This is a very big anniversary on the Canadian political history calendar.  It was, of course, on December 15, 1964, that the House approved Canada’s new flag after the turbulent and legendary flag debate. In my family, my late Milnes grandparents were split on the flag issue until the end of their days.  My Grandfather proudly took the “new” flag down at our family cottage each evening, and then proudly raised it each morning. My Grandmother, on the other hand, didn’t like the “new” flag and always called it “Pearson’s Pennant.” As for me, to honour both of them, I have been known to fly the old Red Ensign on my backyard flag pole once in awhile to make sure both my late Grandparents were happy! In a gesture I will never forget, then Prime Minister Stephen J. Harper, arranged for me to receive a Canadian flag (that had flown above the Peace Tower) to fly proudly from my flag pole when former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn, stayed overnight at my home in 2012.  I treasure that flag to this day. All Canadians can order a flag that has flown over the Peace Tower.  Fill out the form here and sit back and wait. The waiting list may mean that you will not receive one for at least 100 years but at least your descendants will! And, no, I am never giving up my own Peace Tower flag! Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist.  He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also proudly served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy.  A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.