22 Comments
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Susan Macaulay's avatar

I don't think it's the job of a journalist to report gossip, especially second-hand gossip from the National Post, regardless of her opinion of the individual reporter.

I also think folks in the PMO's office should work to the highest standards and dress and behave professionally.

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Laura D 💪🇨🇦's avatar

Can you give the guy “a minute” as Prime Minister before starting to nitpick and gossip? You seem to be venturing into bothsidesism and false equivalence which only benefits the Cons, who are 100% negative negative negative. You may think you are “balanced” in isolation, but in the big picture view, posts like this only strengthen the Cons and extremists in their goal to “tear it all up”. Maybe that was your objective, draw out negative attention/comments? The political noise of bickering about minutiae and “hot gossip” are what stands in the way of our government being able to get work done for Canadians. This is not a game, we have seen what this sensationalist “gossip” approach did in America.

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Susan Macaulay's avatar

I agree.

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Bonnie Macdonald's avatar

British spelling is important to me personally. That “u” is a an act of micro-patriotism. When the “u” isn’t used it’s a dead giveaway that a writer/ copywriter is American.

As for dress code…as long as it’s a dress code that doesn’t target women more so than men

and staff are being paid enough to buy formal business attire, it seems reasonable that people working in the most powerful office in the country are well dressed.

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Joanna Crandell's avatar

The issue of British spelling is a result of US writing programs - the default is the US spelling. If you are sending a report to the Prime Minister’s Office, reading it over carefully for is never a bad idea. Errors detract from the impact and make the author look lazy.

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Joanna Crandell's avatar

And look, I rewrote a sentence, didn’t read it carefully, hit Send and now my comment looks ill considered. You can’t redo a first impression!!!

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Sarah P's avatar

Dress codes aren't necessarily a bad thing. I expect politicians to look the part. I see too many professions have become too lax and to me, it shows a lack of respect for the job and the public. It doesn't have to mean policing of skirt lengths, simply that there's an expectation of being professional. I don't see the problem with that. Maybe it's a generational thing.

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Amnos Storm's avatar

I used to work under a white man who is much bigger than Carney and looks scary and is very intense and demanding. He doesn't have much patience especially when under pressure and would make demeaning remarks if he thinks you are not up to his standard. He is like a Voldemort kind of figure who sucks the air out of the room. He is also very particular and likes to use red ink to mark up everything including non-substantive changes. People were scared of him but I wasn't. I adjusted to his preferred writing style and the redline was reduced significantly. His assistant told me that he would hold his red pen trying very hard to mark up my documents but couldn't find anything to mark up. I don't mind people being particular about certain things, because if I can survive them, I can survive under any work environment. I don't think working under Carney would be nearly as bad

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Cris Yuan's avatar

I think usually spelling does not matter much, but since America is quite hostile to Canada (and everyone else) now, it is actually important for people in the PMO to use non-American English, which unfortunately means British spelling.

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Joanna Crandell's avatar

As far as dress code, this is generational

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Tim Tucci's avatar

Ok, WHAT WILL IT TAKE for Team Carney (or anyone for that matter) to read the CPC funding emails in Parliament and demand particulars from Team PP(for BM)...?

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Helen Carkner's avatar

I was worried sick that pp might become our Prime Minister. I was tremendously relieved when he lost not only the election but his own seat, and when a grown-up, capable of meeting as an equal with other world leaders, took over the helm. Since the election , I've spoken with many people who see those things as I do. Do you really need to call us "Carney heads" for investing in Mark Carney's success in the role?

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Cascadian Prepper.'s avatar

I'll fight you on the favourite any day of the week. 🤪

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Trish Strung's avatar

We don't need gossip masking as political reporting. I also do not think a dress code is necessarily a bad thing so long as the men are held to the same standard as women.

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Loran's avatar

He’s sticking with what he’s familiar with. I don’t expect Carney to be a leading light in progressive politics, I expect him to be a competent and, if necessary, Brutus to Trump’s Caesar. He knows, full well, that progressive politics will be used by the right to do the same thing they did to Trudeau, so he’s avoiding it. And, regardless, Freeland and Anand are the most powerful cabinet members, so I think you’re waving a bit of a false flag here.

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Heather's avatar

The problem with work environments like this is it excludes a large number of people who would otherwise be assets, or stresses them out to the point where they under perform. Relying on symbolism to assess someone’s competence or commitment is inaccurate. If you dress well, it means you understand the language of clothes. Punctuality means you are good at being on time. And spelling just means good at spelling. That’s it. All good skills, but when listed against the other skills, pretty minor. I’d hate for an excellent listener and communicator with in-depth policy knowledge and the ability to build bridges between disparate communities be excluded or rendered ineffective because they are always 10 minutes late, suits make them sweat, and their spelling is the despair of the department.

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AJ Stone's avatar

I expect politicians to dress professionally due to their position, especially MPS.

That said, dress codes need to be reasonable. BC went through a dress code challenge with asks of men wearing short sleeves and women going sleeveless under their suit jackets due to how hot our legislature is. That type of consideration should be in the MP dress code.

As for spelling, we shouldn't ever be using American spelling on govt documents. That's not what we were taught in school; there's no excuse for using a different spelling. As a journalist I'm shocked and appalled you'd take issue with this.

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Loran's avatar

Regardless, Freeland and Anand are the most powerful cabinet members, so I think you’re waving a bit of a false flag here.

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