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A number of Defence Watch readers have emailed to question why there is still no main flag on the roof of National Defence headquarters in downtown Ottawa.

Back in August, Defence Watch received similar queries, with one reader noting the flag had been missing since June.

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At the time, Department of National Defence officials confirmed that the flag was no longer flying, but they said the situation was only temporary. The flag pole was to be fixed and DND was awaiting for some particular equipment to do that.

DND officials also pointed out that there are a number of flags flying in front of the headquarters (and there still are).

Fast forward to December and readers are still questioning why there is no flag.

Here is the answer that Defence Watch just received from Public Services and Procurement:

“Our Real Property Services contractor, Brookfield Global Integrated Solutions (BGIS) initiated a project to repair the flag pole mechanism, however, during an inspection of the flag pole other deficiencies were found,” stated department spokeswoman Jessica Kingsbury. A complete flagpole replacement was recommended. A Request for Proposal will be tendered in December with contract award in January 2016. Work will begin shortly thereafter to remove the existing 45 foot flag pole and anchor system and to replace it with a new system. The work is expected to be completed in early 2016.”