Great Canadian Flag Debate - Special Flag Committee

Special Flag Committee

On September 10, 1964, a committee of 15 Members of Parliament was appointed. It was made up of seven Liberals, five Conservatives and one each from the New Democratic Party (NDP), the Social Credit Party and the Ralliement créditiste.

The Committee members were as follows:

The Conservatives at first saw this event as a victory, for they knew that all previous flag committees had suffered miscarriages. During the next six weeks the committee held 35 tormenting meetings. Thousands of suggestions also poured in from a public engaged in what had become a great Canadian debate about identity and how best to represent it.

3,541 entries were submitted: many contained common elements:

• 2,136 contained maple leaves,
• 408 contained Union Jacks,
• 389 contained beavers, and
• 359 contained Fleurs-de-lys.

At the last minute, Matheson slipped a flag designed by historian George Stanley into the mix. The idea was said to have come to him while standing in front of the Mackenzie Building of the Royal Military College of Canada, while viewing the college flag flying in the wind. The design put forward had a single red maple leaf on a white plain background, flanked by two red borders, based on the design of the flag of the Royal Military College. The voting was held on October 22, 1964, when the committee’s final contest pitted Pearson’s pennant against Stanley’s. Assuming that the Liberals would vote for the Prime Minister’s design, the Conservatives backed Stanley. They were outmanoeuvered by the Liberals who had agreed with others to choose the Stanley Maple Leaf flag. The Liberals voted for the red and white flag, making the selection unanimous (14–0).