Canada's Flag: From British to Canadian

In 1964, Parliamentary activity was brought to a halt as a battle between new and old, modern and tradition, past and current took place. Prime Minister Lester Pearson’s Liberals argued that a new symbol was needed for the country, an opinion vigorously opposed by John Diefenbaker’s Conservatives. It is an argument that continues to crop up in Britain’s former territories across the globe, whether it is Canada in 1965, or New Zealand in 2015. As Diefenbaker once said "In my opinion, sir, any flag which is determined upon for Canada must embody two ideas, one, Canada as a nation with a distinctive flag; the other, Canada within the empire." [...] Pearson's position on the Red Ensign can be perfectly summarized when he rose in the House of Commons during the free ¬vote for the new design in 1964 saying "The past can and must be honoured, but surely the past must not be permitted to prevent the changes necessary to adapt to the future...The British Empire has changed. We do not talk about the British Empire how in the sense we talked about it twenty¬-five or fifty years ago, and quite rightly so". Pearson was right: the Canada of 1965 was much different than the nation that had entered the 20th century.