Waving the wrong flag?

Once again CanWest MediaWorks, publisher of the National Post, reveals its identity crisis with a Freudian slip. They have released the list of words to be studied for their CanSpell National Spelling Bee. The bee is for Canadian students; the words, however, reflect American usage. Included are Dixiecrat, Pentagon and campesino, but not mukluks, poutine or shinny. And of course coloured is spelled colored and savoury is savory. All this is not surprising since the list is drawn up for the American Scripps competition where the lucky winners may eventually compete. Typically, CanWest defers to the American Way.