Great and not-so great Canadian city mottos thread

[Marshal]

Port Moody: City of the Arts.
Surrey: City of Parks.

[ssiguy]

What Port Moody has in the arts is anyone's guess. Surrey certainly has many big and beautiful parks but it's just so damn generic. Any city can say that.

London's Forest City works because A} I have never heard of any other city calling itself the Forest City and B} it's had that nickname for over 200 years so it's truly part of the city's history and founding.

[Denscity]

That's funny because forest is opposite of city. We are all forest where we are not city.

[skyhigh953]

Officially Saskatoon’s is Commerce, Industry, Education, but about 10-15 years ago our old Mayor and Tourism Saskatoon started promoting “Saskatoon Shines!” with a dotted sun logo thing...in addition to the highway entry signs, there were even some new transit buses with SASKATOON SHINES! on every single seat back...drove me nuts. I wonder what the folks at New Flyer thought when that order came in.

[Bishop2047]

Tisdale Saskatchewan was...... The Land of Rape and Honey until recently.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saska...here-1.3730796

Now it is "Opportunity Grows Here".

Unity SK, like Biggar SK had a play on words with their slogan. Unity is the home of opport-Unity

[HomeInMyShoes]

Floreat Regina: May Regina Flourish

[MolsonExport]

London Ontario apparently has a lower forest coverage than the average Canadian city. On the other hand, we are festooned with big box barf.

[shreddog]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

London's Forest City works because A} I have never heard of any other city calling itself the Forest City ...

You should get out more ... as it's used by a number of places ... some well known ...Cleveland ... some less so ... Forest City, N.B.

[SaskScraper]

Biggar Saskatchewan's motto is the best

A lot of cities tend to either promote their industry like Calgary's "Be A Part of the Energy"

Some like Saskatoon's promote their climate like Med Hat's "Sunshine State of Mind"

Some like Regina promote both their commerce and geography "Infinite Horizons"

Some hit the mark off a bit, Moncton's I believe at one time was "Our Tide is Rising" which just seems a little ominous... especially if it's Red tide.

Other's like Mississauga's uses a little bit of humour "I'm With Stupid →" kind of like how Vaughan uses it's proximity being "Above" Toronto.

But could be worse, Toronto's "Hog Town" because of the people there or "The Big Smoke" because of it's heavy smog, even back in the days when people smoked more are even more demeaning.

[Acajack]

Not a city but my kids were in Ottawa recently and I guess they noticed the wording on the new Ontario licence plates for the first time: A PLACE TO GROW.

They think it's hilarious, à la "A PLACE TO GROW MARIJUANA".

[ssiguy]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

London Ontario apparently has a lower forest coverage than the average Canadian city. On the other hand, we are festooned with big box barf.

Wrong answer. London has a lower tree canopy average due to it's huge annexation 25 years ago. The land annexed was industrial and very importantly agricultural. That increased the city's size by over 50%.

As I also stated, London's nickname of the Forest City is historic and actually dates back to the very founding of the settlement itself in the late 1700s. When Lord Simcoe first reached the Fork of the Thames, he declared that he was going to make it the new capitol of Upper Canada which is how it got it's name in the first place as he thought the name would help his cause.

The British in London England considered it a joke that he wanted to create a capitol "in the middle of the forest" and the nickname has been with the city since then. The name stuck and was reinforced when the significant settlement began around 1820 and due to London not being on a navigable waterway it was said that in order to get there you has to "go thru the forest" that was SWO at the time. The lack of waterways also led to London having no industry and becoming more of an academic, white collar, and eventually old wealth city where the well-to-do residents built their big homes along leafy streets. The city's leafy old wealth reputation helped the city to create one of the first tree protection legislations in NA.

London's Forest City nickname was not conjured up by some self serving politician or chamber of commerce but rather IS London's history.

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Not a city but my kids were in Ottawa recently and I guess they noticed the wording on the new Ontario licence plates for the first time: A PLACE TO GROW.

