Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney faces public push to adopt British spelling in federal documents

A group of Canadians have written to Prime Minister Mark Carney urging the federal government to shift its official spelling protocol to British English. The campaign, sparked by a December 11 letter from five linguistics experts and an editors association representative, points to the use of British spellings such as “utilisation”, “globalisation” and “catalyse” in the 2025 federal budget. The writers argue the change would reinforce Canada’s cultural identity and counter perceived U.S. influence, while some opponents view it as unnecessary. Dozens of pages of the submitted messages were released to the press after an Access to Information request, showing both support and criticism. The debate has attracted international media attention, but no official policy change has been announced yet.