It seems some Canadians feel quite at home with the federal government’s preference for British spelling.
Messages to Prime Minister Mark Carney on the matter indicate several correspondents see the affectation as a way of countering U.S. cultural dominance.
A flurry of emails to Carney followed news last December that promoters of Canadian English objected to the federal government’s use of British spelling in official documents.
Dozens of pages of messages were released to The Canadian Press in response to an Access to Information request.
While some writers flatly objected to the federal shift, others applauded it as patriotic.
“In our effort to distance ourselves from our acquisitive, abusive southern neighbours, I support this move,” wrote one person.
“Always neighbours, never neighbors.”
In a Dec. 11 letter that touched off the public debate, five linguistics experts and an editors association representative pointed to the use of British spelling — such as utilisation, globalisation and catalyse (instead of utilization, globalization and catalyze) — in government documents, including the 2025 federal budget.
Canadian spelling is used widely and consistently in Canada — in book and magazine publishing, in newspapers and other media, and in the federal and provincial governments and their legislatures, the letter said.
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“If governments start to use other systems for spelling, this could lead to confusion about which spelling is Canadian,” it added.
The experts asked 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.”
A widely published Canadian Press story about the letter spawned international coverage of the spelling spat.
Standard Canadian English is unique among the varieties of English around the world because, while it is influenced by its geographic proximity to the U.S., it has features distinct from both U.S. and U.K. English, the letter from the experts noted.
That nuance seemed to have been lost on some of those who felt compelled to write to Carney.
“The British spelling is more Canadian than U.S. spelling,” reads one message. “If we don’t protect our Canadian spelling, by favouring the British spelling, eventually our spelling (will) mimic the U.S.”
The names of the email writers were stripped from the newly released records in keeping with a privacy exemption in the access law.
Another message urged Carney to keep the British spelling “as this is what I grew up with and I quite like the British tradition rather than an American bastardized one.”
The experts’ key point about Canadian acceptance of “-ize” endings also appeared to elude at least one federal official.
In a response to one message expressing a preference for British spelling over American spelling, an officer who handles correspondence for the prime minister pointed to a 2017 blog post on a government website about why Canadian spelling is different.
The post noted that language evolves and that Canadians now share some spelling preferences with their neighbours to the south.
“Take the endings of verbs like ‘organize,’ ‘civilize’ and ‘specialize,’ for example: the majority of us favour the traditional spelling ‘-ize’ (the only spelling used in the U.S.) rather than the variant ‘-ise’ now so popular in British English.”
Several people simply told Carney to stick to Canadian English.
“Something is seriously wrong with our political ‘leaders,’” one person wrote. “We are supposed to be enthusiastically pro-Canadian whenever possible, but not in how we spell our words. Who thought this one up? Fools!”
Another correspondent favoured Canada spelling as a reflection of national identity and consistency in government communications, and alluded to the deep tensions with the United States over U.S. tariffs and threats to Canadian sovereignty.
“Preserving these standards is especially important during this momentous time for our country.”
I’m all in favor of using most efficient and intuitive spelling. no need to add extra u in favor for no reason, or spell center centre.
I dont believe these issues
Propaganda
Keep the English spelling. It is bad enough Trump is trying to have us as the 51st state without Candians giving him ammunition and support by Americanizing the way Canadians spell in Engish. Do the honourable and favourable thing by staying the course.
Reasonably certain we have more pressing issues!
Some unique Canadian words and phrases with Thanks from the Liberal Party for providing the foundation.
F*ck Trudeau.
The Blackfaced Princess of Papineau.
The Gargoyle Freezeland aka Bobblehead.
Drink box thingys.
Speaking Moistly.
Experienced it differently.
The Coward of the Cottage.
Thanks for your donation.
Sunny Ways.
Assault Style Firearms
Elbows Up.
M.O.U.
Dripa
Libranos.
Chinada.
Chindia.
