A few readers have questioned Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s statement last week that “This is not a time to commit sociology.” One reader in particular could not figure out how you do that. It is quite easy, when you use the meaning ‘to take a course of action.’ It might not be the best grammar according to the latest edition of Fowler’s Modern English Usage. It is just that if it is your most serious grammatical confusion of the day, you must be an English professor.
It continues to prove that English is a dying language. We are all speaking American these days. And we do that badly. ‘Rd tht last txt U gt’ and you will understand the problem. The twits who tweet on twitter are worse. And what do you expect in a country that does not have any standards for one of its two official languages? (This is only a problem when you consider the French language is protected as though it is some sort of Holy Grail.)
Canadian news media people all have the same problem with Prime Minister Harper committing sociology. Who is there who will question him? The private television networks are so beholden to the Conservatives that their news crews take instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office on how to shoot his stand-ups. The CBC once got a back-shot (a camera angle from behind the subject being recorded) and the network lost another $100 million in funding.
Print media are marginally more literate than the broadcast media but they are afraid to push. They all seem to be reporting that sociology remark without comment. Sure, if you have a good memory and are old enough, former Prime Minister Kim Campbell’s remark in the 1993 general election about discussing serious policy during election campaign seems to fit the situation. That is only because Stephen Harper and his Conservatives are always campaigning, whether there is an election committed or not.
Liberal House Leader Dominic LeBlanc should have a chat one day soon with his NDP counterpart Nate Cullen. Nate might not be old enough to remember the 1979 episode in Ottawa that proved that Conservatives cannot count—and brought down the Joe Clark government. Who knows when Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition might find another of those rare opportunities to dump a sitting government? Canadians might welcome the opportunity to correct a foolish mistake they made in 2011.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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