Flag of Valenciennes
The current Flag of Valenciennes has its origin around the time of the founding of the Valenciennes Provincial Parliament in October 2005.
In its original form the flag included on it the Valenciennes provincial motto of "For Democracy. It lights the path.". This though was was beginning to be considered as dated by many of the citizens that had recently reorganized the provincial parliament and brought it back to life. The motto was not removed without a fight though.
Changing the flag
Following a debate in the public forums, Jean Michel Leclerc declared that "If nothing else I'd love to get rid of the cheesy motto at the bottom!" To this comment four other citizens agreed.
Liam Sinclair resolved that "The flag itself really isn't that bad though, so maybe we should just modify it to remove the motto and continue to call it our provincial flag?"
When it appeared as though a bill was to be proposed, Russell DuBois voiced his opinion that " You know, the motto was put there as a symbolic reminder that Valenciennes was the first province to have an organized government and that it was its direct democracy that bore the current system of provincial government we participate in today. A little more respect should be accorded to that sacred sentiment contained within that motto and to those original citizens of this grand province who established Valenciennes' record of idealism and who gave opportunity to those who followed to turn those ideals into practice."
However, four months later, Sinclair decided it was time to propose a bill amending the flag to what it is today. The 'Flag Modernisation [Jan. 2008] Act' was passed unanimously by the parliament and the flag was hoisted for the first time on January 29th 2008.