Correction:
Some lazy Liberals with nothing better to do while they wait for their government assistance cheques contacted the government over this absurd nonsense so they could feel like the contributed something to society, as futile as it may be.
The Government needs to start working with all exporters to reroute sales to the other 96% of the planet!
Liberal should be designated as a terrorist organization
Put me down for Canadian spelling. Bouquet of Flowers not Bo-Kay as I once saw at a florist shop in New York State.
STOP TRYING TO ERASE OUR LEGACY
Better title : Only The elbozos support the British spelling because Trump lives in their heads rent free
I’m amazed at the number of Canadians who don’t realize we have our own Canadian English! It is not British English, nor is it US English. The editors who objected to Carney’s use of British spelling were advocating that the government continue to use Canadian English, as it has in the past, they were not saying we should switch to US English.
Canada is neither American nor British, and that is why it is important to maintain our Canadian English, it is symbolic of the fact that we are a sovereign country and a unique culture of our own.
While Canadian spelling leans heavily on British spelling, there are some words that we have adapted from the Americans as well. We also have uniquely Canadian words, some of which have been adopted internationally: poutine, toque, washroom, serviette, Loonie, Toonie, Chesterfield, etc.
I generally adopt the Canadian spelling, and I always set my spellcheckers to Canadian. I use the American -ize ending like organize, not the British organise. I also use the British neighbour, not the American neighbor.
Anything we can do to uphold our Canadian values and distinctive ways is well worth upholding. We should continue to use the practice of English vocabulary and spelling.
This article encapsulated the story; British spelling, American spelling, and Canadian.
How and why would we move from Canadian to anything else?
This PM hates Canada so much he would see the very language changed to something else. I’m surprised Chinese is not on the table….
I’m pretty sure we’ve always used british spelling in Canada, so this is nothing new or significant. It worries me that this is what Liberal voters are concerned with. They should be holding the PM to account for our shrinking economy and sky-high housing and food costs. But no, proper spelling is their main concern
define ‘some’. that is an editorial comment…not a news headline
Canadian English already fav’ou’rs the UK vs. USA, it always has. Why would we even consider dumbing ourselves down to American spelling. We have an established language of proper English, a touch of French, and some awesome words and phrases unique to Canada. There’s zero reason to change it or even discuss it. Can we get back to real problems, like building our country with as little connection to the USA as possible?
Carney owns your a$$ 🤣🤣
Ali – bla bla bla TDS bla bla bla immigrants bla bla bla f*ck 0ff you NAZl goof 🖕
Some Canadians also practice NAZl hate speech
I couldn’t care less about this quibble in spelling. I have things to worry about, like bills, rent, food and the cost of transportation. You know, the stuff this government ignores, including half the population cannot save for retirement. People have had to stay at the church my parents go to because they couldn’t afford to live, and yet there are groups of people and new-comers that want to shut churches down because the values offend their traditions.
Doesn’t Canada have an English/French Quebec mix of languages also. Or is that a no go now as Carney wants us to go Elbows Up and copy the reprobates in the UK.
Wow the TDS in this country is terminal. How do the thousands and thousands of immigrants who are not/barely literate in English feel about this critical issue?
I sure for somebody that has to go to food banks to survive this would not be even on the top 20 of their priority list.
More Elbows Up Carney bootlickers drinking the Kool-Aid.
Lmao
Talk about trying to manufacture an issue
Canadians will be stupid enough to buy into it as well
For Microsoft Office, you can implement a network global policy object (GPO) that all computers in that network use the Canadian English dictionary.
Somebody isn’t doing something right on the government’s network. What else are they doing wrong?
English spelling is the correct way of spelling English words. Using the American spelling in the USA maybe ok for them but it doesn’t mean that it’s the correct way to spell English words. The quickest way to be thought American is to use their spelling. I thought the elbows up movement wanted nothing to do with the US using the English spelling is a way to be recognized as Canadian
Sorry, what? Since when has there been any other standard. Is this not what we teach in schools anymore?