The desire of ethnic
French Canadians for a distinctive flag was longstanding. Other flags that had been used included the flag (a horizontal green, white and red
tricolour, which became the flag of the
Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society), as well as the French tricolour. The direct predecessor of the modern was created by Elphège Filiatrault, a parish priest in
Saint-Jude, Quebec. mention that it was the
Union Flag that flew over the
Parliament Building until January 21, 1948, not a blue or red ensign. In addition, in 1938, at the opening of a mining school in
Val-d'Or, the flag used to represent the Quebec government was a banner of arms. This was done at the behest of public servant Burroughs Pelletier, who had been told that the Ministry wanted a symbol but were unsure as to what should be used. In 1947, an independent member of the Legislative Assembly,
René Chaloult, demanded a new provincial flag to displace the unpopular (amongst some segment of the population of Quebec) Union Jack and
Canadian Red Ensign. Various ideas were discussed between Chaloult,
Lionel Groulx and
Maurice Duplessis. One such idea involved incorporating a red maple leaf (later to be adopted for the flag of Canada). Pelletier was also asked to present a few proposals to Duplessis, none of which were adopted. He was however consulted about what became the present design. On January 21, 1948, the new flag was adopted and was flown over the Parliament Building that very afternoon. Apparently, it was the
Carillon flag that flew that day, because the modern (with the fleurs-de-lis repositioned upright to their modern configuration in correspondence with the rules of
heraldry) was not available until February 2. The flag was adopted by
order-in-council, and the news was presented to the Legislative Assembly more or less as a . Opposition leader
Adélard Godbout expressed his approval, as did Chaloult. A law governing the usage of the flag was later officially adopted by the Quebec Parliament on March 9, 1950. A more recent version of such a law was adopted in 2002. A 2001 survey by the
North American Vexillological Association ranked the as the best provincial or territorial flag, and the third-best of the flags of all U.S. and Canadian provinces, territories and states, behind the flags of
New Mexico and
Texas respectively. Likewise, the flag is highly popular in Quebec, and it is often seen displayed at many private residences and commercial buildings. The flag of Quebec bears a close resemblance to both the French
Châlons-en-Champagne city coat of arms and the Spanish
Morcín municipality flag, which use similar (though unrelated) designs but with differing colours. The flag of Quebec was the basis for the jerseys of the
Quebec Nordiques, which included the same shade of blue, the fleurs-de-lis and white stripes. ==See also==