10 of our favourite Alberta licence plate designs from the last 113 years

Oct 16 2025, 4:54 pm

Alberta has had plenty of licence plate variations over the past century, and with a new redesign that drops the long-standing “Wild Rose Country” slogan, we couldn’t resist taking a trip down memory lane.

On Wednesday, the Alberta government announced the long-running slogan, which has appeared on plates since 1973, will be replaced with “Strong and Free.”

Albertans can help choose the new look in a tournament-style vote running until Nov. 15, with the winning design set to be revealed next month.

From the very first plate issued in 1912 to today, Alberta’s plate designs have gone through just about every colour combo imaginable, from white on red and red on white to yellow on black and black on yellow.

There have been way too many to count, but these are 10 of our favourite licence plate designs from the last 113 years:

1913: White ink on red plate

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Woody1778/Wikimedia Commons

1918: White ink on black plate

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woody1778a/Flickr

1922: Yellow ink on black plate

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woody1778a/Flickr

1933: Blue ink on yellow plate

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woody1778a/Flickr

1950: White ink on blue plate

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woody1778a/Flickr

1954: Black ink on orange plate

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woody1778a/Flickr

1971: White ink on green plate

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woody1778a/Flickr

1973-1974: “Wild Rose Country” slogan appears

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Creative Commons

1988: Winter Olympics special plate

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Mhuy222/Wikimedia commons

2003-2010 licence plates

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woody1778a/Flickr

Which Alberta plate design from the last century is your favourite? Let us know in the comments.

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