02.15.2015 10:14 AM

Happy flag day

When we were home in Calgary, during the NEP, someone burned the flag we had up on the roof.

“What should we do?” I asked my Dad, as we stood looking at what was left.

“Get another flag,” my Dad. “And we keep getting them until they stop.”

Not going to the Chretien flag rally today: it’s my Dad’s birthday. But if he were still here, we would all be going there together, because he loved Chretien. And the flag.

18 Comments

  1. Don McGowan says:

    Your father has and continues to be a great & guiding influence for you. Every time you share something about him, I grow to better understand you. Your absence at today’s Flag celebration is understandable with today being your Dad’s Birthday. If you could accomodate today’s event, it would be a great way to celebrate both your Dad and the Flag. Hope to see you there.

  2. Matt says:

    Interesting tidbit in the Sun today.

    I knew a new flag is flown on the peace tower on Parliament Hill every day.

    What I didn’t know is the flag they take off every morning gets sent to the public.

    There is a 31 YEAR waiting list to get a flag that has flown on the peace tower.

  3. Jack McLeod says:

    I was part of the Colour Party that lowered the White Ensign at HMCS Churchill, the Ensign that had been proudly flown from jack staffs on seagoing ships and on masts at every Naval Base and station for decades. To many, there was a reluctance to raise what many perceived as the flag of the Liberal Party of Canada.
    Enough said!

  4. terence quinn says:

    Chretien made one of his classic speeches full of innuendos about today’s conservatives. Seems like the event was well attended as I watched most of it on the LPC site.

  5. socks clinton says:

    Stephen Harper only gave a written statement

  6. Robin says:

    George Stanley, from Calgary, is credited with proposing the design of Canada’s new flag 50 years ago.

    http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/creator-of-canadas-maple-leaf-flag-was-proud-of-his-calgary-roots

    Despite half a century, some petulant Conservatives huff that it is a flag that was forced through Parliament by a Liberal government despite public opposition, however, it is important to remind people that, although there was a Liberal government, it was a minority government, therefore, the support of some opposition Members of Parliament was required for the new flag to be adopted. And, it is nice to remember that a Calgarian played a creative and influential role in the final selection.

  7. James Smith says:

    We missed you at the event today.
    -I was struck as we waited for the event to start how few of the MP’s and Candidates for MP were middle aged white guys like me.
    – Both Mr T & Mr C made reference to how much Canada has changed for the better since our flag has been adopted.
    – The present PM has spent $5million celebrating the colonial past in events marking the war of 1812 and only $5 celebrating 50years of our flag

    When we lived in Black Diamond Alberta in the 80’s I replaced my flag (with hand painted ones each time bigger than the last) three times before I finally gave up & moved to Calgary.

  8. Kelly says:

    We are not British anymore. And never will be again. We’re Canadians and we have our own flag. A flag that symbolizes freedom and an open door to the world. Since the end of our status as a colony we quite literally have come to be defined by the fact that we come from everywhere. We’re protected by the charter and the rule of law. The fact that the current crop of fakers running the government rather choose to celebrate a British war and ignore our flag and fight the supreme court and pass illegal laws that continuously get struck down says everything one needs to know about our current (temporary) dark age. Soon though it will be undone. All of it. And within a decade there will be almost no evidence that the Harper government ever existed.

  9. Al in Cranbrook says:

    I remember all the controversy surrounding the adoption of a new flag. Some of it was about what a new flag should like, but a lot more was about breaking with tradition and history symbolized by the original. That’s never easy to do.

    Most commenting on this forum probably weren’t even born yet.

    That said, they picked the best design by far, as I’ve grown to appreciate it.

    Harper’s words were very appropriate. It would not surprise me to learn that he kept a low profile specifically because it was an achievement by previous Liberal government, and may not have wanted to be perceived as capitalizing on it, and thereby possibly politicizing it any manner.

    And…

    That “British” war played a helluva big part in the early days of what finally became a nation we know as Canada. Thumbing one’s nose at it and our British heritage (like a dumb jerk) doesn’t diminish the fact of it, nor make us any the more Canadian.

    Indeed, I recently discovered, during my ancestry research, that my great, great, great grandfather was a stone mason, and immigrated to Canada circa 1827 specifically to work on the canals in and around the Chatham area of Quebec. The canals were built precisely as result of the War of 1812, and deemed, by the British, a precaution should Americans become militarily adventurous yet again, and block shipping in the St. Lawrence into the southern Ontario region. Same reason the Rideau Canal was built, which he also may have worked on.

    • ben burd says:

      “Harper’s words were very appropriate. It would not surprise me to learn that he kept a low profile specifically because it was an achievement by previous Liberal government, and may not have wanted to be perceived as capitalizing on it, and thereby possibly politicizing it any manner.”

      Keep on believing this Al and you will be as delusional as Harper. Him believing everybody likes what he’s doing and you just sucking the fumes.

      No really read what you have written and then compare it to the facts about Harper and his attitude to celebrations of a Conservative kind and the politicisation of any Tory history. He can’t wait to celebrate John A’s farts and a war that was an English, and we paid millions on them.

    • smelter rat says:

      Oh Al, you are soooo delusional if you seriously believe what you just said.

    • Michael says:

      “may not have wanted to be perceived as capitalizing on it, and thereby possibly politicizing it any manner.”

      Al, do you believe what you write? Harper has made a career out of politicizing and capitalizing on things. Put the Kool Aide down and back away slowly. 😉

      I understand that the War of 1812 is a large part of Canadian history. And maybe my perspective as a first generation Canadian and having only lived in Canada for 45 years, but I do not understand the almost fetish like glorification of all things British.

      Was it really necessary to spend $50 million on celebrating the War of 1812, but nothing on the 30th anniversary of the repatriation of the constitution. I would argue that it is a much bigger part of who and what Canada is today. Even though it was done by a Liberal prime minister, I would think that conservatives would want to mark this event. The same goes for our flag. Love or hate it, It is a uniquely Canadian symbol, and one that marks our emergence as a country. What other country, what other group other than Canadian conservatives cling to the British history so dearly?

      And was it really necessary to put “Royal” back into the names of our armed forces branches? I would just as soon get rid of the monarchy all together.

    • Michael says:

      And to add:

      If Conservatives want to solidify the gains the minister of curry has made in the ethnic communities, it will not be done by celebrating our British heritage. I assure you new immigrants do not have a conservative deference to the monarchy or anything British.

      If Conservatives want to keep the ethnic communities in the fold, they best start celebrating those things that make us uniquely Canadian. You know, like the flag, the Charter, the Constitution..

    • socks clinton says:

      The Irish did most of the grunt work on the Rideau Canal system while their British masters sat back and drank their tea. Hundreds of these Irish workers died from malaria and buried unceremoniously in unmarked graves. Only the Chinese railway workers out West were treated worse. Likewise in the Chatham area the grunt work was done by the French-Canadians which could explain the frosty relations between French and Engilsh Canada.

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