of the anthem from "in all thy sons command" to "in all of us command," will now go to the Senate.Blangerwas in the House for the vote.

After the vote nearly all MPs in the House stood and sang the national anthem.

• O Canada bill advances to final vote
• Gender-neutral O Canada 'inevitable,' supporters say
• Ailing MP Mauril Blanger: 'Canada is all of us'

The anthem change has been a Blanger cause for years but has taken on far greater urgency in recent months after he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease and his condition rapidly deteriorated.

The outcome of today's vote appearedto be a foregone conclusion early on as most Liberals and New Democrats supportedthe measure going into the vote, while the Conservatives, who oppose the bill, have run out of political tactics to slow it.

But the bill will still need to clear the Senate before it becomes law.

Conservative Senator Nancy Ruth, the bill's sponsor inthe Upper Chamber, told CBC News she believes the legislation has enough support to pass but it's unclear whether that can happen before the Senate rises for the summer.

O Canada gender neutral amendment passes 3rd reading

8 years ago

Duration 1:34

The amendment to make O Canada gender neutral passes 3rd reading and MPs in the House of Commons break out into a rendition of the anthem.