A blog to give a voice to our concern about the continued erosion of our democratic processes not only within the House of Commons and within our electoral system but also throughout our society. Here you will find articles about the current problems within our parliamentary democracy, about actions both good and bad by our elected representatives, about possible solutions, opinions and debate about the state of democracy in Canada, and about our roles/responsibilities as democratic citizens. We invite your thoughtful and polite comments upon our posts and ask those who wish to post longer articles or share ideas on this subject to submit them for inclusion as a guest post.
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Sunday, March 25, 2018

Political Correctness Gone Mad

Service Canada’s front-line staff must “use gender-neutral language or gender-inclusive language” to avoid “portraying a perceived bias toward a particular sex or gender,” out of respect for the country’s “diverse” population according to recent reports. Such terms as “sir, madam, mother, father,Mr., Mrs., Miss.” etc are not to be used for fear of offending transgender or individuals who may be 'offended' by being addressed incorrectly by their appearance. Well folks I am offended by a small segment of our society dictating how I can be addressed when dealing with government, 'What is the name of parent number one?' is totally meaningless and confusing.

I have no problem with anyone asking to be addressed in a particular way and indicating that if / when some other pronoun is used, in many cases just omitting the pronoun entirely, whilst perhaps frowned on by some older users, would be preferable to some of the convoluted alternatives suggested by the politically correct crowd and some government departments. Apparently such pronouns have been removed from some government forms so how one identifies themselves is gender neutral, not a problem in most cases, putting down John Doe instead of Mr John Doe makes little difference on such documents. When addressing individuals face to face its more of an issue IMHO!

It appears to be a lot of confusion about this since the directive first came out and the latest from Jean-Yves Duclos, Canada’s minister of families, children and social development, defended the guidelines, noting they had been drafted in response to public complaints (really?). He stressed that Service Canada would continue to use Mr and Ms when interacting with clients. “We are only confirming how people want to be addressed as a matter of respect.” I imagine Service Canada employees are equally confused!

I have a few words for those that thought up this 'directive' but since they are not 'politically' correct or suitable for use in polite company I will leave it up your imagination as to what they are!



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