Watch Your Language

December 9, 2023

HERE'S MY TAKE

It’s mostly news nerds who noticed the dust-up last week regarding the use of language at a Parliamentary committee. Alberta Conservative MP Rachael Thomas was questioning Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge regarding the government’s $100 million settlement with Google following the recently passed Online News Act. Observing that the minister was responding to Conservative questions in French, but questions from Liberals and others in English, Thomas asked, “I realise it’s completely your choice, we’re a bilingual country, but if at all possible, I would love to have it in English.”

The response was predictable. The Liberals declared it “unacceptable.” The NDP found it “offensive to everyone” and “absolutely reprehensible.” Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-François Blanchet made reference to a 1968 poem which critiqued the oppression of French Canadians as “Good old ‘Speak White.’” And of course, the Official Languages Commissioner was “shocked and disappointed.”

Within hours, Thomas offered a written apology, confirming she’d made a political mistake. From a political issues management perspective, this “clean-up in aisle three” operation was effective. It was a two-day story that more pressing news quickly overtook. Of greater consequence is the footage provided for Liberals and others to use in future political advertising. Look for this in the next campaign as a proof point that the Conservatives are a retrograde party holding onto anti-bilingualism sentiments.

Ironically, this entire incident is about political advertising. That’s most of what Parliament and its committees are these days–a studio to practise dramatic talking points and exchanges. The best ones find their way into social media and advertising clips. It’s not that the minister could not answer in English–her responses to NDP and Liberal questions proved that. Nor is it that MP Thomas could not understand the answers–between her French capacity and the simultaneous translation, that wasn’t the issue. It was that French answers to English questions don’t make for great video clips. Both the minister and Ms. Thomas knew this and her attempt to address this backfired. It was the Liberals and the Bloc who got usable clips along with winning a day in the earned media contest.

It’s already been a decade since long-time Ottawa journalist Susan Delacourt wrote Shopping for Votes: How Politicians Choose Us and We Choose Them. Her thesis was that modern politics has turned into a giant marketing and branding exercise. In an era of non-stop campaigning, politics is no longer about ideas or policy. Delacourt argued that media coverage and journalism have not kept up with the sophistication of political marketing. Consequently, the relationship between voters and government is increasingly transactional and politics has become commodified.

There is much to what Delacourt argued. A decade later, the problem, if anything, has intensified. The declining capacity and reach of mainstream media, the ability to micro-target niche constituencies and bypass media intermediaries, and the consequent narrowing of messages all have had perverse impacts on our democratic process. And before we blame anyone for this state of affairs, we need to acknowledge that politicians engage in these practices because they work. Why go through the trouble of a media intermediary to get your message out when you can do so directly unfiltered? Why go through the trouble of grand narratives and messaging when most voters don’t get past the surface branding and a very specific pitch targeted to their specific interests? Grander visions of the common good become redundant and even a hindrance in that game.

There are no easy answers. However, as I reflect on the challenge, I am reminded of a core principle that is so important to a healthy and functioning public square. The public square is made up of various spheres–political, legal, familial, faith, economic, and others–and we are never able to deal with any one in isolation. I can go to work but I can’t totally factor out the influences of politics or family on how my workday unfolds. Our MPs can do their legislating but they can’t factor out the reality of the media and the imperative of winning the next election if they are going to remain in power. The key to a healthy and functioning society is keeping these multiple interests in the right order at the right time. No one wants employees to neglect their family identity and responsibility, even when at work, and we would look askance at the person who in the name of doing their job would ignore family emergencies. But we question folks whose sense of family responsibility is such that they are preoccupied with it at their workplace to the extent of not being able to do their job. A work-life balance means having the right priorities at the right time.

Politics is about governing and the ideal of governing is justice. But you don’t get to govern without winning at the politics game. When politics and winning are the only agenda item, justice ends up neglected. The challenge at committee last week wasn’t about whether the appropriate language was French or English. Parliamentary committees are places where governments are held accountable to the public interest and a standard of justice. Both justice and politicking are always in play but we need to know where we are and set our priorities accordingly.

MP Thomas and the Conservatives aren’t the only ones playing the political marketing game during legislative time. It’s par for the course these days for all of the parties and the tools of new media make it doubly tempting compared to the past. The faux outrage in response to Ms. Thomas’ misstep was as misfocused as the misstep itself. The issue at hand was a discussion of media capacity and the distribution of $100 million from Google. That issue has all sorts of perverse incentives of its own. Andrew Coyne rightfully outlined how this amounts to an explicit “shakedown” of the Canadian media. In light of that, one can hardly blame the political parties for producing their own media. But when we’ve replaced legislating and political debates with branding and social media marketing, the negative consequences will have us asking “pourquoi” of our politics long after the clips have been forgotten.

