Hey fellow Canadians …
Have you heard that Senator Nicole Eaton in Ottawa is trying to retire the Beaver as our national animal and replace it with the Polar Bear? She says: “The beaver is a has-been. It’s a rat … a big rat, that doesn’t reflect our new values” while “The polar bear, with its strength, courage, resourcefulness and dignity is perfect for the part” according to The Toronto Sun article
I must admit that a) I don’t care in the slightest which animal they use and b) I chuckled at ‘the big rat’ comment
What are your thoughts?
There is a petition running here with over 6,300 signatures at this time.
All I wonder is how much money this is costing taxpayers. The beaver is fine. This is all just a stupid waste of money.
Definitely want to keep the beaver! There are beavers everywhere across the country; they are industrious, persistent, earnest, clever, resourceful, and very important to our ecosystem.
The beaver has been our official symbol since the 1930s, though it has been part of Canada’s roots since the 17th century.
It’s only the Coca-Cola polar bears which are cute and cuddly; they are not so in their habitat. They will stalk you and kill you.
I think the senator deserves a good slap with a beaver tail!
I think that the Senator has too much time on her hands.
I’d like to see the polar bear as the national animal, not that I’ve got anything against the beaver. The polar bear is just a much more beloved animal. (e.g. Knut!) National animal is not really for us, it’s for establishing our image to foreign countries. It would be a great PR move. (Knut was a cash cow for Berlin!)
BTW, you guys heard of the new polar bear cub at the Toronto Zoo? http://www.zooborns.com/zooborns/2011/10/toronto-zoo-has-hope-for-remaining-polar-bear-cub.html Aw…
Love the beaver. Love the polar bear. What Senator Eaton is saying about the beaver is mean, insulting and disrespectful. The beaver is one of the most clever, stongest, hard-working animal in the world (and cute at the same time). And if i recall correctly, the beaver is one of the reason this whole country got started (beaver fur trade). We should be proud of the beaver.
So if it’s ain’t broken, don’t fix it. The only thing, what she is saying, will accomplished is a lot of wasted time and money.
The Senator needs to find something more useful to do with their time & the tax payers money.
Given how hard the current government is working to avoid doing anything about climate change, there won’t be many polar bears left in the next century in the world anyhow. It seems a bit of a short-sighted choice.
As for the beaver — does no one know anything about Canadian history? The beaver was a very important part of how and why this country was settled, but this senator and her supporters seem completely ignorant of that.
In recent polls most Canadians are all for abolishing the Senate, it’s a waste of taxpayers money, and this just confirms that!
The beaver exemplifies everything great about our country, as stated above….
Intentional or not, using it as our national animal also seems to have a tinge of humour to it, which is something I’ve been proud of Canadians for. Our sense of humour has been wonderful, and I hope it continues 🙂
Just so you know, the petition link is for Saving the Beaver as the national animal.
Honestly? I think this motion was introduced to draw attention away from (formerly) conservative Aurora/Newmarket MPP Frank Klees and his decision to run for speaker (later withdrawn) which would see him, in essense, crossing the floor and giving the Liberals a majority government in Ontario.
This idea was introduced by a Conservative senate member and the timing was impeccable. Also, the language used by the senator seems so ridiculous as to be intentionally inflaming as much TV coverage as possible.
I agree this senator needs to get to work and stop wasting time and money on stupid things like this.
I think the senator needs to brush up on her history! The reason the beaver is our national animal and a symbol recognized around the world is the HUGE role it played in the developement of this nation. It’s not just a cute little critter who happens to live here! Without the beaver pelt trade there would have been no HBC company, ergo – no military or police force in the early years, no governement, no Canada! Now if the first nations people took offense to it because of where all that trading eventually led to for them, I’d get that. But for the nation as a whole, retiring the beaver would be like dismissing the maple leaf on our flag. Polar bears are wonderful and definitly cute to look at, but come on, all this fuss and expense (how about improving my son’s horribly overcrowded school or cutting down the 3hr wait time at our local emergency room!) to erase a vital piece of history? Those non-elected, overpaid senators should find something useful to do with all there time!
I am going to quote Natalka: “I think the senator deserves a good slap with a beaver tail!” And, find a real issue worth spending tax money on.
Americans already think that we all live in igloos. Making the polar bear our national animal will only add fuel to the fire!
I personally don’t understand what this woman has against beavers? I read a different article where she was quoted as saying that beavers are “defective rats”. That seems pretty harsh. I’ve always thought the beaver represented us well as Canadians and see no point in changing it.
I’m with Lisa on this one… I think the polar bear is a beautiful, strong animal – but do we really need to perpetuate the typical American stereotype of Canadians? There’s no way they’d ever believe we didn’t all live in igloos and spend our days buried in snow!
