Edward Chadwick

... it would certainly seem that the Maple Leaf ...
is pre-eminently the proper badge to appear on our flag.1
Edward M. Chadwick, (1896)

http://fraser.cc/FlagsCan/Nation/CanFlag.html


The one man who is most responsible for our present Canadian flag was John Matheson, the Liberal member for Leeds County in Ontario. On February 5, 1963, in the flickering twilight of the Diefenbaker regime, Matheson had placed two questions on the order paper: "Does Canada have national colours, and if so what are these colours? Does Canada have a national emblem and, if so, what is that emblem?" Both answers were to be found in the Canada's 1921 Grant of Arms. The national colours were red and white, as found on the torse and mantling, and the national emblem was three maple leaves conjoined on one stem, as found in the base of the arms. Matheson, a student of heraldry, already knew the answers, but he had been laying the groundwork for the actions of a Liberal government in the succeeding months.