Flag choice

No matter what Ottawa decides in the emotionally charged debate on lowering the flag when a Canadian solider dies, Alberta can continue to fly the flag at half mast for military deaths.
Opposition parties banded together and passed a motion to lower the flag on Parliament Hill as a symbolic gesture in such instances yesterday, but the Harper government has already skirted around the issue by sending it to a committee for further review.
In Alberta, the flag flies at half-mast at the Legislature Building every time a solider either born or stationed in Alberta is killed, said Norm Davies of the province’s protocol office.
The policy has been in effect for nearly two years and is independent of the controversy brewing over federal, he said.
“We don’t have to follow what the federal government does. There are times when we take the lead,” he said, mentioning how the flags were lowered after the Mayerthorpe tragedy when then-premier Ralph Klein requested it.
The flag debate emerged after a government report, released this week, recommended scaling back the number of times the flag is lowered at the Peace Tower.
No longer should soldiers be recognized in such a way, the report urged, quickly prompting special interest groups to express complete outrage over the proposal.
-steve.lillebuen@metronews.ca