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No need for an eye exam - the Great Canadian Flag is smaller

No need for an eye exam - the Great Canadian Flag is smaller

The Great Canadian Flag might look a little smaller for the next few months.

The massive standard at the foot of Ouellette Avenue has been taken down for the season to protect it from weather damage. A smaller Maple Leaf will be fluttering in its place until gentler weather returns.

"The flag itself is very heavy ... when you couple that with freezing rain it can obviously put a lot of strain on the flag," explained Paul Giroux from the city's Parks Department.

"You've got to remember the speed that flag is travelling on the far corner away from the pole," he added. "If it's flapping in a 50 km/h breeze that flag could be travelling at a 100-200 km/h so with the heavy moisture and the freezing and the thaw it could put undue strain on the flag."

It takes a crew of three and a lift truck to raise and lower the larger flag, which measures 18-by-nine metres and weighs 45 kilograms.