Liberals polled Canadians before choosing COVID recovery plan

OTTAWA — When the Liberal government was workshopping its COVID19 economic recovery slogan, Canadians rejected one option on the basis that it seemingly slandered Alberta, according to research done for the Privy Council Office.

An Ottawa online news outlet reported the government polled Canadians in four jurisdictions on four potential catchphrases that would encapsulate the federal pandemic recovery plan.

The research, done by The Strategic Counsel, asked participants which phrase described “what the goals of Canada’s economic recovery could be and (were) asked to discuss the one that best summarized their preferred approach”

The winner, eventually, was “build back better,” a phrase already in vogue in the United States and the United Kingdom.

The two “green” options were the least popular, but a few participants responded positively to “We need a green recovery,” the report says, as it “aligned with their values of environmental protection and sustainability.”

“We need a green new deal,” though, was panned.

“It suggested completely restarting the economy and concerns were raised that it would single out the Alberta economy in particular,” says a Privy Council Office document on the slogan search. “Moreover, participants connected the term with American initiatives, both currently and during the Great Depression.”

Participants thought the idea of a “green new deal” was “quite broad and fairly ill-defined,” the report says. “Some misinterpreted references to green as meaning the Green Party.”

The other two phrases were: “We need a more resilient country” and “We need to build back better.”