Pierre Poilievre is fighting one of his last battles in the Conservative leadership race, a battle in which even his main rival is in the game.
His latest target? The jargon used by the federal bureaucracy.
In a video posted to social media on Thursday, the apparent leader promises to enact a “plain language law” that he says would end government jargon, including in legislative documents.
Poilievre began his announcement by invoking the words of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the famous French author of “The Little Prince”, who once wrote a line about perfection.
“Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to subtract,” Poilievre said.
“Unfortunately,” he continued, “our governments do nothing but add and add and add paperwork and forms and endless bureaucracy.”
Poilievre said his new law would ensure that government publications are written in simple, direct sentences. He did not explain how such a law would work – or how the bill itself would be drafted without using jargon.
The law would also empower the auditor general to scan government publications for the presence of bureaucrats, he said, and provide Canadians with a government website where they can report gibberish.
He said the law would also require the government to hire writers who can write clearly and adapt bilingual language training for civil servants to ensure they learn the easiest words to understand.
Charest, Poilievre agree
Poilievre argues that government documents, including forms, are unnecessarily complicated because the bureaucrats who write them use too technical language, creating obstacles for small businesses to read them.
All that time spent trying to figure out what the documents say adds up, he said.
The federal government already has a policy on how its communications should sound, with rules stating that its messages should be clear and non-partisan. The policy came into effect in 2016, at the start of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s term.
Poilievre’s announcement on Thursday sparked a rare moment of agreement with rival candidate Jean Charest, the former Quebec premier who Poilievre lambasted throughout the race for being out of touch with the current party.
In a brief statement, Charest spokeswoman Laurence Toth wrote, “We welcome this policy announcement.”
Learn to communicate
Poilievre’s fight for fewer words seems to be one he takes personally. He complained about politicians’ use of jargon in a speech over a decade ago.
In 2009, when the prominent Tory had just five years as an MP under his belt, he advised young Tories on the value of learning to communicate as a way to advance their political careers.
Poilievre, who now has one of the biggest social networks in Canadian politics, then complained about the few people on Parliament Hill who knew how to write and speak in a way ordinary Canadians could understand.
“It’s not their responsibility to decipher overly verbose language,” he said of voters.
Poilievre told his 2009 audience that the best way to learn to communicate clearly is to write for newspapers — which take complex ideas and use simple language to explain them to readers — and knock on doors.
Poilievre’s skill as a communicator is one of the reasons his followers say they support him. His campaign says it has sold more than 300,000 memberships and many Tories expect him to be elected the party’s next leader on September 10.
The results of the vote will be announced that evening at a convention in Ottawa.
The party announced Thursday that the event will feature a familiar face as special guest speaker: Peter MacKay.
The former cabinet minister is a veteran of the movement, the party says, having led the former federal Progressive Conservative Party to merge with the Canadian Alliance in 2003, which gave birth to the modern Conservative Party of Canada.
MacKay has decided not to join the leadership race this year, saying he is still paying off campaign debts from the 2020 leadership race, which he lost to former leader Erin O’ Toole.
“Internet evangelist. Extreme communicator. Subtly charming alcohol aficionado. Typical tv geek.”