‘Words Matter’: How Shifting Government Language Influences Public Discourse on Polarizing Issues

‘Irregular’ becomes ‘illegal’ again, while ‘pollution price’ reverts to ‘carbon tax’ as political winds change

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News Analysis

In the early days of Ottawa’s frantic push to dissuade the incoming Trump administration from imposing sweeping tariffs, cabinet ministers began reusing a term that hadn’t been in the government’s lexicon since mid-2018: “illegal migration.”