Great Canadian Flag Debate the party's election platform in the 1962 and 1963 federal elections. During the election campaign of 1963, Pearson promised that Canada would have a new flag within two years of his election. No previous party leader had ever gone as far as Pearson did, by putting a time limit on finding a new national flag for Canada. The 1963 election brought the Liberals back to power, but with a minority government. In February 1964, a three-leaf design was leaked to the press. At the 20th Royal Canadian Legion Convention in Winnipeg on May 17, 1964, Pearson faced an unsympathetic audience
Great Canadian Flag Debate of Canadian Legionnaires and told them that the time had come to replace the Canadian Red Ensign with a distinctive maple leaf flag. The Royal Canadian Legion and the Canadian Corps Association wanted to make sure that the new flag would include the Union Flag as a sign of Canadian ties to the United Kingdom and to other Commonwealth countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, that use the Union Flag in the quarter of their national flag. Lester Pearson's preferred choice for a new flag was nicknamed "the Pearson Pennant". Pearson’s first design featured the three maple leaves on