Great Canadian Flag Debate a blue background. Pearson preferred this choice, as the blue bars reflected Canada's motto, "From Sea to Sea". On June 15, 1964, Pearson opened the parliamentary flag debate with a resolution: Pearson sought to produce a flag which embodied history and tradition, but he also wanted to excise the Union Jack as a reminder of Canada's heritage and links to the United Kingdom. Hence, the issue was not whether the maple leaf was pre-eminently Canadian, but rather whether the nation should exclude the British-related component from its identity. Diefenbaker led the opposition to the Maple Leaf flag, arguing for the
Great Debate (astronomy) took part in a joint discussion that evening. Much of the lore of the Great Debate grew out of two papers published by Shapley and by Curtis in the May 1921 issue of the "Bulletin of the National Research Council". The published papers each included counter arguments to the position advocated by the other scientist at the 1920 meeting. In the aftermath of the public debate, scientists have been able to verify individual pieces of evidence from both astronomers but on the main point of the existence of other galaxies, Curtis has been proven correct. Shapley was arguing in favor