Licence plates and slogans, past and present

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by 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.

It used to say "Wheat Province" for at least a time in the 50s. In the 70s there was "Home of the RCMP".

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Echoes

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

They could pair this with a picture of a mosquito!

Nova Scotia had the slogan "come to life" a few years ago, and people made zombie jokes about it. "Be... in this place" is somehow even worse with the awkward punctuation on top of the utter vacuousness.

[SpongeG]

i have a license plate like this, one of the parks special edition ones


source

there are 3 choices

source

there are some other ones

veterans

vancouversun.com

you see these once in a while - consular plates

source

these are still around but no longer available, they were special for the olympics, i used to have one of these

montrealgazette.com

[CanSpice]

I cannot believe that nobody has mentioned the polar bear license plates from NWT.

[MolsonExport]

Worst:

yoyo

[SpongeG]

This one is a protype, a specialized one for golfers, it could be available to help promote Golf in BC.



http://aga-bc.org/theres-a-lot-of-go...lumbias-plate/

this site says:

On April 3, 2017, ICBC announced a Request for Expressions of Interest, the purpose of which is to gauge the level of interest among potential sponsoring organizations, which will help further guide ICBC in the affinity plate program development. Qualified sponsoring organizations who are interested in participating in the affinity licence plates program, are requested to complete and submit the online form to ICBC by May 19, 2017, 5 p.m.
While additional information is currently available on the ICBC website (here and here), for posterity we have archived a copy of the Request for Expressions of Interest (Click Here).
This is an emerging story and as we continue our work on covering it we will leave you with a couple of possible specialty plate options that may, or may not be seen in the coming years; a golf themed plate and another promoting the BC Lions (sent to us by a friend of the site):

http://www.bcpl8s.ca/SpecialtyPlates.html

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by CanSpice

I cannot believe that nobody has mentioned the polar bear license plates from NWT.

I see them all the time, love them. I have to drive the MCkenzie hwy to get to work. There is a KFC in high level an dthe parking lot is usually 75% of NWT plates cause apparently there are no KFC's up there so they always stop off for chicken.

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Worst:

yoyo

My daily coffee mug has that slogan on it. The licence plate is dated now as the Old Man of the Mountains came crashing to earth. Beautiful state but that slogan is so jarring. I guess it goes well with the fact that those over 18 don't need to wear a seat belt and motorcycle drivers don't need a helmet in NH and the state has no sales tax. I do recall seeing a NH car with the plate saying 'NO TAX'. Somehow, I doubt they were Sanders supporters.

[craneSpotter]

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.

I believe Washington State has something like 50 variations for its licence plates (tags) - from standard to special design plates...Universities, sports teams, military, organizations. parks etc.

[Corndogger]

Back around 2014 the AB government wanted to change the license plate and slogan. They hired 3M to come up with three designs and then put them online for people to vote for. The new slogan was going to be "alberta.ca." Yes, a website. I'm not sure if this is true but people were saying they wanted to get rid of "Wild Rose Country" because it helped the Wild Rose Party. The exercise ended up being a big waste of money. I can't recall if he got new specialty plates because of this or if that was something different. Thank God they didn't go with the website idea.

Here's a Calgary Herald story from 2014 showing ideas Albertan's came up with. We should have gone with them just to get a rise out of the rest of the nation!

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Al...285/story.html

[240glt]

^ Well there's bit more to it than that.. Alberta is one of the last jurisdictions that still paints their plates (vs. laminating them) and the painted face is not compatible with new enforcement hardware. 3M provides the new coating but they didn't come up with the designs, those were done through an RFP and selected by committee within Service Alberta. The project didn't go ahead in part because at the same time the government decided to re-start the retrofit of the government database (known as MOVS) which has been an on-again off-again project for the last decade or so. The problem is that every time a new leader comes to power they bring in new deputy ministers and everything grinds to a halt and they hit the reset button. So the department has been trying to update it's database system, update the plates to be compatible with modern enforcement technology and also do specialty plates, but the government keeps changing which is holding it all back

I do believe that the proposed removal of the slogan was politically motivated though. Government insiders have corroborated that

