Photo credit: Toronto Star
Promoters of Canadian English say the federal government is sending the wrong message to the world by using British spelling in recent official documents.
CTV News reports that in a recent letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney, five linguistics experts and an editors association representative say the simplest way to keep national elbows up
is to get Canadian style down on the page.
The letter notes the use of British spelling – such as utilisation, globalisation, catalyse (instead of utilization, globalization and catalyze) – in documents including the 2025 federal budget.
Canadian spelling is used widely and fairly consistently in Canada – in book an magazine publishing, in newspapers and other media, and in the federal and provincial governments and their legislatures, the letter says.
In addition, Canadian spelling is a vital element of the country’s unique identity, according to the letter writers.
They ask the Prime Minister’s Office, the Canadian government and Parliament to stick to Canadian English spelling, “which is the spelling they consistently used from the 1970s to 2025.
Spelling is one aspect of Standard Canadian English, a distinctive national variety of English recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary, the letter says.
Standard Canadian English is unique among the varieties of English around the world because it is historically influenced by its geographic proximity to the US, but has features distinctive from US English and UK English.
Many Canadians are passionate about spelling words “Canadian” – but there are many opinions on what exactly is Canadian, the letter writers acknowledge.
