1. The colour of The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery is red. Blue has traditionally been the colour of an artilleryman’s coat. The reason for this has been lost to historical record but it has been suggested that blue was a preferable colour due to the dirty nature of working with black powder guns, and that cavalry and infantry alone were entitled to wear the royal scarlet being the servants of the sovereign. Artillerymen, being originally the civilian employees of the various officials of the ordnance, did not enjoy this privilege and so adopted the complimentary colour of blue. This distinction was eventually recognized and perpetuated when clothing regulations were formalized, with blue being generally accepted as belonging to the artillery.
2. The Regimental colour, red, is not used on full dress or mess dress. The correct distinguishing colour of the Artillery is scarlet. The distinguishing colour is used for facings, cuffs, trouser stripes, busby bags, and similar applications. These applications of scarlet reflect the traditional royal facings on artillery uniforms and have nothing to do with the Regimental colour.
3. The Artillery uses red over blue on regimental flags, standards, pennants, signs, and wherever else artillery colours are required. The colours are a direct extract from the British Flag and are referred to as Union Jack Red and Blue. Information on the proper colour and material for the production of flags, pennants, standards, etc, are available from RHQ RCA.