They think it's hilarious, à la "A PLACE TO GROW MARIJUANA".

That is funny. Castlegar has "A Place to Grow" on vertical banners all over and there is a lot of marijuana being grown here haha!

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Wrong answer. London has a lower tree canopy average due to it's huge annexation 25 years ago. The land annexed was industrial and very importantly agricultural. That increased the city's size by over 50%.

As I also stated, London's nickname of the Forest City is historic and actually dates back to the very founding of the settlement itself in the late 1700s. When Lord Simcoe first reached the Fork of the Thames, he declared that he was going to make it the new capitol of Upper Canada which is how it got it's name in the first place as he thought the name would help his cause.

The British in London England considered it a joke that he wanted to create a capitol "in the middle of the forest" and the nickname has been with the city since then. The name stuck and was reinforced when the significant settlement began around 1820 and due to London not being on a navigable waterway it was said that in order to get there you has to "go thru the forest" that was SWO at the time. The lack of waterways also led to London having no industry and becoming more of an academic, white collar, and eventually old wealth city where the well-to-do residents built their big homes along leafy streets. The city's leafy old wealth reputation helped the city to create one of the first tree protection legislations in NA.

London's Forest City nickname was not conjured up by some self serving politician or chamber of commerce but rather IS London's history.

I know all of this. Doesn't change the fact that the tree cover in London has declined measurably in the 16 years (yes, I have been here for awhile...how long has it been since you left) that I have lived here, in part due to the Emerald Ash Borer. I pay taxes here, and I can criticize as well as heap praise, wherever warranted. It was the same when I lived in Vancouver, Montreal, Kelowna, Edmonton, ...

[ssiguy]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I know all of this. Doesn't change the fact that the tree cover in London has declined measurably in the 16 years (yes, I have been here for awhile...how long has it been since you left) that I have lived here, in part due to the Emerald Ash Borer. I pay taxes here, and I can criticize as well as heap praise, wherever warranted. It was the same when I lived in Vancouver, Montreal, Kelowna, Edmonton, ...

I too lament the loss of trees in city that is, unfortunately, happening nationwide and you are certainly free to criticize the city. God knows there is a lot to critisize in London with it's grinding traffic being one of the stellar examples.

Getting back to the motto though, I think London has one of the best in the country. It's clear, concise, unpretentious, and is steeped in history.

It wasn't created, like most, by a politician with wet development dreams, the Chamber of Commerce, or some slick advertising agency.

[ssiguy]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I know all of this. Doesn't change the fact that the tree cover in London has declined measurably in the 16 years (yes, I have been here for awhile...how long has it been since you left) that I have lived here, in part due to the Emerald Ash Borer. I pay taxes here, and I can criticize as well as heap praise, wherever warranted. It was the same when I lived in Vancouver, Montreal, Kelowna, Edmonton, ...

I too lament the loss of trees in city that is, unfortunately, happening nationwide and you are certainly free to criticize the city. God knows there is a lot to critisize in London with it's grinding traffic being one of the stellar examples.

Getting back to the motto though, I think London has one of the best in the country. It's clear, concise, unpretentious, and is steeped in history. It wasn't cconjured up, like most, by a politician with wet development dreams, the Chamber of Commerce, or some slick advertising agency.

I cannot think of a better motto for London than "The Forest City".

[SFUVancouver]

Isn't the City of Burlington's motto just "Burlington"?

https://s3.amazonaws.com/gs-waymarki...37c37b7b_d.JPG

[lubicon]

Two of my favorites, one is my alumnus and the other is where my kids attend. Both very appropriate for academic institutions.

Univ of Alberta:
Quaecumque vera
Whatsoever things are true

Univ of Calgary
Mo Shùile Togam Suas
I will lift up my eyes (from Psalm 121)

UCalgary one is unique in that is actually Gaelic rather than latin.