A marketing plan by the Downtown Victoria Business Association to encourage more people to park and shop downtown has run afoul of irate residents in Moose Jaw, Sask.
The association created four posters, including one that took a swipe at the city of Moose Jaw by telling Victorians who are unhappy with parking in this city to: “Chill, we could be in Moose Jaw.”
The association printed 25 posters that poked fun of the Saskatchewan city and were in the process of displaying them on parking kiosks around Victoria’s downtown.
Only 12 had been put up by the time complaints were made.
Ken Kelly, general manager of the association, confirmed the posters were taken down.
He said the posters weren’t meant to be taken seriously, but encourage people to come downtown.
“What we were talking about is highlighting the difference between the Prairies — which certainly has one of the harsher climates in the country — and out here where we live in paradise,” he said.
Mayor Dean Fortin said he received a call from Patrick Boyle, deputy mayor of Moose Jaw, about the posters and empathized with Boyle about his concern over the perceived insult.
“[Boyle] understood the campaign was a tongue-in-cheek campaign, but, to a certain extent, there’s civic pride involved,” Fortin said.
Victoria is an inclusive community and didn’t intend for anyone to be put down, Fortin said.
Don Mitchell, a former mayor of Moose Jaw and current city councillor, said he has grown used to other cities making fun of the city over its colourful name.
“There’s a lot of pride here and people might have been seriously offended,” Mitchell said.
“I’m not crushed by this. If we didn’t want any attention, we would have chosen a different name.”
The posters are part of a campaign aimed at encouraging people to drive downtown.
Other aspects include 20,000 parking maps, posters of parking kiosks and a website — at downtownvictoria.ca/park — detailing the size and cost of parking lots.
Additional reporting by Andrew Duffy
