On the occasion of National Flag Day last week, Conservative backbencher Jeff Watson celebrated everything that Canada has to be proud of from the last fifty years—managing in the process, either with or without irony, to both damn and confirm Mr. Ignatieff’s observation of some years ago.
On the occasion of National Flag Day last week, Conservative backbencher Jeff Watson celebrated everything that Canada has to be proud of from the last fifty years—managing in the process, either with or without irony, to both damn and confirm Mr. Ignatieff’s observation of some years ago.
Mr. Speaker, it was not the flag in days of yore; not Wolfe’s flag, nor Sir John A.’s. It was not the flag of Vimy or Passchendaele. It was not even the flag of Mr. Diefenbaker. Yet it is “our emblem dear.” When we welcomed the world at Expo in 1967, when we won the 1972 series against the Soviet Union, when we set a Winter Olympic record for gold medals last year in Vancouver, it was our flag.
We are proud to be here representing Canadians under our single red maple leaf raised 46 years ago. Well, most of us are proud. One MP, however, has said, and I quote: In the case of the Canadian flag, I cannot entirely forget that it is both my flag and a passing imitation of a beer label.
The Liberal leader should be ashamed of himself. We should all be proud to celebrate Flag Day. As one company said, “I am Canadian.”