You make my case for me. Low-hanging fruit means a task that can be accomplished with little effort. Coming up with the parliament building to tick the "ottawa content" box probably took about a minute of thought. It's obvious and easy.
When it comes to the symbolism is a crest, I prefer subtlety. The nine stripes of York 9 means something, but you have to dig a little deeper in order to understand it. Same with Edmontons rabbit or Halifax's star fort. The Redblacks have leaned on Ottawas logging history for their identity.
This crest is the answer to the question: "The Ottawa press conference is in 10 minutes, what kind of crest can you come up with in 9 minutes?"