The city flag of Toronto, also known as the Toronto flag, was adopted by Toronto City Council and was designed by Renato De Santis and includes a white outline of Toronto City Hall on a blue field, and a red maple leaf at the base of the towers.
The first flag of Toronto was adopted by the former City of Toronto in 1967 and included the city's coat of arms on a blue and white field. However, that flag was replaced by De Santis' design in 1974, a design that remained in use until 1998, when the former city was amalgamated into the new City of Toronto. A 1:2 proportioned version of De Santis' flag was adopted by the new City of Toronto in 1999.
Description
thumb|[[William Lyon Mackenzie (fireboat)|William Lyon Mackenzie a fireboat of Toronto Fire Services, with an ensign variant of the flag of Toronto]]
The flag of Toronto includes a white outline of the twin towers of the Toronto City Hall slightly left-of-centre on a blue field. The red maple leaf from the Canadian flag sits at the base of the towers, representing the city council chambers. The shape of the space above and between the towers suggests the letter 'T', the city's initial. The design adopted by the City of Toronto in 1999 is proportioned at 1:2, although its original design created by De Santis was proportioned at 2:3.
A variation of this flag is used by Toronto Fire Services fireboats. The marine ensign consists of the city's flag in the upper canton, with a lifebuoy on a two-tone blue background.
History
Former City of Toronto
An early flag of Toronto was designed by the New Zealand architect Eric Arthur and his son, and adopted in 1967 by the former City of Toronto. It featured the city's coat of arms imposed on a blue and white field. The design was criticized by the then mayor of Toronto, William Dennison.
Metropolitan Toronto
thumb|Flag for [[Metropolitan Toronto]]
The Metropolitan Toronto government eventually adopted its own flag, which consisted of the region's six-ringed emblem on the left side, representing Metropolitan Toronto's six regions centred vertically on a blue and green background. Use of the Metropolitan Toronto flag was discontinued in 1998 with the dissolution of Metropolitan Toronto and the amalgamation of its lower-tier municipalities into the new City of Toronto.
Proposals have been made to reintroduce a modified version of the Metropolitan Toronto flag as a new flag of Toronto, with its supporters claiming the design better represents the various areas amalgamated into the city.
See also
- List of Canadian flags
- List of city flags in North America