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Submitted by Sheila on March 3, 2021, at 13:54

Hi, Terry,
Actually, the ending on words like “centre” or “theatre” or “sabre” was always spelled “re” in British English. And with its closer ties to Britain, Canada retained the British spelling and continued to spell the ending “re.” It was the Americans, under the influence of Noah Webster, who switched to the more phonetic spelling “er.”