Great Canadian Flag Debate red flag for the nation's centennial celebrations. It was designed to appeal to those who were used to the Red Ensign and had not yet become accustomed to the Maple Leaf Flag. The Canadian Red Ensign itself can sometimes be seen today in Canada, often in connection to veterans' associations. In addition, the provinces of Manitoba and Ontario adopted their own versions of the Red Ensign as their respective provincial flags in the wake of the national flag debate. On the other hand, Newfoundland used the Union Flag as its provincial flag from 1952 until 1980; the blue triangles on
Great Canadian Flag Debate the opposition, Lester Pearson issued a press release on January 27, 1960, in which he summarized the problem and presented his suggestion as: ... Canadian Government taking full responsibility as soon as possible for finding a solution to the flag problem, by submitting to Parliament a measure which, if accepted by the representatives of the people in Parliament, would, I hope, settle the problem. The Progressive Conservative government of the time, headed by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, did not accept the invitation to establish a new Canadian flag, so Pearson made it Liberal Party policy in 1961, and part of