Minister of Canadian Heritage James Moore speaks to the issues regarding the rights to fly the Canada flag during a press conference in the foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, Sept. 28, 2011. (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

 

A Conservative bill that would make it a crime to prevent someone from flying the Canadian flag is an unnecessary distraction when Parliament has real work to do, a New Democrat critic said Wednesday.

 

NDP MP Charlie Angus said the private member's bill, introduced by rookie backbencher John Carmichael, is akin to "tabloid-style politics" at a time of a looming economic crisis.

 

"I never knew, until John told me 30 seconds ago, that we had a flag crisis of people being intimidated and not being allowed to use the flag," Angus said on CTV's Power Play.

 

Angus, who is the NDP's ethics critic, also pondered why the government would support a new flag bill when it continues to buy Maple Leaf pins from China.

 

"People come to my office and see a flag that says Made in China,' so I've actually stopped giving out the Canadian flag pins, because my constituents say they don't want to see something made in China," Angus said.

 

"Why is this government shipping out our jobs overseas?"

 

In recent weeks, the Conservatives have changed the names of the air force and navy to once again include the word "Royal." Additionally, Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs, as well as all Canadian embassies abroad, are now required to display portraits of the Queen.

 

But the MP behind the private member's flag bill said it has been based on what Canadians want.

 

"I've received (a) plentiful number of emails and correspondence from Canadians who have been restricted from flying the flag," said Carmichael.

 

He said he's heard from veterans, military families and people living in condominiums about the issue.

 

"This is a symbol that Canadians have died for," he said. "To me, it's important."

 

Earlier, Carmichael presented his National Flag of Canada Act at a news conference and in the House of Commons.

 

But Liberal MP Gerry Byrne said the bill is unnecessary, and shows that the government is "trying to legislate against stupidity."

 

Byrne added that the bill could have all sorts of unintended consequences, such as a prisoner hanging a flag in a jail cell in order to block the view of jail guards.

 

"The day that the warden comes to take down that Canadian flag, that's who is going to be the prisoner's cell mate, because it's going to come with a two-year prison sentence."

 

http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110928/canadian-flag-bill-carmichael-110928/20110928/?hub=MontrealHome

Pretty inconsequential to be honest. But it makes sense.

Pretty inconsequential to be honest. But it makes sense.

How does it make sense to pass a bill about the flag, when the economy is going down?

How does it make sense to pass a bill about the flag, when the economy is going down?

Oh, I mean the bill itself is common sense, not the timing.

Yeah, that does make sense in itself, but I disagree with the bill. They should have consequences for preventing the flying of the flag, but not prison.

Well, I think two years in prison is a bit excessive. Another problem is property rights. If someone is living in an apartment building, I can see some problems being raised there.

 

Other than that, I don't know why they're discussing this when they could be focusing on much more pressing issues right now.

Last time I checked you send people to jail because they're a danger to society, not because they won't let someone fly a flag.

It's a nation pride thing. You can go to jail for a year if you desecration the American flag, but honestly though two years is to long for any country. I think 6 months is a far fairer punishment if we have to give jail time.

I think there should be no jail time, but a hefty fine.

Yeah, a fine would be sufficient I think.

I think that's seriously over doing the 'pride' thing. As far as I'm aware, there's no punishment over here for anything of the sort. It's stated that it should never be defaced, but they are just guidelines.

These Canadian Conservatives strike me as being, well, not very good Conservatives. The idea is to reduce unnecessary legislation.

 

I don't understand why people actually care about flags. They should be subject to the same laws as a blank piece of cloth of the same material and size.

These conservatives are particularly sneaky conservatives. But they've never been particularly big on the "small government" mantra the american republicans push.

How odd. I suppose I'll never really understand patriotism.

The conservatives are the worst party.

I'd rather see a fine for this than jail time. There is absolutely nothing about preventing someone from flying the flag that says to me that person needs to be removed from society for a while. It just seems like a make work project to waste money and see if we cant turn a few people into criminals while we're at it. Just make it a really large fine (like 1 grand).

 

And the timing is a little interesting. This is a make work bill, which doesn't look good when there are more pressing issues to be tackled. Last time I checked, we weren't suffering a huge wave of patriotism that would make something like this relevant.

 

It also seems to me that there are an incredible number of places where it would be dangerous to hand a flag. Aside from the jail scenario mentioned in the article, I am thinking of things like the windows of any vehicle and the door on your neighbours house, since they weren't very specific about how property would be included in this. People with more time than myself will think of plenty of ways to use this law to just piss people off.

Pointless bill.

 

Now, if you wanted to be a major dick and show why this bill sucks, go fly about 500 flags in front of your house.

Or we could go fly countless amounts of flags at the parliament, fly them in their way, to protest against that bill.

Box Parliament in with flags.

 

"Unofficial Flag Pride Day" -> camp Parliament for a week.