Ontario residents in a flap over flag ban
Last Updated: Friday, September 22, 2006 | 12:44 PM ET
CBC News
Armed with flags and patriotic enthusiasm, residents in Stouffville, Ont., launched a battle against a condominium corporation that barred the flying of the Maple Leaf during most of the year.
At a meeting in Stouffville last week, about 140 residents met with the condo board governing the Ballantrae Golf and Country Club. Oak-Ridges Markham MP Lui Temelkovski said many of his constituents wrote to him, asking him to intervene in the matter.
Temelkovski said the condominium corporation's bylaws deemed the flag a "festive ornament" that could only be flown in June and July and at no other time of the year. This categorization incensed many residents.
"One of the men who came to see me from Ballantrae said, 'Lui, I was in the Air Force and I retired from the Air Force and I'm a veteran from the Second World War. I will take it to the Supreme Court if I have to,' " Temelkovski told the CBC.
"This is not any kind of a symbol — the flag is a national identity and it should be able to be flown," he said.
The condo board reversed its decision, allowing residents to fly their flags at any time. A representative from the Ballantrae Golf and Country Club was not available for comment.
