The Premier Wall-led government recently unveiled a new logo for the province, one which will replace the familiar wheat sheaf logo used in Saskatchewan on official correspondence, press releases and other government documents since 1975.
The wheat sheaf has been in place for 35-years, speaking to the province's agrarian roots.
The history of farming, and its importance to Saskatchewan is well-understood.
That said, Saskatchewan today is a more diverse province, and so an update to the logo might be warranted.
But the process in developing the stylistic logo recently unveiled was questionable.
The logo was sprung on the province with no chance for debate, and that has resulted in a backlash with those feeling it important to maintain the wheat sheaf rallying to its cause.
Others, in particular the Opposition New Democrats, suggest the new logo is far to reminiscent of the Saskatchewan Party itself.
And, of course, some like the change.
What should be questioned is the process from a government that regularly talks about the people of this province, and how creative we are in business and other endeavours.
The unexpected change is at present proving divisive.
But imagine how opening the process to the best and brightest of our province to submit logo ideas could have stimulated debate.
A design by an individual caring enough to sit down and create an emblem symbolic of the province would ring truer than anything government created, whether you are a fan of the new design, or not.
And then the government could have used the world of modern social media to let the people have their say.
Online voting is becoming a popular way to gauge opinion and support.
We have seen that in Saskatchewan when the Canadian Football League Roughriders were looking for 'Riderville'.
Communities across the province, including Yorkton, saw people rallying to the cause to vote in the contest.
We have seen the same process with Yorkton voters helping secure Aviva Community Funding dollars for the new skateboard park.
In both cases the online voting brought our community together behind a single project.
The same process would have been a good one for the government to use to create a new logo, or potentially to ratify people were happy with the long-time wheat sheaf if it were given as an option.
The new logo is supposed to be a more modern one, reflective of a different era in Saskatchewan. The era is one where the process to achieve public input is far easier, more direct, and low cost, but the government missed that opportunity.
