In British Columbia, Kamloops has named itself the "tournament capital” of Canada, with Oliver taking on the title of the country's "wine capital” and Squamish declaring itself as the nation's "outdoor capital”.

Whitehorse could soon have its own title, with the city slated to post a request for proposals (RFP) on its branding project as early as next week.

City staff received the go-ahead for the RFP at a meeting of council and senior management early Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier this year, council voted to move forward on a branding project with the territorial government, which will spend $50,000 on it.

The city's contribution will include in-kind services to manage the work along with a further $10,000.

The project comes out of the city's recent economic development strategy which identified branding as an important step for the Whitehorse economy to move forward.

As Matthew Grant, city manager Dennis Shewfelt's executive assistant, said at Wednesday's meeting, the brand will provide a more consistent image of the city.

Right now, he pointed out, such efforts are seen as inconsistent and incoherent. Slogans range from "the wilderness city” to a "great place to live, work and play” to "striving for excellence”.

There are also several logos. The city mainly uses the design displaying a sternwheeler, but others also turn up showing the city crest or logos from various departments like bylaw, fire or parks and recreation, Grant said as he displayed the various logos for council.

Although most officials with the city will know departments like bylaw and fire are part of the overall organization, it can cause confusion for some in the general public, he suggested.

An overall brand would allow the city to provide that consistent message and may end some of the confusion or, in some cases, a lack of knowledge on what services the city provides.

There have been some cases where people don't realize the Canada Games Centre is a city facility, Grant said.

That was later confirmed by Shannon Clohosey, the city's sustainability projects co-ordinator, who said she was among those who didn't know the city's role in the Games Centre when she first moved here.

Establishing a brand to alleviate that confusion and bring investment to the city would be done in three phases.

The first would largely be in the form of background research, looking at what the city is currently doing, how it's doing that and where it can do better, Grant said.

The RFP would also ask for research on what other organizations and municipal governments are doing in the same field, he added.

Next up would be a consultation process with stakeholders and the public, as well as looking at city documents like the Official Community Plan, citizen surveys and policies to get a sense of the community.

Grant suggested three to five branding options would be developed at that point and brought before council and other stakeholders.

Having that many choices, however, didn't sit well with deputy Mayor Ranj Pillai.

Recalling his own experience in other branding initiatives, Pillai suggested having too many options could eat up much of the project budget and pull officials in many different directions.

"Maybe two or three at most” is closer to the number of options Pillai's been presented with in similar projects, he said.

Coun. Dave Austin didn't see it the same way, stating "the more the merrier” when it comes to choosing a final logo.

City staff may speak with the territorial Department of Economic Development about how much "wiggle room” there is in the agreement for the project on details like the number of options that will be drafted, Grant said.

The final phase of the work after an option is chosen would be the creation of the brand, he said.

The presentation left Coun. Dave Stockdale questioning whether the city should move ahead with it at all.

He argued the initiative is something perhaps the business sector should be putting money into, as it is aimed at economic development.

"I'm just skeptical about the amount of money,” he said before launching into a discussion about the implications of more investment that could come in the form of an expanded population.

He noted many people liked Whitehorse better when it was a smaller community. More growth could see it lose more of that feeling, he said.

Right now, for example, Stockdale can get a tee time at the golf course generally whenever he wants without always having to book ahead.

That could change with more people in town, he said.

Pillai countered it's investment in projects like these that can help attract professionals like the club's golf pro, doctors and others to town.

"But things will change,” Stockdale commented, wondering if Whitehorse needs that change.

As officials pointed out, there are cases of other communities which opted not to move forward on growth that are now in "desperate” situations.

Pillai suggested the time to discuss whether it will be worth further cash to go forward on it will come when the city has to consider whether to implement the brand, a process that would come after it is developed and would cost additional money.

Grant said he'd like to see the brand launch happen next spring to coincide with a planned upgrade of the city's website, though that will depend on what comes out of the RFP.