Flag-bearers be careful what you wish for.

Want to get somebody riled up? Stomp on his or her flag. There are serious flags like your country's ensign and lesser flags like those for provinces, cities, football teams or retailers, which act more like product placements than big ideas. No one is going to war, flying a Toys "R" Us flag.

Actually, running a flag up the pole in Quebec in the last 10 years has been a product placement program at some cost to the country and certain politicians (see Sponsorship Scandal).

There are seasonal flags like the Toronto Maple Leaf's flag that flies until the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs most years, and white flags that are presented when you surrender.

Flags speak when they are at half-mast to indicate mourning, or brought out during a car race to put things on hold.

Flags are symbols and when you are playing with symbols you need to travel with care.

In October, John Rowswell, the mayor of Sault Ste. Marie, decided it was time to talk about a flag for Northern Ontario. This stuff is not for the faint of heart.

The occasion was the Mayor's Luncheon at the annual Northern Ontario Business Awards gala dinner (our 18th), which was held in the Sault.

I'm sorry to say I had to leave the luncheon before the fireworks started. Vic Power, mayor of Timmins, thought it was a complete waste of time and was happy to tell anyone who would listen. Lynn Peterson, mayor of Thunder Bay, thought it was sending the wrong message. Rowswell, who is determined and also has a thick skin, seemed unperturbed by the hornet's nest, but it probably won't be brought up again any time soon.

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From John's point of view, he and the mayors of Northern Ontario's larger communities have been talking about branding the North for a couple of years now, so why not just get ourselves a flag.

I don't think it is such a bad idea to have a flag, but I agree we could waste a lot of valuable time talking about it.

To want a flag is to want recognition. That is a legitimate aspiration for Northern Ontario.

To get to the heart of the matter, you have to ask the question, would it make sense for Northern Ontario to be a separate province?

The answer is yes, it does make sense to think about being a separate province if you live in Northern Ontario, but it makes little sense if you don't. It won't happen.

Is it better to be a have-not province like Prince Edward Island (we have more people and territory than P.E.I) or be a "have-not part of a have province like Ontario?"

Hard to say. The problems don't change.

The Maritimes have depopulated about as fast as we have, so there doesn't appear to be any great advantage on the face of it. The difference is that you have the opportunity to be in charge of natural resources, which is the source of our wealth.

Of course, if Stephen Harper and Paul Martin have anything to say about it, provinces will soon control almost everything.

We are entering the era of asymmetrical federalism. Check synonyms for asymmetrical in your ever-faithful thesaurus and you find such comforting words as irregular, lopsided, uneven and unbalanced. The question is what does being a province now imply?

My own view is that the greatest danger we face is that someone might wave a wand and make us a province.

Can you imagine if we had 90 days to pick a capital city? I don't need to tell you. It would be ugly. Be careful what you wish for.

But I digress.

Becoming a province is a non-starter. Lets focus on the flag.

John, the way to get a flag is to employ an old space-selling technique in the newspaper business.

In the newspaper business, you don't ask the client if he/she wants to advertise.

You give the client two great creative ideas and ask which one they prefer.

If you want a flag, design two great flags and send copies to each municipality across the North and ask them to choose their favourite.

When the votes are in, report which one was selected.

There. You'll have a flag without having to answer the messy question of whether or not anyone wants one.

Michael Atkins is president of Northern Ontario Business Ltd. He can be reached by e-mail to [e-mail]