Editorials - Jan. 3, 2025

In an era when major companies like Walmart, John Deere, Ford and others are scrapping or reducing their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, some companies are maintaining or enhancing their efforts. Companies are scrutinizing their DEI programs, but a large majority found “unanimous support for maintaining, if not intensifying, DEI efforts into 2024, with 63 per cent actively seeking to further diversify their workforce.” Many of these companies are maintaining their efforts because it works in an increasingly competitive job market and makes good financial sense to make your workplace as inviting as possible to a broad spectrum, attracting the best and brightest.

 

While some companies are quietly going about it, so as not to attract attention from the conservative naysayers who believe that “woke” companies have gone too far, or that inclusionary programs are no longer needed, some companies are boldly pushing back.

 

Costco, long known as a progressive employer that pays some of the highest wages in retail, has shot back at a conservative think tank. Costco’s board unanimously recommended that the shareholders vote down a National Center for Public Policy Research proposal that would have the company evaluate and issue a report on the financial risks of DEI policies. Not only does Costco implement DEI around its human resources policies, but it actively seeks out small and diverse suppliers to ensure that their customers have original and creative merchandise. 

 

Costco and other savvy business managers recognize that their workforce and supply chain must reflect an increasingly diverse world in which customers want to see themselves reflected. – DS

It’s unlikely that 2024 will make any “golden age” lists when the History TikTok is danced, especially for someone like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but, perhaps, it was a breather in between two stretches of tough times. Maybe, just maybe, it’s the eye of the storm.

 

From the spring of 2020 until more recently than you might think, the world was in the throes of the deadly, disruptive COVID-19 pandemic. Death, illness, misery, lockdowns, cancellations, protests and more were the stories of the day for years as the world’s leaders navigated a path they’d never walked before. For many, 2024 was the first year that things truly returned to normal. 

Now, with Donald Trump returning to the White House later this month and several other major democracies (including ours) being challenged by right-wing parties with plenty of steam behind them, this year may be one of upheaval and extreme change. This, in addition to two major wars slogging along with no end in sight. 

 

In retrospect, though we may not have known it at the time, 2024 may have been a year in which we were able to catch our collective breath, move on from the trauma of the pandemic and settle into the closest thing to a pre-2020 existence that we’ve known in five years. After years of unprecedented times, humanity was left yearning for the precedented. Last year may have snuck it in, right under our noses. – SL 

Much has been (and continues to be) made about returning U.S. President Donald Trump’s fixation on Canada in recent weeks. He’s taken to calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau the “Governor” of the “Great State of Canada”, which has led to everything from some shrugging it off as a joke to others fearing war with our neighbours. 

 

This has led some to take a strange path to prove their patriotism that is, in fact, not patriotic at all. They’re agreeing with someone who, jokingly or not, is talking about annexing our great country. But, because their “F— Trudeau” flag flies proudly, Trump now seems more Canadian than Trudeau (or any other left-leaning politician) because Trump hates and persecutes all of the same people that these folks do.

 

Take Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who has become a darling of Fox News in the U.S., as she agrees with Trump on many of the issues he’s raised and will attend his inauguration, even as these threats of tariffs and annexation loom. But, hey, at least she’s not agreeing with Trudeau, right? One wonders who could register lower on the approval scale than Trudeau with some of these people. The list is not very long.

 

Loving your country and its people used to be a pretty straightforward concept. And yet, as racist nationalism and creeping historical parallels become the norm and the world’s democracies are being disrupted by right-wing groups and ultra rich power brokers like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos sticking their noses where they don’t belong, people are becoming more beholden to a movement than they are to a country. All the while, they are proclaiming a {your country here}-first attitude that, in many ways, serves as a thin veneer over its true face. 

 

So, the next time you think about what’s good for Canada, look within its borders. It’s Canadians who have Canada’s best interests at heart. Or at least that’s the way it used to be; back in a simpler time. – SL