Liberals & Socialists have lost their way in Canada

Ignatieff steers clear of C-word

By EZRA LEVANT, QMI Agency

December 21, 2010 12:00am

Michael Ignatieff’s Christmas card isn’t a Christmas card.

It’s a “holiday” card. It has a Jewish menorah on it, which is great. Fully 1% of Canadians are Jewish and though Hanukkah was three weeks ago, it’s a nice thought.

The card has some snowflakes on it, too, and mittens and a gingerbread man (or a ghost, it’s not clear). Those are symbols of winter. Which is great, because it is winter time.

But there’s not a single Christian symbol on the card, the religion of the majority of Canadians. It’s the faith our Queen Elizabeth is officially the “defender” of, the religion that inspired the names of so many places in this country, from the St. Lawrence Seaway to St. John’s.

It is the religion whose cross adorns the coats of arms of almost every province, the religion from whose Bible comes Canada’s motto, “From sea to sea.” Our anthem asks God to keep our land, and the French version says we will “carry the cross.”

Even the Charter of Rights begins with the reminder that neither judges nor politicians are at the apex of Canadian society, but rather both are under the “supremacy of God.”

Jack Layton is slightly less embarrassed of Canada’s Christian character than Ignatieff, actually bringing himself to utter the word “Christmas” in his Christmas greetings. Last year’s message from him on Christmas Day used the C-word, but didn’t have much Christianity in it other than that. He said Christmas was a time to “laugh together” and a chance to talk about “lost jobs” and promising that the NDP “will do whatever we can.” Sounds more like an NDP convention, other than the laughing part.

Religion? Not a drop of it. Politics? But of course.

But compare that to Layton’s NDP greetings for the Muslim holiday of Eid ul Fitr last year. Layton didn’t talk about laughing or the NDP jobs plan. He had much more respect than that. He said that Muslim religious holiday was “an opportunity to renew the spirit and faith in Islam. We are not celebrating the end of Ramadan, but thanking Allah for the help and strength given throughout this special month and asking for that blessing to be extended throughout the year to all of humanity.” Note the use of the first person — Layton uses the word “we”. He personally wants to extend Allah’s blessings to all humanity. He wants to renew Islamic faith.

Could you imagine him or Ignatieff or frankly most Conservative MPs saying they want to extend Christ’s blessings throughout Canada? The mainstream media would have an embolism — remember when Stephen Harper dared to say “God Bless Canada” after his speeches — and the Canadian Human Rights Commission would launch a hate-speech investigation.

Canada is a Christian country. Thank God that it is. Because it is precisely that Christian spirit of tolerance and charity that has accepted millions of refugees from countries that are less enlightened — and that don’t value freedom of religion for anyone.

Queen Elizabeth isn’t the only head of state who is also the head of a religious institution. So is King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who enforces the Koran as that country’s constitution. Iran is called the Islamic Republic of Iran, etc.

Which is precisely why the flow of refugees is from enslaved Arabia to the Christian West, and not the other way around.

Merry Christmas.