Oly logo too Conservative?

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/10/2009 (6027 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — The official logo that will adorn 2010 Olympic clothing sold by the Hudson’s Bay Company bears a too-striking resemblance to the logo of the Conservative Party of Canada, opposition politicians charged Thursday.

HBC unveiled the logo Thursday.

Approved by the Canadian Olympic Committee, it features a black stylized ‘C’ with a red maple leaf in the middle. The Conservative party’s logo is blue stylized ‘C’ with a red maple leaf in the middle.

"Canada’s Olympic Games belong to all Canadians. While it is clear that the Conservative government’s multimillion-dollar infrastructure campaign is crassly partisan, can the prime minister at least stop trying to politicize the Canadian Winter Olympics?" Liberal MP Hedy Fry asked in the House of Commons.

The clothing line with the ‘C’ logo will be worn by Team Canada athletes and officials at the 2010 Winter Games to be held in Vancouver. The Hudson’s Bay Company will sell the line of clothing at its Zellers and The Bay stores.

Gary Lunn, the minister of state for sport, said any resemblance was purely coincidental.

"I can assure you that no one in the Government of Canada was involved in any way, shape or form in the design of any of the Olympic clothing. In fact, the first time I saw it was (Wednesday)," Lunn said in the House of Commons. "The clothing was designed by the Hudson’s Bay Company in consultations with the Canadian Olympic Committee and with an athletes’ panel."

The explanation wasn’t good enough for Fry.

"I think the government should have said ‘I think that this is too similar, people may think that there is a similarity. They may think we are trying to advertise and therefore, we shouldn’t do this. Let’s find a different kind of logo,’ that is what (they) should have said," said Fry, a Vancouver MP.

NDP MP Charlie Angus called it "cheap partisan politics" by the governing Conservatives.

"If the Conservative party had nothing to do with this, then it would be suing the Olympic team for trademark infringement. This is the Conservative party logo. Anyone can see it is the Conservative party logo. It has nothing to do in the entire history of Olympic hockey," Angus said.

"If Minister Lunn thinks he can go into a Tim Hortons anywhere in Canada and tell an average hockey fan that this is not the Conservative party logo, then Mr. Lunn thinks the Canadians are stupider."

Speaking to reporters outside the House of Commons, Lunn said he spoke to the CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee Wednesday about the issue.

"There’s no question there’s some similarities," Lunn said. "I asked him that and he said ‘You know, that would never have crossed our mind.’ Of course, they’re not involved in the political world and he said the first that he even acknowledged that was when they read it in the press (Thursday)."

Canadian Olympic Committee spokeswoman Isabelle Hodge said no government officials were involved with the logo’s design.

"None whatsoever," said Hodge. "There’s absolutely no connection whatsoever, with the logo we unveiled (Thursday) and any political logo."

 

— Canwest News Service