Talk:Premier of the Northwest Territories

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The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the debate was don't move. —Nightstallion (?) 11:37, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Move: Premier of Northwest Territories

Premier of the Northwest Territories → Premier of Northwest Territories – The proposed move (and others) is consistent with titles for analogous Canadian subdivisional articles. While used in speech and in-text, inclusion of the definite article, the, is not prescribed by statute and is indirectly discouraged by Wp guidelines (for titles) and elsewhere. According to the Oxford guide to Canadian English usage (ISBN 0-19-541619-8) (p. 342):

Residents prefer "Northwest Territories" to "'the' Northwest Territories". The preferred usage parallels usage for the names of provinces; that is, one doesn't say "the Alberta".

E Pluribus Anthony | talk | 15:39, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Voting

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[edit] Discussion

See also Talk:List of communities in the Northwest Territories. — sjorford (talk) 16:08, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

The official website of the premier says [1] "Joseph (Joe) Handley is the ninth Premier of the Northwest Territories." Luigizanasi 18:05, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Yet "Premier of Yukon" – is there something wrong here? This proposal is intended to render NWT article titles consistently, not promote varied usage. Regarding NWT titles and despite dialectic references to the contrary, I defer to my prior statements and style citation above. E Pluribus Anthony | talk | 18:32, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
The Yukon became officially "Yukon" in 2002 with the passage of the Yukon Act. So it's officially "Premier of Yukon, despite my dislike for it. Not the case for the NWT, despite what the Oxford Guide says. I think it's just wrong and I suspect it is confused about the real debate which occurred in the Yukon, not in the NWT, AFAIK. I have yet to see anywhere where Northwest Territories is not preceded by "the" (unless it's used as an adjective). Can you find other uses without the "the"? Luigizanasi 19:57, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
Here is a reference from the Northern Review style guideline (PDF file) stating quite clearly on page 2 that "The Yukon and the Northwest Territories should be referred to with the definite article where appropriate: the Yukon or the Northwest Territories." The Review is a peer-reviewed journal published in the North. Luigizanasi
Let's extract the full citation for context:
Spelling
5.2 As the Review is a Canadian publication, its editors prefer that authors follow Canadian spelling conventions as represented by the Oxford Canadian English Dictionary or any major Canadian dictionary. The editors will, however, accept the use most common spelling conventions used in other English-speaking countries. All spelling should be internally consistent.
5.2.1 Please Note: The Review prefers subarctic/Subarctic to sub-arctic/sub-Arctic.
The Yukon and the Northwest Territories should be referred to with the definite article where appropriate: the Yukon or the Northwest Territories.
It seems ironic that the Northern Review would invoke acceptance of the Oxford Canadian Oxford Dictionary as a preference for spelling – there are at least two other major Canadian dictionaries – while contradicting an ancillary style guide (Oxford Guide to Canadian English Usage) by the same source. After all, it is as much editorial preference as the above is. Moreover, read passage 5.2 again and you'll note the syntax is off.
I guess the point is whether it's appropriate to include the definite articles in NWT titles. Is it in-text? Perhaps, perhaps not – see here for a melange. Based on everything presented and consistent with other Canadian articles, I still feel it is inappropriate in titles. And, throughout, I'd like to point out that it has not been demonstrated that the proposed moves would be wrong in any way. E Pluribus Anthony | talk | 02:32, 13 February 2006 (UTC)
I don't think it's an issue of right or wrong for this article. It seems that both usages are acceptable, just like colour or color. (Although I do think that "color" and omitting the "the" are both wrong. – :-) ). In this case, it should be about what the official title is, and we should use that; just like I agree that "Premier of Yukon" should be used as it is the official title despite my (and many other Yukoners') dislike for it and what some usage guides say. Note that using "Premier" for the territories is a fairly recent phenomenon, dating back to the late 80s/early 90s, before that it was "Government Leader". Luigizanasi 17:36, 13 February 2006 (UTC)
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.