New poll shows more Canadians than Americans opposed to DEI hiring

The Association for Canadian Studies just released the results of a survey done for them by Leger Marketing. Surprise finding: A majority of Canadians say that employers should not take cultural or ethnic backgrounds into consideration when hiring.

According to the poll, 57% of Canadians disagree with the notion that equity should be a part of hiring. Jack Jedwab, President of the ACS, said, "The survey results point to some pushback on the issue of minority hiring in Canada and the United States." 

36% of Americans support affirmative action, while only 28% of the residents of Canuckistan support it. Leger didn't ask people why they were for or against equity hiring, but a visit to any Canadian government office... or any McD's in Toronto or Vancouver... will give you the answer.

Although diversity hiring is unpopular across all age groups, it's most unpopular, at 62%, among Canadians between the ages of 45 and 54. Even among supposedly liberal young Canucks (18 to 24 year-olds), 50% oppose hiring based on race and ethnicity. Men and women equally oppose such policies, with 57% against. 

The new poll disclosed some regional difference. In Québec, where the provincial government has attempted to prohibit the wearing of religious dress and symbols in some workplaces, the objection to equity hiring is most strongly held: 63% of Québécois disagree with it. 

In Alberta, 58% of respondents said background shouldn't be a consideration in hiring. The province's governing United Conservative Party now has policies that explicitly endorse the elimination of DEI hiring within the public service and Crown corporations.

In British Columbia, where 57% hold that view, while 55% of Ontarians polled agreed, as did 53% of residents of the prairie provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. There was no outright majority only in the Maritimes, where 50% opposed diversity hiring.

The latest opinion survey comes as DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), has come under increased scrutiny in the business and political world. Last month, Walmart scrapped its diversity program, as did John Deere and Harley-Davidson.  

At the other end of the earth, the government of New Zealand is rethinking its promotion of DEI in its armed forces. Here's why.

Walt kids you now. That's a true story. Seems the lady (?) in command of the ship didn't have all that much experience at sea, and had the ship on autopilot. You won't find the part about the commander being a lesbian in the lickspittle media, but you can check out this thread on Reddit.

Back in the Excited States of America, America First Legal, a non-profit led by former members of the Trump administration, filed complaints with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging that American, United and Southwest Airlines engage in "overtly discriminatory practices" in their diversity hiring and retention programmes.

The group pointed to the airline's focus on "expanding [its] Cadet Academy to ensure prospective pilots, particularly people of color and women, have access to the support needed to enter the profession." They also called out airline statements that it met "companywide diversity goals for any underrepresented positions," including "Black representation and retention."

America First Legal argues that such practices violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because they are "based on the race or color of the individuals involved." Earlier this year, they made similar arguments in complaints to the EEOC against Southwest and United, which it accused of using unlawful quota systems to further DEI goals. What do you think? Do you feel safe flying the inclusive skies of United?

The backlash against DEI policies isn’t just external. In a 2021 Gartner survey, 42% of employees said they resented their employers' DEI efforts. And in a November 2022 online survey by ResumeBuilder.com and Pollfish, 52% of hiring managers who work for a company with a DEI initiative said they believed their company practices "reverse discrimination" in hiring. Nearly half said they'd been told to prioritize diversity over qualifications. Now we see how that worked out for the Royal New Zealand Navy.

Further reading:"10 ways to improve Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at your workplace", WWW 21/10/23.

Alberta socialists play anti-white card, lose bigly to United Conservatives

The western Canadian province of Alberta is a lot like Texas, only covered by snow six months of the year. People wear Stetson hats and cowboy boots, even in city boardrooms. They talk about three things: oil, beef and when are the Oilers going to win something. And they drive pickup trucks, just like the blue one that Jason Kenney drove into Government House (metaphorically speaking) in yesterday's provincial election.

Jason Kenney? Who he? Haven't we heard that name before? Yes! Click on the tag at the end of this story and you'll find several posts from the years when he was a cabinet minister and key player in the federal government of Steve Harpoon. He wisely jumped ship well before the election of 2015 and went home to Alberta to lead the provincial Conservative Party.

In the ensuing election, conservative Albertans made the classic mistake (Republicans take note!) of dividing their votes between the official Conservative Party and the even more rightist Wildrose Party. Result? A win for the socialist New Democratic Party, who promptly embraced the save-the-environment-and-to-hell-with-oil polices of Just-in Trudeau's Liberal federal government. Result? A new carbon tax, but no new pipelines, and four years of stagnation in the oil patch. And yesterday was the day of reckoning.

The 2019 campaign was, from the outset, a two-way fight between the pinko Kneedippers and Mr Kenney's United Conservative Party. Note the new party name. Having learned the hard way not to divide your forces, conservative Albertans supported the 2017 merger of the Conservative Party and the populist/rightist Wildrose Party and put all their blue eggs in Mr Kenney's basket. Result? A hyuge win for the UCP. As I write, with a couple of ridings still in doubt, the UCP is elected or leading in 63 seats, the socialists in 24. "Hope is on the horizon," Mr Kenney told a crowd of cheering and whistling supporters in Calgary, adding that "Alberta is open for business!"

Yesterday's vote was often framed, especially by Canada's lamestream media (Hello, CBC!) as a choice between economic priorities and social values. Since the deteriorating economy was a huge millstone around the neck of the NDP, the (now outgoing) premier, Rachel Notley, and her media sycophants (Hey, she's the last female premier!) tried to sell Albertans on her ethics, pointing to several festering scandals that dogged the UCP on the campaign trail and promising spending on health care, child care and education if her party was re-elected.

When that didn't work, she dove into the gutter, trying to portray UCP candidates as racist, Islamophobic, anti-LGBTQ, and the latest pejorative "white nationalist". Result? Didn't work! Mr Kenney continued to back one candidate (an evangelical pastor) who compared homosexuality to pedophilia in a 2013 sermon. Mr Kenney also refused to kick out candidates who questioned the "science" behind climate change. Apparently Albertans, unlike the wimpy denizens of Toronto and Ottawa, aren't overburdened by white guilt, and are sick of being hearing lectures on environmentalism and "inclusivity" from the likes of Ms Notley and her turban-wearing federal counterpart Jugmeat Singh.

Lessons for conservatives on both sides of the world's longest (and sadly) undefended border: Support each other, and stand united! And don't be afraid to show your true colours. Even in Canada, there are hundreds of thousands of voters who have not yet taken leave of their senses, and can still tell the difference between the lefties' promised utopia and the strong and free society in which decent, hard-working people can live a good life, free from the rule of Big Brother!