McGuinty pushes ahead for new logo
From the Star
Critics say revamp just a waste of taxpayer money
Oct. 2, 2006. 01:00 AM
ROBERT BENZIE AND ROB FERGUSON
QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU
It's been panned by design critics, lampooned by the public, and attacked as a Liberal patronage "boondoggle" by political rivals, but Premier Dalton McGuinty loves Ontario's new trillium design.
"It's just a refreshing of the logo we've had in place for 30 years. We're not the same province we were 30 years ago," McGuinty said in an interview.
"It's important we refresh our look from time to time, not just for ourselves but for the international community," he said, admitting the controversy has become "water cooler" fodder.
Not to mention ammunition for Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory, who has his eyes set on the premier's office in the election coming Oct. 4, 2007.
"There are those people, I can understand, who are reluctant to part with tradition," McGuinty says. "I'm not one of those folks. I want to embrace the future and evolve as a society."
Last spring, the Liberals quietly replaced the familiar T-shaped trillium, which dates back to 1964, with an unusual new design that has been likened to both poison ivy and an aerial view of three men lounging in a hot tub.
A political firestorm erupted when the Toronto Star revealed Bensimon Byrne, the firm that does the Liberals' election advertising, created the revamped trillium logo at a cost of $219,000.
"Why don't you cancel this boondoggle?" Tory urged McGuinty last week in the Legislature.
Tory estimates it could cost $11 million just to replace the existing symbol on 3,500 government buildings and 10,000 vehicles.
"The fact is that if you were not changing this logo, you wouldn't have to spend that money at all," the PC leader said.
That's just the tip of the iceberg since the logo also must be changed on official documents, websites, stationery, and pamphlets.
Thousands of Ontarians have complained to McGuinty — most through a website set up by the Tories,
www.savethetrillium.ca — and graphic design experts have expressed disdain for the new logo.
NDP Leader Howard Hampton said the logo flap is proof the Liberals are skirting their own ban on government money being used for partisan political advertising.
In part, that's because the new design bears a strong resemblance to the trillium that appears in the dot on the "i" in the Ontario Liberal Party's trademark.
The premier, whose office approved the newfangled symbol over the objections of some cabinet ministers and senior Liberals who dismissed it as a meaningless re-branding exercise, said there would be little additional cost to taxpayers due to the change.
"We're replacing the logo on an ongoing basis, as and when the product in question calls for it," he said.
"If other people want to be excited by political prospects created or lost through the logo, fine, I'll let them deal with that. But I won't be distracted by it. I think it's a modest dimension of a government that's embracing the 21st century."
That said, McGuinty says he has no intention of altering Ontario's flag, joking that "if you think the logo can create controversy," changing the traditional red ensign would spark widespread outrage.
"A logo's one thing, a flag is quite another," he said.
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McGuinty is a complete dick. I had long ago decided to support Tory (man and party), and this just confirms my decision.
