Economy Minister Bill Boyd and Saskatchewan Roughriders President Jim Hopson today announced a new look for the team for the remaining 2013 regular season. Starting September 1 at the Labour Day Classic, the Riders will sport a new logo on their chests – thinksask.ca.
“Saskatchewan is enjoying unprecedented growth – and although it’s tempting to let that speak for itself, we can’t take that success for granted,” Boyd said. “We need to continue to promote the province to build on our success. The Riders are an integral part of Saskatchewan with fans from coast to coast, and we are extremely pleased they have agreed to partner with us on this project.”
This thinksask.ca partnership between the Government of Saskatchewan and the Roughriders will help spread the word about the excellent quality of life, as well as the wealth of job, education and investment opportunities in the province through the games leading up to the 101st Grey Cup Festival to be hosted in Regina.
“This is a tremendous partnership, and we are very appreciative to team up with the thinksask.ca initiative,” stated Riders President/CEO Jim Hopson. “Our entire organization wears the ‘S’ for Saskatchewan proudly and look forward to promoting the success of the province across the nation.”
The provincial government launched thinksask.ca in November 2010 as part of the Real Growth. Real Opportunity campaign encouraging people across Canada to live, work and do business in Saskatchewan.
9 comments:
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are the one entity in this Province that can pull people together regardless of belief and backgrounds. There are differences as to the approach they take, but at the end of the day the large majority of folks want to see them do well, and we can all enjoy the process.
This is deplorable move by the government of Saskatchewan and worse on the Riders part. It is the second instance where this football team has been politicized for populous gain. The Sask Party teaming with the Riders is not about selling the benefits of Saskatchewan. It is simply another political ploy to latch onto something popular amongst the people and use the tried and true method of you are either with us or against us approach.
People want to watch football and be diverted from politics. Whether the Sask Party pimps out the Riders for stadium debates, or the Premier is calling into shows to talk what a big fan he is, right now enough is enough.
Rescind this promotion and find other avenues to get the message out. I would also remind the Saskatchewan Roughriders that contrary to what JR Foley says the good times are not always going to roll. There will come a day when this organization may have to go to the government with hat and hand looking for a guaranteed operating loan or forgiveness of debt. I would think they should remain neutral as depending who controls future purse strings may not be so forgiving.
Y'er Welcome
Obama
Whats wrong with promoting our province through any and all possible means? A small advertising patch viewed weekly on national TV is far from 'deplorable".
RJT
In your opinion. Fortunately the majority don't hold your points of view. Me included. I've heard your rhetoric before. I like the idea. Dave
psst. it's a partnership with the GOVERNMENT OF SASKATCHEWAN. Not the SASK PARTY.
They are promoting the province as a whole.
Thank you to Mitch for allowing my opinion.
If I show up at HIW and it's somehow affiliated with a political party sorry, but that loses appeal to me. The innocene gets lost and sports entertainment whatever the league should be the last bastion of innocence. Win or lose as emotional as it gets frankly it doesn't mean anything. When you politicize something people enjoy for entertainment you have taken away something and added the partisan crap that goes on off the field.
It is not so simple as getting the word out. First off you would have to actually believe Saskatchewan is doing well. By what indicators? If it is economic then yes commodoties are high, but then why is household debt higher than ever? Why are more people in Saskatchewan not able to access housing, and why are more people living below the poverty level?
The Sask Party will boast about strong economic indicators. It all depends how you view that. In the Bakken oil reserve sure. If you are getting one of the many retail jobs in Regina/Saskatoon then not so much. If you are in Northern Saskatchewan and not affiliated with mining then forget about it. There is no promotion of the things that make people well like securing food, well paying jobs, affordable housing, affordable education, those are the things which have created a have vs have not system.
By partnering with the SaskParty the Riders who are community owned team have chosen a side. We are all part of the community and our vote can be different. With Propoganda like this it's misleading, usually paid for by special interests to gain financial advantages, lies and partial truth to fool people into believing things that are not really true.
I'm disappointed it's come to this, but I've attended every home game this year and will continue to in spite of this.
Once again thanks to Mitch for the venue.
Obama
Shut up BLOWBAMA!!!!!!!!!
Obama, your posts on football are usually well thought out and well expressed, and even though I don't always agree with your point, you do contribute to the healthy debate on the topic. On this particular topic, your post is simply out to lunch.
The partnership is between the Riders and the Government of Saskatchewan, not the Sask Party. The only one trying to politicize this is you. If you visit the thinksask.ca website, you will see that there is no reference to the Sask Party there at all. The site (which looks great I might add) provides information about the province, and our current prosperity, as well as links to the SaskJobs site, Tourism Sask site, and the government economic and immigration sites. There are also video testimonials from residents that have recently moved to the province.
This is advertising and promotion of the Province by the government (not a specific political party), plain and simple. It's a logo on the jersey, and is really no different than a logo on the field, or on one of the sideline banners, or on the MaxTron or other video boards in the stadium. The team hasn't partnered with the Sask Party, they've partnered with the Government of Saskatchewan, in an effort to promote the province they represent. Graham DeLaet signed on with this earlier in the year, and also wears the ThinkSask.ca logo on his shirt.
They are representing the province in an advertising campaign, that's it.
Jason.
Jason,
You make fair comments. For me I'll just paraphrase Curtis Hunt and we'll end it at this; "I don't trust him."
Thanks
Obama
The feeling is mutual. I wouldn't trust you either.
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