The iconic wheat sheaf will continue to represent Saskatchewan, the provincial government said Monday, after a public outcry shelved plans to change the logo.
Deputy Premier Ken Krawetz Monday that the newly elected government had stepped away from its plans to replace the 30-year-old logo "at this time."
"This idea generated a lot of feedback and discussion throughout the province," Krawetz said in the release. "Some people like the idea. Some, however, do not."
The plan to find a new logo to iconize the booming prairie province was announced by the newly-elected Saskatchewan Party last week.
Krawetz previously said the wheat sheaf was outdated. He thought a new symbol should be found to represent the province's growth from merely an agricultural producer.
But a mission to save the sheaf hit radio talk shows and the Internet. Online polls found overwhelming opposition to the change and more than 300 residents opposing the change joined a Facebook group over the weekend.
"I heard that loud and clear, from people in the province that said as a government, as a newly elected government, we should be concentrating on other priorities," Krawetz told reporters.
Derek Strelioff started the Facebook group opposing the change. He said the decision to back away from the logo swap is a good sign.
"The government at least has listened to public opinion, and it's an example here of how the government should take a more cautious approach to doing changes in policy without first consulting the public," he told CTV Saskatchewan.
The Saskatchewan Party was elected to office in early November, ousting an NDP party that had held power since 1991.
Brad Wall, Saskatchewan's new premier, made public spending a campaign issue by criticizing the former government's $1.5 million Saskatchewan! campaign.
Krawetz said the public perception was that finding a new logo would distract from other duties. He agreed with critics that the government should be spending its time, and taxpayers' money, on more important things.
He said that dropping the wheat sheaf logo would have meant changing countless government signs, with no replacement in mind.
The logo has been used on government documents and road signs since 1977.
