Doublespeak by William Lutz

Doublespeak by William Lutz

Author:William Lutz
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781632460189
Publisher: IG Publishing
Published: 2016-03-07T00:00:00+00:00


Mel Couvelier, Prince of Doublespeak

When faced with tough questions, Canadian politicians prove that they can use doublespeak just as effectively as anyone to avoid answering simple questions. When Mel Couvelier, the minister of finance for the Province of British Columbia, was asked if the property purchase tax would be paid on the sale of the Expo 86 land, or whether the tax had been waived, he replied, ‘The negotiations went through many combinations and permutations, so that I’m happy to advise the member that to the best of my knowledge, tax will be paid. I will be happy to confirm that upon passage of a little more time. Let me study the documents.”

That wasn’t too bad, but Mr. Couvelier was only warming up. When he was asked what the sale price was on which the tax would be computed, Mr. Couvelier responded,

Therein lies my hesitation, Mr. Speaker. In any event, to the best of my memory there were no particular arrangements provided in that respect. I think the honorable member, by virtue of his previous life, of all the individuals in this house, would be most aware of the fact that those lands had a very heavy cost associated with them in order to reclaim them so that they were usable. This honorable member who asked the question would, by virtue of his peculiar knowledge, appreciate the enormity of that necessary reclamation. Therefore the issue of the pricing, of the terms, of necessity had to recognize those unusual aspects of the sale. To a large extent, much of this information has come to light during a relatively recent few years, and the member who asked the question would be one of the best able to understand the complexities of the issue I have described.

When he responded to other questions with this same kind of doublespeak, Mr. Couvelier was pressed to explain his answers. He replied, “The honorable member seems to have some difficulty following the perfectly lucid answers I’ve been providing on this question.”

After reading this exchange, you have to wonder if doublespeak is an infectious disease spreading across borders, whether politicians all over the world take lessons in doublespeak, or whether doublespeak is just the natural language of politicians in every country.



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