For immediate release:
June 30, 2006

Let’s keep the trillium logo: Barrett

Calls on McGuinty Liberals to repay taxpayers $219,000

Caledonia—MPP Toby Barrett today made a push to save the Ontario government’s historic symbol from attempts by the McGuinty Liberals to change it for their own partisan purposes.

“Dalton McGuinty is playing politics with Ontario’s symbol,” said Barrett. “This is a partisan-based waste of taxpayers money and that is why I am calling on the McGuinty Liberals to scrap this change. I have been an MPP since 1995, and not once have I heard someone say to me that their top priority for Ontario’s well-being was a new logo.”

The Progressive Conservative Party launched www.savethetrillium.ca at a Queen’s Park news conference on June 26, to give Ontarians an opportunity to send Dalton McGuinty a message about his secretive change to the trillium, which has been Ontario’s symbol for more than 40 years. The new symbol looks very similar to parts of the Ontario Liberal Party logo.

“The McGuinty Liberals should reimburse Ontario taxpayers the $219,000 of government money spent to design this new trillium,” said Barrett. “I know that farmers, residents of Caledonia, or the workers at the Nanticoke plant could think of better ways to spend that much money.”

The new symbol was drawn for $219,000 by Liberal advertising agency Bensimon-Byrne, the same company who created Dalton McGuinty’s infamous “I won’t raise your taxes” campaign ads in the last election. Since the Liberals came to power, Bensimon-Byrne has seen a dramatic increase in business including:

• Over $9 million in Ministry of Health contracts;
• $2.835 million for an Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation contract with a monthly retainer more than double what they were receiving before the Liberals were elected;
• $2.5 million for a Ministry of Citizenship contract for 2004-08;

“The Auditor General should fully investigate the convenient relationship between the McGuinty Liberals and Bensimon-Byrne,” said Barrett. “These guys didn’t learn anything from their federal cousins about giving sweetheart deals to their advertising friends—lets not travel down that road again.”

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