Toronto enthusiasts launch petition to make an old Toronto logo new again

By Erick Espinosa

A pair of Toronto enthusiasts want residents and city council to consider bringing back an old but familiar city logo.

Urban geographer Daniel Rotsztain and forestry planner Mark Sherman believe that now is the time for the city to say goodbye to its existing logo, calling for the return of the historical Metropolitan Toronto symbol.

“It came up in conversation. The old logo is what was used by the Metro government,” Sherman told CityNews, referencing the city’s history before amalgamation.

A time where the six boroughs we know as Etobicoke, North York, York, Toronto, East York and Scarborough were once their own municipalities, jointly referred to as the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto or more frequently known as, Metro Toronto.

“The pre-amalgamation Metro Toronto logo is a ribbon of interwoven lines, loosely overlapping to create six evenly sized and spaced loops,” Rotsztain wrote in an online petition in hopes of presenting it to city council for review.

“Each loop represents the independent cities that made up the Metropolitan Toronto regional government,” he said.

Rotsztain noted the logo is gracefully balanced, meaning each of its constituent parts rely on each other and are greater together.

Metro Toronto logo

Metro Toronto logo

But that symbol changed following the 1998 amalgamation, when Metro Toronto became the single-tier city of Toronto. It was a move that was not widely supported by the six municipalities and voted against in a referendum. But the decision was ultimately forced upon them by then Premier Mike Harris, in an effort to cut costs.

“I guess Daniel and I were kind of triggered a little bit with the province forcing upon us again to shrink council,” Sherman said. “That came out on Friday, that there was an appeal to the supreme court and it was not supported. So premier Ford forced us into this smaller council.”

The pair believe there is an appeal in using something the city already has, an imprint that one could still find scattered across our city’s infrastructure in places like Metro Hall, on older bridges, and even some crosswalks.

“It came out around the time of Canada’s Centennial and Expo 67, when Canada was among one of the world leaders in design,” Sherman explained. He noted that money would also be saved by not launching a design competition, similar to the one that was launched post-amalgamation which ultimately lead to the creation of the logo we know today.

“While the megacity contains the constituent parts that made up Metro Toronto, the entries in a competition to determine Toronto’s new logo all contained variations on the same theme: New City Hall, stylized into a lopsided “T”, with the word Toronto slapped on the bottom in chunky letters.”

City of Toronto logo

City of Toronto logo

And while the logo could bring a sense of comfort for those who lived in Metro Toronto, the two believe there is an added layer of generational appeal with its modern references.

“Drake took advantage of The Six and it’s not only because there is six in all of our area codes but also we are a city of six boroughs. It ties in with this next generation. Not only does it have nostalgia, but it also is relevant for the next generation.”

Sherman and Rotsztain are hoping that their “Change Toronto’s Logo” petition will gain momentum to ignite a discussion.

“Reinstating the Metro logo would ground the city in its past, while symbolizing our commitment to create an inclusive Toronto for everybody!”

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