Saturday, July 01, 2006

Happy Canada Day!

To all Canadians [and everyone else, too]... far and wide, Happy Canada Day!
In a matter of minutes, the Snowbirds, Canada's aerobatic team will be flying past my apartment and right over the Peace Tower of the Parliament Buildings, as shown here.
In case you are wondering why the flag on top of the Tower is blue in this instance, rather than the usual maple-leaf red-and-white... it is because the Governor-General will be in attendance, as always.
There is a long and lengthy history of flag etiquette that swings into effect, when this happens.
The Governor General's flag (it has a lion on it, holding a maple leaf in its paw) has precedence over all flags in Canada except The Queen's Personal Canadian flag and the flag of the Lieutenant Governor of a Province at the Lieutenant Governor's residence or on occasion when the Lieutenant Governor is performing his or her duties as The Queen's representative in the Province. The same provisions specified for the Sovereign's flag and other personal standards apply to the Governor General's flag.

That's probably way more than you want to know, right?
But basically, it's like, "Is the Governor General here? Hoist the blue one!"
At all other times, well, unless The Queen is in town, it's back to the basic red and white.

Happy 139th Birthday, Canada!
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2 comments:

  1. Happy Canada Day to you. I've always thought it's around October. Oh well...don't mind me, I'm always confused about lots of things in life. Your post reminds me of my copy of A Brief History of Canada, which has been sitting idly somewhere in the house! :)

    I'm reading WAR AND PEACE for class I teach starting Wednesday, and DANTE'S CLUB....hmmm your recommendations are getting better and better...keep them coming okay? Enjoy the weekend...

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  2. I am reading Pearl's latest book now, Matt.
    The Poe Shadow.
    It is excellent.
    Hey, Happy Independence Day [tomorrow]!

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Thank you for your words!