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In large bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy; beat in sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and sa< stir into butter mixture in 3 additions.

Divide dough in half; shape into discs. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate for 1 hour. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate for up to 24 hours.) Between waxed paper or on floured surface, roll out dough, 1 disc at a time, to 1/4-inch (5 mm) thickness. With 3-inch (8 cm) maple leaf cookie cutter, cut out shapes, rerolling scraps. With spatula, place cookies, 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart, on parchment paper-lined or greased rimless baking sheets.

Bake in centre of 375°F (190°C) oven until light golden on bottoms and edges. Let cool on pans on racks for 1 minute. Transfer to racks; let cool. (Make-ahead: Layer between waxed paper in airtight container and store at room temperature for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 2 weeks.)

Icing: In bowl, beat meringue powder with water. Beat in icing sugar in 3 additions until stiff, about 4 minutes. Divide into 2 batches; tint 1 batch red with food colouring. Divide each batch into 2 batches. Thin 1 batch of red and 1 batch of white with 2 tsp to 1 tbsp (10 to 15 mL) water to make spreadable consistency; cover remaining thick batches with damp towel and set aside. Spread half of the cookies with thinned white icing and half with red. Let dry, about 30 minutes.

Spoon reserved white icing into piping bag fitted with small (No. 3) plain tip. Pipe neatly around edges of red cookies. Pipe word Canada in centre of each. Repeat with reserved red icing and white cookies. Let dry, about 30 minutes. (Make-ahead: Layer between waxed paper in airtight container and store at room temperature for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 2 weeks.)