The provincial government is starting the new year with a new look.
The government of Saskatchewan has replaced the classic wheat sheaf with a new logo on its news releases and the government website.
Saskatchewan New Democrats were quick to jump on the move, calling it one that is partisan and lacking common sense.
“The new logo is a Sask. Party brand in party colours,” Buckley Belanger, NDP deputy leader, said Friday. “It’s not appropriate, and the fact that the Sask. Party tried to quietly sneak this change through makes it obvious that the Sask. Party knows it’s doing something wrong.”
The light brown wheat sheaf logo has been used in official correspondence, news releases and other government documents since 1975. The sheaf is symbolic of the province’s agrarian heritage. In 2007, shortly after it was elected, the Saskatchewan Party attempted to replace the sheaf logo with a new one, but had to quickly drop it due to public backlash.
Sask. Party MLAs such as Arm River-Watrous’s Greg Brkich are mindful of that public outcry.
The province is still retaining the wheat sheaf as its official emblem on signs and such, Brkich said.
Although it is a recent addition to news releases and the website, Brkich said the government has been using the new logo for some time on material that is seen out-of-province.