Today, and you can be forgiven for not knowing this until very recently, is officially Flag Day in Canada. It’s the 60th anniversary of the day on which the law adopting George Stanley’s design came into force.
Earlier this week, all five of the living former prime ministers joined in on a statement urging Canadians to fly the flag proudly “as never before” today to show determination and pride in the face of a rogue U.S. president’s appalling belligerence.
Few of us will have needed the hint, although the display of unity from genuine political enemies was poignant. “The five of us come from different parties. We’ve had our share of battles in the past. But we all agree on one thing: Canada, the true north, strong and free, the best country in the world, is worth celebrating and fighting for,” said Stephen Harper and Joe Clark, two very different kind of conservatives; said warring Liberals Jean Chretien and Paul Martin; said Kim Campbell.
Donald Trump’s trade war and “51st state” musings have brought out a little of the worst of us — booing a familiar anthem because of its belligerent leader is, well, unCanadian — but so much more of the best. We are suddenly, thrillingly patriotic, rallying around the world’s best flag as our neighbours work through some issues.
Flag Day was proclaimed in 1996, back when the Liberals were the party of the flag and wanted you to remember it. We have, for better or worse, outlived the immediate relevance of such partisan gambits — and we have also now outlived a period in which the flag, along with other symbols of nationalistic devotion, became objects of suspicion and shame.
This was the week the full ideological spectrum embraced the flag without hesitation again — and it was a beautiful thing. The Maple Leaf has always stood for an aspirational nation.
Sixty years on, the Canadian people have taken it for themselves, wholly and unconditionally. It’s yours, it’s ours, and that jerk up the road who has unspeakable political opinions — well, it’s his, too.
Sovereign states are, in an important way, branding enterprises. And there is no getting around the awesome design genius of our flag: its simplicity and distinctiveness have given it a power all its own. We should, if nothing else, thank God every day that we adopted one in the mid-1960s, when modernism still co-existed with good taste. In a time of new-found relevance for national flags, we have shown up equipped with an undeniably wonderful one.
National Post