Licence plates and slogans, past and present

[Acajack]

Good bad and ugly. Go for it!

[Acajack]

I remember as a kid:

SEAT BELTS SAVE
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

They were phased out before my time but New Brunswick had PICTURE PROVINCE on its plates at one time. There were still some old ones kicking around when I was a kid.

[rousseau]

Previous Ontario one: KEEP IT BEAUTIFUL

Which a simple comma turns into a sarcastic smackdown.

KEEP IT, BEAUTIFUL

[MonctonRad]

Be...... In this place (New Brunswick)

This slogan was universally ridiculed in NB, mostly because it was so vague and meaningless. Many wits in the province fashioned their own versions of this slogan such as "Be......impoverished in this place"

Thanks Shawn Graham.

For those who can't remember, Shawn was a rather vacuous one-term Liberal Premier of NB about 10 years ago. His term of office was completely non contributory to any type of successful enterprise in the province. He is best remembered for the ATCON affair, where the province lost over $50M bailing out a construction company on the Miramichi which went bankrupt building a bridge in the Northwest Territories.

Shawn was so unaccomplished that the best his Liberal friends could do for him in Ottawa (once they got back into power) was to make him some form of junior trade attaché in Beijing.

Oh yes, Shawn's trade before entering politics was as a physical education teacher in high school. He inherited his Kent County riding from his father, an influential long time provincial Liberal cabinet minister.

Sound familiar JT????

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Previous Ontario one: KEEP IT BEAUTIFUL

Which a simple comma turns into a sarcastic smackdown.

KEEP IT, BEAUTIFUL

I've seen that slogan a gazillion times and never once thought of that.

[esquire]

It's been Friendly Manitoba for as long as I can remember. I think before that it was 100,000 Lakes (cheap one-upping of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes) and prior to that Keystone Province, maybe?

On that note, Keystone Province used to be a common slogan for Manitoba but you seldom hear it used anymore.

[240glt]

The new BC Parks plates are pretty nice. I like the Purcell Mountain one the best

http://www.icbc.com/vehicle-registra...s-plates.aspx#

Also like the Best Place on Earth plates they issued back in 2010, moreso because it got Albertans so bent out of shape

These are still the most ubiquitous.



http://www.plateshack.com/y2k/Britis.../bc2013RMT.jpg

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

It's been Friendly Manitoba for as long as I can remember. I think before that it was 100,000 Lakes (cheap one-upping of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes) and prior to that Keystone Province, maybe?

On that note, Keystone Province used to be a common slogan for Manitoba but you seldom hear it used anymore.

I've never seen anything but Friendly Manitoba. Same with Nova Scotia - Canada's Ocean Playground.

Never seen anything else for either province.

[Acajack]

Never heard of Keystone Province. I know Keystone State which was (is?) on Pennsylvania plates. They also have You've Got A Friend in... Pennsylvania.

[240glt]

Alberta released a Support Our Troops plate a few years ago is a tribute to the four soldiers who died in Afghanistan back in 2002, My partner was on the selection committee for this one. We have the 6th issued plate on the back of our 4Runner. It's popular in Edmonton being a military town

http://www.servicealberta.ca/2181.cfm

[rousseau]

Hate to be the one to say it, but Canadian plates are all vague and meaningless, while American plates distinctively express the character of the individual states.

Having said that, I'm not a fan of the graphics-filled license plates in the U.S. I think they're garish and ugly. And who decided it would be a good idea to totally revamp the design every few years and provide various different design options? Michigan especially seems crazy for that, I see all manner of their plates around here.

[esquire]

OK, I checked a flickr site with old plates and the only slogan before Friendly Manitoba was Sunny Manitoba -- 100,000 Lakes.

It turns out that there was no Keystone Province on the plates apart from an old commemorative plate (below), although it was commonly used as a slogan in general.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Hate to be the one to say it, but Canadian plates are all vague and meaningless, while American plates distinctively express the character of the individual states.

Having said that, I'm not a fan of the graphics-filled license plates in the U.S. I think they're garish and ugly. And who decided it would be a good idea to totally revamp the design every few years and provide various different design options? Michigan especially seems crazy for that, I see all manner of their plates around here.

Yeah, I liked it when there was only one plate per jurisdiction... each plate became kind of iconic in its own right. Now every state and an increasing number of provinces has a buttload of different plates.

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I've never seen anything but Friendly Manitoba. Same with Nova Scotia - Canada's Ocean Playground.

Never seen anything else for either province.

Which was the first province to have a slogan? I would guess maybe Quebec. They really weren’t too common until the 1960s. Saskatchewan never bothered with one until much later.

[SignalHillHiker]

The current one...



We haven't done many with slogans - "A World of Difference" is still on every other Chevette. "Celebrate 500 Years" ones are rare now and kind of beloved locally, I think. First was 1968's "Canada's Happy Province".

A few of the others...

[esquire]

Interesting that the NL designation was used on the plates going back to the 60s, well before it was the official name of the province.

[SignalHillHiker]

I'm sure it was just a reminder to Quebec.

I'm kind of amazed HEX 666 in 2001 was a sample that was published by anyone?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by signalhillhiker

i'm sure it was just a reminder to quebec.

lol

[Echoes]

Saskatchewan has had "Land of Living Skies" on their licence plate for as long as I am aware.

You can also, of course, get a Roughriders version.

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I'm sure it was just a reminder to Quebec.

I'm kind of amazed HEX 666 in 2001 was a sample that was published by anyone?

1969’s “The Mighty Churchill”, complete with bolts of electricity, might also remind Quebec of something!