The Flag Shop in Dartmouth, N.S. is typically busy preparing orders for Canada Day, but this year, they’re seeing an unexpected surge in demand for the red Maple Leaf.
“You see people who are saying, ‘I’ve never bought a flag in my life and I’m coming in for one,'” said Alyssa Hartlen, the store’s assistant manager.
“So you can tell people want to show their pride in Canada for sure.”
In an open letter this week, all of the country’s living former prime ministers asked Canadians to fly the Canadian flag this Saturday — National Flag Day — as a show of solidarity in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
“In recent weeks, we’ve witnessed a surge of Canadian pride and patriotism. In the face of threats and insults from Donald Trump, Canadians have come together to express their love for our country and their determination to defend Canada’s values and our independence,” reads the letter signed by Joe Clark, Kim Campbell, Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin and Stephen Harper.
“The five of us come from different parties. We’ve had our share of battles in the past. But we all agree on one thing: Canada, the true north, strong and free, the best country in the world, is worth celebrating and fighting for.”
In addition to 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs on Canadian goods, Trump has signed an executive order for tariffs on Canadian-made steel and aluminum.
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The American president has also made repeated comments about Canada becoming their “51st state,” a notion that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a “non-starter.”
At the Flag Shop, manager Carole Aylard said she hasn’t seen the shop this busy since people wanted to purchase Nova Scotia Strong flags in response to the Portapique mass casualty. They sold 300 flags on Wednesday, and most of them were the Canadian flag.
“I’ve always said we have the best customers in the world,” she said.
“It’s been exciting to see that people are taking this to heart, that with everything that’s been happening politically and the scare tactics, it means that people are saying, ‘No, no, we’re proud Canadians.”
Line Burke, who stopped by the shop Thursday to pick up a flag, said it was important to show solidarity during this tense time.
“We’re proud to be Canadian and we just want to be able to show that through our house,” said Burke. “So that everybody sees it and knows that we’re proud.”
For Hartlen, she hopes the renewed interest remains strong.
“I hope it ignites a fire under us,” she said.
“We won’t bow down to anybody. We’re ready to take on what’s coming at us, whatever that may be in the future. We stand as a whole nation.”
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