Speak plainly to me: The push to remove 'bureaucratese' from politics

The Sunday Magazine13:03We love it, we hate it, we legislate it: Word Processing 'bureaucratese'

It's time for politicians and bureaucrats to cut out the jargon and speak in nice, simple words — at least, that's what some experts say. 

"There are a lot of diverse people and people who can't handle legalese or … non-plain language, long sentences and so on," Christine Mowat, an author and plain language expert, told The Sunday Magazine. "And that is very important to make governments transparent."

She has taught plain language courses at all levels of government in Canada, and has given workshops, spoken at conferences and authored a handbook for using plain language in legal writing. 

And Mowat's suggestion reflects a wider push for clearer communication in Canada — and around the world. Canadian Conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre is pushing for a law in Canada that would do away with political jargon and force politicians to speak plainly. 

"Unfortunately, our governments do nothing but add and add and add paperwork and forms and endless red tape," said Poilievre in a video posted on social media in September. 

Poilievre said the proposed legislation would ensure government publications would be written in simple, straightforward sentences.

Global movement

Canada has a few countries it can turn to for insight should it pursue such a law. There has been a Plain Writing Act in the United States for over a decade, and New Zealand has similar legislation. 

It passed a Plain Language Act meant to cut down on what New Zealand MP Rachel Boyack calls "gobbledegook."

"I feel very strongly that if government is asking a member of the public to do something, we should be being clear at that," said Boyack, who put forward the private members bill on plain language.  

"We should make it really clear what people are required to do and also what benefits they are entitled to."

Boyack has seen examples of immigration documents where she had to read it multiple times before she could understand it. 

"If I, a university educated member of Parliament can't understand a letter from immigration, how can a new migrant who has English as a second or third language understand the letter?" Boyack asked. "So I've seen it have real issues on people's daily lives."

It's especially important to ensure that government documents use clear language when it comes to financial matters, she said, giving the example of not understanding how to pay a parking fine that arrives in the mail.

"You leave it — and in the end you end up racking up a lot more debt to government," Boyack said.

Balance of language

Gary Libben says plain language is important and should be used to communicate clearly with the public. But the psycholinguist and linguistics professor at Brock University said he believes jargon can also be used for good. 

"I don't know that jargon is always a bad thing," he said. "When we make up new words, that's when we're at our best and that's when our languages are the most healthy."

Libben said that jargon can be useful in different communities and professions, such as the legal or medical field, to communicate complex ideas in a specific way.

Instead, people need to learn when to use plain language, he said, and when it's time to be a bit more technical.

"If we become a little more conscious of our use of jargon, we'd have some control over this," he said.