Adopted as the official tartan in 1974 through the British Columbia Tartan Act. The Scottish ancestry of this most westerly of Canada's provinces is highlighted by an early suggestion that it be called New Caledonia. That was discarded however because the name had already been used in the South Pacific and the name British Columbia was confirmed by official proclamation in 1858. Columbia, after the river of the same name, was the traditional name for the south of the colony. The tartan was designed by Earl K Ward of Victoria in 1967 as part of the 1966-67 centennial celebrations marking the creation of the province as one colony and in 1974 it was officially adopted as the provincial tartan. The Pacific Dogwood is the official flower of the province and is represented by white in the tartan. Green is for the BC forests which cover an area twice as big as all of the New England states and New York State. Blue is for the Pacific Ocean, red is for Canada's national emblem of the maple leaf and gold is for the sun and the crown in the provincial flag.