Fly This
The Globe and Mail - October 4, 2011
What readers think - Letters to the editor
Fly this
At first blush, the National Flag of Canada Act sounds like a patriotic idea (Flag And Queen In Moderation – Oct. 3). Who could be against a law that protects the right to fly the Canadian flag?
I saluted the flag many times during my 26 years of service in the Canadian Forces. I now practise condominium law and I can predict, with certainty, that Bill C-288 will cause a flap.
The problem is not with the bill’s laudable intention, but with its execution. It does not limit its scope to property owned by the person who intends to fly the flag. Feuding neighbours might erect flagpoles on their neighbour’s property, claiming their right to do so. Or they might erect dozens of flags in their front yard in sheer spite.
Bill C-288 as currently drafted will conflict with the Condominium Act. It is very common for condominium boards to require unit owners to remove satellite dishes and antennae that have been attached to the exterior of condos.
Owners are never happy about having to take stuff down. What about attaching a Canadian flag to a satellite dish or a TV antenna? This would turn the flag into a bargaining chip, threatening those opposing flying the flag with a two-year jail term.
Raymond H. Mikkola, lieutenant-colonel (retired), Mississauga, Ont.