This is the speech that I delivered last month at the Canadian Public Relations Society’s National Conference in Edmonton, Alberta.

Given that it is a fairly direct assault on the manipulative tactics that are, increasingly, giving the public relations industry a bad name, I thought I might receive a defensive reaction from some of my professional colleagues. Instead, what I found, after a quick and convincing standing ovation, was a deep level of concern and tremendous willingness to deal with the issues that I raise in the talk.

Putting aside the political debate over climate change – which continues unabated on its well-funded, but surrealistic trajectory – I am optimistic that in both Canada and the U.S., a significant majority of public relations professionals are determined to trim the spin out of what we do.