Moose Jaw to become known as Canada’s Most Notorious City

The City of Moose Jaw will soon be known as something other than The Friendly City.

Instead, its slogan will be Canada’s Most Notorious City.

It’s a nod toward the city’s prohibition era past, with its history of bootleggers and speakeasies.

Jacki L’Heureux-Mason, executive director of Tourism Moose Jaw, said the new slogan started when many of the city’s new administrative staff felt like the community’s story should be told more accurately.

“As much as people are friendly, there’s lots of places that can consider themselves the friendly city, town or province. We wanted something that stood out from the noise, something that gave us a little bit of edge and something that told our story,” said L’Heureux-Mason.

“We know that the tunnels and the history of our downtown have drawn people to our city. Why wouldn’t we want to put that absolutely front and centre,” she said.

So far, she said the reviews have been mixed, which was expected with a word choice like “notorious.”

“At the end of the day, they’re talking about it and that’s really all we needed,” she said.

L’Heureux-Mason said they should begin rolling out the rebranding in March, along with their plans for what to do with Mac the Moose.