The Harper government has decided it's not going to review the lyrics of "O Canada," only days after the Tories created a national stir on the eve of their deficit budget.
Much of Canada was abuzz after the government announced in Wednesday's throne speech that it would look into making the lyrics to "O Canada" more gender-neutral.
The move, coming days after Olympic glory inspired Canadians to sing the national anthem in the streets, dominated coverage of the throne speech, almost overshadowing mention of the Tories' massive deficit budget.
The government now says it will longer be considering changing the lyric "all thy sons command" because of public disapproval.
The throne speech suggested a review of the anthem and possibly restoring the controversial line to the original words "thou dost in us command."
On Friday afternoon, the Prime Minister's Office issued a statement affirming the change was abandoned because of strong public reaction.
"We offered to hear from Canadians on this issue and they have already spoken loud and clear," PMO spokesman Dimitri Soudas said in a release.
"They overwhelmingly do not want to open the issue. The Government will not proceed any further to change our national anthem."
The line in the throne speech was believed to have been included under pressure from Conservative Sen. Nancy Ruth.
"We heard loud and clear and we thought to put this one aside," Treasury Board president Stockwell Day told CTV News Channel's Power Play of the initiative.
On Wednesday, the PMO issued a statement immediately after the throne speech saying the government was not taking a position on the issue.
"We are simply suggesting that a parliamentary committee examine the subject and report back to Parliament."
