Here’s a simple way city hall can avoid future flaps over flags

Don’t fly a banner for anyone other than governments themselves

As a result of this week’s hysteria over the flying of a March for Life flag at Ottawa City Hall, the city is going to review its procedures for flag-waving and declarations of special days. Good idea, and the best plan would be to stop doing it.

Fans of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory will be familiar with Sheldon Cooper’s Fun with Flags videos, but they have nothing on the black humour of the city’s desperate response to public concern over the anti-abortion flag. Mayor Jim Watson was working so hard to throw staff under the bus that one feared for his back. Some city councillors were so upset it wouldn’t have been a surprise to see one of them shinny up the flagpole and cut the thing down. What a missed photo op.

While flying an anti-abortion flag was deemed by some to be a significant blow to women’s reproductive rights, the city’s proclamation of May 11 as National March for Life Day was somehow less controversial. Presumably that’s because no one pays the slightest attention to the city’s endless list of special day proclamations, while flags are visible.

As a measure of the harm done, the city has been declaring March for Life Day for years without a noticeable effect on women’s rights. For the March for Life group, though, things really couldn’t have worked out better. Suddenly a routine annual demonstration became a major news item.

Things didn’t end quite as happily for city councillors. Fortunately, this is easy to fix. The problem is not that the city picked the wrong cause to endorse, but that it picks causes at all. The city shouldn’t be in the approbation business.

The premise of declaring these special days and the oft-attendant flag-raisings is that the mayor represents all citizens. As this controversy demonstrates, that’s difficult to do.

The city has gotten so carried away with the idea of special days that the effect is the opposite of intended. Here we are, not yet five months into the year, and the city has had 39 special flag-raisings and 54 special days, week or months.

The city normally flies the Canadian, Ontario, Ottawa and Franco-Ontarian flags, which would seem quite sufficient. In addition, the city flies a flag for the national days of all countries with which Canada has diplomatic relations, as well as flags representing sundry causes. Special days, weeks and months are a little more wide open. My favourite was Feb. 7, which was John Candy Day. Too bad the comedian is no longer with us. He could have had some fun with our little controversy.

The demand for special days is so intense that groups sometimes have to share. On May 1, we had Global Love Day, Reconciliation Day, Physicians Day and Music Monday. Land surveyors have been recognized, dietitians got a nod and, of course, there was World Plumbing Day. April was Records and Information Management Month. May is International Audit Awareness Month. Who says we don’t know how to have fun in Ottawa?

At the root of all the flag-raising and proclaiming is city politicians’ insatiable desire to suck up. Recognizing other countries’ national days is more about local ethnic groups than it is about being the capital. Proclaiming a day for every cause under the sun says that our friendly local politicians value you.

Then there is the Order of Ottawa, the Mayor’s City Builder Awards and the keys to the city.

Sometimes it seems as if Ottawa City Hall hands out more honours than Buckingham Palace. There is nothing wrong with recognizing the achievement of Ottawans, but the city has debased the currency with overuse.

I am confident that Jim Watson will fix this problem. The mayor hates divisive issues and controversies of all types.

Keep it simple, Mr. Mayor. Four flags, that’s it. No proclamations.

We will never miss them. Randall Denley is an Ottawa commentator, novelist and former Ontario PC candidate. Contact him at randalldenley1@gmail.com