Great Canadian Flag Debate on December 15, 1964. It resulted in the adoption of the "Maple Leaf" as the Canadian national flag. The flag was inaugurated on February 15, 1965, and since 1996, February 15 has been commemorated as National Flag of Canada Day. For much of its post-Confederation history, Canada used both the Royal Union Flag (Union Jack) as its national flag, and the Canadian Red Ensign as a popularly recognized and distinctive Canadian flag. The first Canadian Red Ensigns were used in Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald's time. The Governor General at the time of Macdonald's death, Lord Stanley, wrote to
The King and Country debate King and Country, and you will notice that no one, not Chamberlain, not Halifax, has asked us to". Telford Taylor, chief United States prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, wrote "the 'King and Country' debate was a colorful reflection of the British temper between the two great wars. Exhausted and disgusted by the prolonged bloodbath in Flanders Fields, wracked by internal economic strains and already tiring of the burdens of empire, neither the people nor their leaders were in any mood to embark on new crusades". Sixty years after the event, Digby mused, "It was just a debate. I don't know