Why do we even NEED a national animal??
Why fix something that’s not broken? I think her comment about the beaver was discusting. What’s next? Our maple leaf?
Dear Senator,
Please do something more constructive with your work week! Stop wasting taxpayers dollars. There are so many other things you could be working on that are more important, and you choose to pick on the beaver as the national animal??!!??
Well obviously she knows nothing about beavers at all. That’s pretty clear. What an ignorant statement. Wouldn’t it be something if people thought before they spoke?
I’d love it to be the polar bear. My favourite bear species. 😀 But the statement about Castor canadensis…take biology woman!
I would like to start a new petition….in favor of the beaver tail slap.
this shows more how useless senators are, other than doing any productive work, they are not ‘busy beavers’ but are a total waste of taxpayer dollars.
the ‘industrious’ ‘family oriented’ beaver is the only animal that creates environments for life without destroying it for others. (we cannot say that even for ourselves).
half of this continent was explored and mapped by the hudson’s bay company-looking for beaver, not polar bear.
the polar bear is an impressive animal, but is a ruthless killer, not cute, not family orientated, and will track the smell of prey (maybe you) 100 miles and not give up till it makes a ‘kill’.
what does that say about the senator’s perception of what canada ‘really’ is?
i think this shows more of our new war like attitude since we sided with the bush administration’s war on terror. our role as the world’s peacekeepers is gone forever so why have a socially peaceful industrious beaver as a symbol? if we are gonna play war along side the american’s
eagle, germany’s double headed eagle, mexico’s eagle, britain’s lion, russia’s bear, then we need a macho bear too???? of course i am NOT serious, KEEP THE BEAVER!!!!
grow up senator and stop failing history, this is not a kid’s school yard and stop acting like children.
i hope this leads to the real issue. the senate serves no purpose.
we need an elected senate and the right to boot these bums out if they are not doing their job. anyone else in our society can be fired. we need to FIRE HER! how much time did she waste on this idea? funny how a name with the heritage of ‘eaton’ does not know the first thing about the history of this country.
Not directed at smart canucks, or this post, but directed at Senator Nicole Eaton is the following:
I’m angry that I have wasted 30 seconds even thinking about this. Go find something more important to Canadians, or someone else in the world that is in desperate need of help. When life is easy for everyone, and no one has any problems then perhaps cause problems that don’t exist like weighting the pros and cons of having the image of the beaver versus a polar bear. But until that happens, spend your time in an area that is productive. Or at least if you must waste your time, spend it ________ (insert something considered a waste of time) and not creating issues that didn’t previously exist.
I put the insert part because I don’t want to claim that anyone’s favorite pastime is a waste of time – I get it everyone enjoys something different. But creating problems that don’t already exist is really pointless.
Pft! Can a polar bear cut down a tree with his teeth? Didn’t think so.
Apparently this woman is upset about the beaver because she has a cottage up north and the beavers in the lake destroy her precious dock every year….really? what a petty woman.
Email the Prime Minister and tell him what you think. Online petitions are nice and well, but since most of them have also been signed by Daffy Duck, Donald and Mickey (not to mention Elvis) – they don’t hold much weight.
http://www.parl.gc.ca/parlinfo/Files/Parliamentarian.aspx?Item=0218bf67-ef3a-4a8d-8ab4-0229e4fcaa54&Language=E&MenuID=Lists.Members.aspx&MenuQuery=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parl.gc.ca%2Fparlinfo%2FLists%2FMembers.aspx%3FParliament%3D1924d334-6bd0-4cb3-8793-cee640025ff6
Great…..give the rest of the world another misconception about our Country. When was the last time an average Canadian saw a Polar Bear other than at the zoo? Canada is not a frozen tundra with igloo’s and dog sleds so let’s just keep the busy beaver as our national animal where it has earned it’s rightful place in our hearts!
This Senator obviously has far to much time and money on her hands!
In this economy it’s absolutely ridiculous to debate this and encourage changes which will cost us all money!
The beaver is one of the reasons our country survived in the first place!
It’s found all across this great land and is a symbol of endurance!!
Senator: has Coca-Cola promised you something in return for your ridiculous actions???
PS…signed the petition, emailed harper and passed both along!
How absolutely insane!!!!
I think we should keep the beaver and rather than wasting money trying to change it that money could be used to try and save the polar bear.The image of a bear as a country symbol as a mascot was used for RUSSIA so a bear has been done its old news too! The polar bear was also used for Calgary Olympics so really nothing new. Now if the senator dons a wetsuit and yanks the Ogopogo up from its depths in Kelowna or cracks open a Kokanee and lures a Bigfoot in there will not be a “new animal” so why waste money and time get to work on stuff we really need!