Is it Deputy Minister or deputy minister? General Manager or general manager? Because in-house practice differs from one organization to the next, you may be unsure of when to capitalize a title. Indeed, this question can leave you muttering to yourself.
Solution
Here are some general guidelines:
DO capitalize:
a formal title before a name:
Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq
Deputy Minister Ian Shugart
Professor Chu
abbreviated titles before a name:
Dr. Bell
Profs. Chu and Lau
a title following a name (except titles indicating professions):
Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health
BUT
Kim Chu, professor of history
a high-ranking title referring to a specific person:
the Prime Minister
the Governor General
the Colonel
the Bishop
DO NOT capitalize:
plural titles:
the prime ministers of Canada and Britain
titles preceded by an indefinite article:
a member of Parliament
titles preceded by a possessive adjective:
our bishop
titles preceded by an adjective:
former prime minister Kim Campbell
the late justice Jules Deschênes
executive titles:
general manager Charleston Green
ABC president Iona Carr
Note: Organizations often prefer to capitalize executive titles in their own documents.
names of occupations:
author Susanna Moodie
lawyer Robert Taschereau
References
In preparing this linguistic reminder, we consulted these sources:
The Canadian Style (1997)
The Canadian Press Stylebook (2008)
The Canadian Writer's Handbook (2008)
Editing Canadian English (2000)
The Gregg Reference Manual (Canadian ed., 2006)
