After 37 years, Ontario seems set to replace the slogan on their vehicle licence plate (Jim Beckstead)

Vehicle licence plate; Change coming in Ontario

The U.S and Canada seem to be unique and among the very few countries in the world with slogans on their vehicle licence plates.

Now Canada’s most populous province, Ontario, is about to change the slogan on their plates.

The Doug Ford government continues to make changes to put its stamp on things and show it is now in power. The latest example is the announcement of a slogan change. In 1973 the first slogan appeared, “Keep it Beautiful”.which lasted until 1982. Since then the slogan has been “Yours to Discover”

Now it seems the new slogan to be announced this week seems to be “A Place to Grow”.  This comes from the unofficial provincial anthem created for Expo 67 “A place to stand, a place to grow”.

Although also not confirmed, rumours are that commercial licence plates will read “Open for Business”

The province may also dispense with a front licence plate. British Columbia, and Manitoba are the only two other provinces currently requiring a plate front and back of the vehicle, with New Brunswick just last month dropping the requirement for a front plate as well as a back plate.

Police in Ontario are not happy about the potential removal of a front plate saying it helps identify vehicles.

Other provincial plates

  • Yukon – “The Klondike”
  • Northwest Territories-has a unique polar bear shaped plate with the slogan “Spectacular NWT”

When Nunavut was created from the NWT there was a bit of a tussle over who could use the unique plate design. It remains with NWT.(carloan411)

  • Nunavut- has a colourful plate imitating the aurora borealis, with an image of a polar bear
  • Quebec had “ La Belle Province” until the arrival of a separatist government in 1976 when it was replaced with “Je me souviens” ( I remember) but confusion still exists about what exactly that means.

Following a bit of a tussle with the NWT, Nunavut in 2012 adopted this colourful plate with a polar bear image.-but no slogan (Emily Ridlington=CBC)

  • British Columbia: Beautiful British Columbia
  • Alberta: Wild Rose Country
  • Saskatchewan: Land of Living Skies
  • Manitoba: Friendly Manitoba

The famous schooner Bluenose is featured along with the slogan on Nova Scotia’s plate (Carloan411)

  • New Brunswick: had a slogan “Picture Province” until 1972, that was dropped until 2009, when the slogan “ Be…in this place” was adopted, but that was never popular and was droppedin 2011 and has not been replaced.
  • Nova Scotia: Canada’s Ocean Playground with an image of the Bluenose schooner
  • Prince Edward Island: Birthplace of Confederation
  • Newfoundland and Labrador: no slogan

Additional information-sources

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