Doublespeak award for Wilson, Tory cabinet

Year Published:  1989
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX3639

Abstract: 
The Doublespeak Commission of the Canadian Council of Teachers of English (CCTE) has announced that Finance Minister Michael Wilson and the federal cabinet have won the second annual CCTE Public Doublespeak Award. Wilson won for his statements justifying the government's refusal to fulfill many of its election promises. Wilson said, "The commitments we made as a government going back to last summer were taken in a context of a program expenditure profile which I think was responsible. I think what we've seen since that time is a significant increase in interest rates, which obviously is colouring the fiscal position for the next year and [other] years if we don't deal with the fiscal problem."
External Affairs Minister Joe Clark was cited for his response to the disclosure that the Bank of Nova Scotia had made a $600 million loan to a South African-controlled company, despite a ban on such loans. Said Clark, "The loan by the Bank of Nova Scotia is in our judgement in conformity with the language of the Commonwealth ban and consequently the government of Canada's ban."
Also sharing the prize was Defense Minister Bill McKnight, who justified the government's decision to let the U.S. test its advanced stealth cruise missile in Canada. McKnight said that the radar-evading missile "is by no means a 'stealth' cruise missile," just an improved model that "looks very similar to its predecessor."
Also cited was Trade Minister John Crosbie, who said, after it was revealed that his wife and daughter had been given free trips to Thailand, that "it was - I would presume it was - a gift to my wife." The next day he said, "My wife went to represent me and to represent Canada in furtherance of good relationships between the country and Thailand. It is not a gift in the ordinary sense of the word."
The CCTE also gave its George Orwell Plain English Award to Adbusters of Vancouver for the television commercial the group produced. The commercial was designed to give the other side of the story after the Council of Forest Industries televised commercials about its reforestation efforts.
For further information on the awards, or to nominate candidates for next year's awards, write to Prof Richard Coe, Dept. of English, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6.
-Source: Quarterly Review of Doublespeak