Few Canadian parliamentary issues have generated more heat and less light than the fight over a national flag. In May, Liberal Prime Minister Lester Pearson unfurled his choice for a flag three red maple leaves on a white ground, bounded by two blue bars. And for the next six weeks, Canada's House of Commons argued about it in a nerve-frazzling filibuster led by Tory Opposition Leader John Diefenbaker. At last Diefenbaker wryly allowed as how the debate was going nowhere. So why not submit the issue to a 15-man committee whose "unanimous decision" would be binding? Since...
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