WHAT I’M READING

Tax Changes and Charitable Giving

Charities are concerned that proposed changes to tax policy included in the 2023 Budget will reduce incentives for high earners to make large donations to charities. Imagine Canada estimates that the reduction in allowable credits from 100% to 50% for those using the Alternative Minimum Tax method could reduce giving to Canadian charities by more than $500 million annually. This letter to the Department of Finance from Imagine Canada offers more details.

Religion at Work?

Most discussions of diversity and inclusion in the workplace omit religion. That’s a major mistake according to a new international survey on religion at work released last month. Nearly half of respondents reported they were unlikely to discuss religious holidays or festivals at work. Almost one in five reported they have had requests rejected for taking time off work to celebrate a religious holiday. The report concludes, “Organisations may believe that they are promoting religious inclusivity but their employees do not necessarily agree. Religion at work is a topic that is largely overlooked by organisations and within organisational research even though for people who have a faith, this is an important part of their lives and identity.”

New National Chief of the AFN

It took six ballots, but Cindy Woodhouse of Manitoba is now the new national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. Her main challenger, David Pratt, conceded the election Thursday, confirming her as the winner of what turned out to be a very tough process. It will be interesting to see what kind of voice Chief Woodhouse will be for the AFN, which is an advocacy body for First Nations chiefs in Canada and plays a more important role in Canadian politics than most realise. She helped negotiate the $23 billion compensation agreement from the federal treasury for underfunding on-reserve child welfare. Chief Woodhouse also welcomed the Pope’s 2022 apology for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools as “his response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action #58.”

MEANINGFUL METRICS

Increasing Disability Rates

This month StatsCanada has released new data on disability. The agency reports that 27 percent of Canadians (eight million citizens) aged 15 or over report having at least one disability. That’s an increase in all provinces, representing a national increase of 4.7 percent since 2017. The growth in Canada’s senior citizen population and increases in mental health, pain, and vision-related disabilities contributed to the nearly five percent increase in the disability rate.

Oiling the Climate Talk

The federal government announced a framework for capping emissions from the oil and gas sector on Thursday, coinciding with the COP28 conference in Dubai. The annual global climate change conference (if an event two weeks in length with over 84,000 registered attendees can be called a conference), has become a focal point for all players in the climate change debate to get their talking points out. Politico’s analysis of the “Global Stocktake” (“a report card on where the world stands eight years after signing the Paris agreement and how countries plan to fix their inevitable shortcomings”) is among the more balanced takes I have found. Alberta has a delegation led by Premier Danielle Smith, who is undoubtedly adding a different spin on things than that of the official Canadian delegation led by federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.

In the midst of this debate, this graph in Axios shows that U.S. oil production is increasing and is back to pre-pandemic levels during President Biden’s Democratic administration. The report notes some interesting political dynamics. The Biden administration isn’t doing “public victory laps,” choosing instead to keep a focus on lowering fuel prices through increasing the supply for consumers, while insisting that increased domestic production remains consistent with “the most ambitious climate agenda in history.”

TAKE IT TO-GO

A Golda Kissinger Moment

Over dinner this week I was reminiscing with a friend, noticing how politicised the obituaries of Henry Kissinger, Sandra Day O’Connor, and Rosslyn Carter seemed. My friend is a few years older than I, but we both noted that the most significant impacts (especially of Kissinger and Carter) were in the 70s and 80s, prior to our own mature engagement in public square matters (although Kissinger remained current and not shy about his opinions until the end). In the course of conversation, my friend prompted a laugh based on an incident from the movie Golda, a 2023 biographic drama on the life of Golda Meir that he recommends. (I haven’t seen it, but trust his good judgement.) Prime Minister Meir and Henry Kissinger are alone sitting across the table after their aides have just left the room. Kissinger leans over and says in a serious tone, “You need to understand, Madam Prime Minister, that I am an American first, the Secretary of State second, and a Jew third.” The prime minister apparently replied, without missing a beat, “Henry, you forget that in Israel we read from right to left.”

Whether you read Insights from right to left, or bottom to top, I trust you find something here worthwhile and look forward to being back in your inbox next Saturday for our final Insights of 2023.