Chapter 4
Mackenzie King and the Flag,1945-1946

Lacroix, a fiftyyearold nonveteran concluded his comments by reading

a letter from a Toronto overseas army veteran, Gordon E. Lewis:

I commend you on your action to have symbols or devices of

other countries eliminated from the new Canadian flag.

A survey of copies of the Canadian Army newspaper for the

month of December 1945, will reveal that the servicemen of

this latest war do not want either the symbols of the United

Kingdom or old France on the new Canadian flag.

This new flag will be the flag of the younger generation and

it is my belief that the younger generation want only a symbol

of loyalty to Canada.

In these days of discovery of loyalties having precedence over

loyalty to Canada, the flag of no other country has any right as

part of the flag of Canada.26

The amendment was ruled out of order because it was entirely negative in

character and failed to suggest some design.

Mr. Blanchette, an Eastern Townships Liberal with service in the

United States Army proposed that the committee should accept a flag

proposed by the National Flag Clubs of Canada, red and white divided

diagonally and a green maple leaf:

It would appear that our country will be aptly symbolized by

a flag with the three colours, red, white and green, the first

representing the English origin of one part of the Canadian na-

tion; the second, the French origin of the other part; and third,

the soil of the dominion where two races live side by side.

These three colours have not been chosen haphazardly.

Several reasons militate in favour of the choice.

First, red seems to represent a colour typically English. It has

always been used to express the ideas of loftiness, royalty,

assurance, ardour and military virtues. Historically it has

always been preferred by the English nation. The Union Jack,

indeed, has the red St. George Cross. During the Hundred

Years' War the Bourguignons, allied to England, chose as

emblem the red Cross of St. Andrew. The war of the Two

Roses ended with the triumph of the red rose (the House of

Lancaster) which after that became an emblem typically

English.

White is a colour specifically French. It has always been con-

sidered as the symbol of probity and loyalty, virtues eminently

French. History proves that white is to the French what red is

to the English. The white cross was on the standards of the Ar-

magnacs during the Hundred Years' War. In the XVII century

it even became the sign of French allegiance on the flags of the

provinces of France (whatever may have been the colour of the

background). To the white of the House of the Bourbons was

added, during the revolution, the colours of the City of Paris

(blue and red) so as to create the actual French flag.

Green signifies fortune, hope and youth. Canada is a young

nation. The most promising future seems to be reserved to her,

thanks especially to her geographical situation and to the

wealth of her soil and mines. We are, hence, really justified in

representing the land which shelters the two elements of the

Canadian nation by the green.

. . . The flag is divided in the direction of the diagonal, placing

the red in the upper triangle so as to symbolize still better

the English allegiance of Canada, and the white in the lower

triangle which typifies the French element that served as the

corner stone in the building of our country. The fact that the

two colours touch each other from one extremity to the other,

indicates the union which exists throughout the country—"A

mari usque ad mare"—between the two races. . . . Some one

has written in connection with Wolfe and Montcalm:

"Valour gave them a common death; History a common

fame; Posterity a common monument."

Let us give to the descendants of both Wolfe and Montcalm

a common national flag.27

Mr. Gingues of Sherbrooke supported the Blanchette amendment:

We are going to select a flag not only for a few months or a

few years, but for centuries to come. Being of French origin for

the Province of Quebec, I am pleased to say that for once, on a

national issue, our people did not ask us to keep the fleurdelis

on the flag, not to keep anything there which would symbolize

the origin of our race in this country. They asked us to give to

Canada a distinctive national flag. They asked us, although

they have all kinds of admiration for the Union Jack not to

have the Union Jack on that flag. I personally have all the admiration

a man can have for the Union Jack. I know of its contribution

through the centuries past in maintaining freedom

throughout the world; and I know that when war broke out, if

it had not been for the British Royal Navy, this northern hemisphere

would not exist anymore as a democracy. . . . I want to

put myself on record as supporting the selection of an emblem