The British flag has as much business being flown for a Canadian holiday as it does being on the moon. None! Ottawa should stop ordering it flown, nationwide, for today's May holiday.

Despite its name, Victoria Day is not about Queen Victoria. What used to be a celebration of her birth has changed. For a few years, it was Empire Day, but its purpose for nearly 70 years, now, has been to mark the birth of the current sovereign...of Canada, not the U.K. While Elizabeth II has always lived in Britain, the office of "queen of Canada" is independent of the British crown. 

So it's bewildering that the Department of Canadian Heritage orders all federal buildings to fly the British flag on this day: Airports, military bases, federal courthouses, national parks, armouries, post offices, Coast Guard stations, RCMP posts, federal harbours, research stations...you name it! And, while the directive technically applies only to federal properties, provincial and municipal governments often take their cues from Ottawa on flag matters.

That's why it's important the feds get it right. Flying the British flag confuses two distinct and legally separate crowns, and has us marking OUR holiday by flying the flag of a foreign realm. If any flag should fly on a Canadian holiday, it's Canada's, not another country's.

Moreover, today is National Patriots' Day in Quebec, honouring those who fought and died in the Rebellion of 1837 to give our nation democratic government, in direct opposition to the British crown. Flying British flags on the day is an affront to that worthy commemoration.

The UK flag is upside down on the moon, here. An inverted flag is the universal sign of distress, and indeed our flag directives transgress a proud nation by making it look like a colony. Sign, but also *share* this petition to have our antiquated flag rules catch up to the space age.