Canada officially had a new flag starting on this date in 1945. The cabinet of Prime Minister Mackenzie King passed an Order-in-Council making the declaration. And so it was, and with cabinet’s stamp of approval, the Red Ensign would fly above Canada and her institutions until February 1965 when the Maple Leaf would replace it.When the Maple Leaf was first raised above Parliament Hill 20 years later, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, who had led the charge to replace the Red Ensign, said Parliament’s move in no way disrespected the proud role the Red Ensign had played in our nation’s history. “The patriotic motives that have led Parliament to adopt a new Canadian Flag do not include disrespect for our past or for the emblems of that past,” Pearson said. “We salute the future, but we honour the past on which the future rests.”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 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.
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 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.