I love the old red ensign. I hoist it up our flagpole every July 1st and leave it there for the whole month. My neighbours love it. (They're mostly crusty senior Canadian citizens, too.) As for the "Maple Leaf Forever", when I was a young lad I attended Alexander Muir public school (Toronto) for a few of my early education years. Mr. Muir wrote the song, and we all learned it. I heard that later, when Trudeau was elected, the name of the school was changed to Gladstone Avenue school (it's location). I guess Pierre didn't like the second line of the song.
I am American. But my maternal grandmother was born in Ontario, and my dad is 3rd generation from immigrants from French Canada. He is buried in a catholic cemetery in Massachusetts, and about half the headstones have French names.