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by 240glt

^ Well there's bit more to it than that.. Alberta is one of the last jurisdictions that still paints their plates (vs. laminating them) and the painted face is not compatible with new enforcement hardware. 3M provides the new coating but they didn't come up with the designs, those were done through an RFP and selected by committee within Service Alberta. The project didn't go ahead in part because at the same time the government decided to re-start the retrofit of the government database (known as MOVS) which has been an on-again off-again project for the last decade or so. The problem is that every time a new leader comes to power they bring in new deputy ministers and everything grinds to a halt and they hit the reset button. So the department has been trying to update it's database system, update the plates to be compatible with modern enforcement technology and also do specialty plates, but the government keeps changing which is holding it all back

I do believe that the proposed removal of the slogan was politically motivated though. Government insiders have corroborated that

3M designed the plates.

New plates will have a reflective coating, making them easier to read at night. The Tories faced criticism for using American company 3M, which provided the new technology, to design the plates, instead of hiring an Albertan graphics firm. Range said 3M best understands how to incorporate a functional design.

Source: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/al...353/story.html

[240glt]

^ I think there's some info missing in that article. The designs were vetted through Service Alberta, although yes 3M did do the graphics, as they're the ones with the proprietary technology for the coating. But the graphic designs themselves were not solely the brainchild of 3M. Those were decided by committee within Service Alberta

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by 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.

Manitoba has long been called the keystone province it was one of the first nicknames that I heard of my province.

Birchwood Ford in Winnipeg used to be Keystone Ford

There is also the Keystone Agricultural Producers
https://www.kap.ca/

Then there was the license plate colour wars of the NDP and PC's. Esquire should know what I'm talking about.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Proof Sheet

My daily coffee mug has that slogan on it. The licence plate is dated now as the Old Man of the Mountains came crashing to earth. Beautiful state but that slogan is so jarring. I guess it goes well with the fact that those over 18 don't need to wear a seat belt and motorcycle drivers don't need a helmet in NH and the state has no sales tax. I do recall seeing a NH car with the plate saying 'NO TAX'. Somehow, I doubt they were Sanders supporters.

Every time I see the NH plate, I think Live Free AND Die, especially when I consider all those bearded ruffian NH motorcyclists tooling down the road without any helmets.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by 240glt

^ I think there's some info missing in that article. The designs were vetted through Service Alberta, although yes 3M did do the graphics, as they're the ones with the proprietary technology for the coating. But the graphic designs themselves were not solely the brainchild of 3M. Those were decided by committee within Service Alberta

I remember some people getting all bent out of shape that an American firm did the design work. I think you might be confusing these designs with the specialty plate designs available now.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Every time I see the NH plate, I think Live Free AND Die, especially when I consider all those bearded ruffian NH motorcyclists tooling down the road without any helmets.

That slogan is historical in nature and is actually quite fitting for NH.

[MonctonRad]

Be..... unemployed in this place
Be......impoverished in this place
Be......on the pogey in this place
Be......a second class citizen in this place because you're not bilingual
Be......unknown in this place because NB is the most anonymous province in Canada (proof that NB is anonymous can be found elsewhere on the licence plate as New Brunswick feels compelled to remind people that NB actually is in Canada).
etc.

Currently, standard NB plates have no slogan:



I personally have a conservation plate like this one. It's not too bad.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Michigan especially seems crazy for that, I see all manner of their plates around here.

Florida might have even more designs. You pay more for a special plate and the money goes to the cause in question.

For example, our family friend over there (an old Belgian lady I may have already mentioned here) has this one:
http://www.helpingseaturtles.org/buyaplate.php

As a means of raising funds, I think it's a pretty good idea. I'm guessing it's the same idea in Michigan - standard plate design is the cheapest, and if you want to get a special plate the extra $ you're paying goes to whatever cause the plate is about.

Quebec is the other extreme, we can't even get vanity plates - standard design only and you're getting assigned numbers/letters.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

That slogan is historical in nature and is actually quite fitting for NH.

Still sounds a bit extreme nowadays, seeing how soft we've all become (by historical standards).