Skip to main content

Strategic Insights Business Recovery in the USA and Canada

If media reports are to be believed, Canadians look to be a particularly unhappy lot right now. The recent bout of inflation and interest rate rises appear to have precipitated a specific phase of economic suffering that has spilled over into personal lives, and that misery appears to be uniform across demographic and socioeconomic categories. According to one survey, financial troubles, inflation, and high interest rates are having an impact on Canadians' mental health, driving concern about housing and food.  Millennials, particularly those who own a home, appear to be the most vulnerable to economic downturns as interest rates rise on tight debt burdens and economic damage wreaks havoc on the economy and expectations. Burdened by debt and rising housing expenses, three-in-ten Canadians are "struggling" to make ends meet, with mortgage holders reporting trouble meeting housing bills up 11% from last June. If you have a place to live, you struggle to pay your bills, and

Economic Recovery in the USA and Canada A Business Perspective

So, politics and the Constitution aside, Poilievre's shrug is exactly what we would expect from a sociological standpoint.Many people in English Canada have been outraged by the reporter's question's illiberalism. But I am not startled, and neither should you be. Quebec is not—and does not want to be—a very liberal province right now. And this isn't only because Quebec has the lowest religious commitment in Canada. Only 6% of Quebeckers are spiritually uncertain, whereas more than 57% regard themselves to be so—the lowest and greatest numbers in Canada, respectively. But it's more than just personal; it's political. After all, this is the province where wearing a hijab will get you fired as a public school teacher. It is a place where pupils enrolled in state schools are legally prohibited from praying in classroom rooms. You cannot be a judge while wearing a yarmulke or a police officer while wearing a turban. This was not an accident. The reporter is simply asking questions in accordance with political authorities who have declared—and a public that is largely supportive of—the explicit exclusion of religion from state-owned properties. As my buddy Dr. Robert Joustra wrote when Bill 21 was still an embryonic concept:

This is, without a doubt, a form of secularism.


but it is not the best kind, and it is not one that Canada should be identified with. Laïcité is a reimported civil religion that prioritizes the state over all other identities, religious or otherwise.For the record, I believe laïcité is a poor policy. It is misguided not only for legal reasons, not only because there are other, better ways for the state to take a principled and structural stance on religious freedom and its limits, not only because it is profoundly dehumanizing, but also, practically, because it is likely to exacerbate the very divisions and radicalism it seeks to prevent. But it has one thing going for it: honesty. Unlike many in English Canada, Quebeckers are forthright about their distrust of religion in public places. In this, they differ from many (not all!) English Canadians. Many of the responses to the reporter's query, as well as Bill 21, reflect a theoretical commitment to religious freedom in the English-speaking regions of the country. Many people are religious; they pray and wear weird hats; it does not harm anyone, so why should I care? In some ways, the collective reaction to the reporters' inquiry is a great case study in what Robertson Davies calls a "sort of Canadian conventionality, which keeps religion strictly in its place, where it must not be knocked, but need not be heeded, either."

But when it comes to actual attempts to live out their. 

deepest convictions in public life (peacefully, as citizens), many religious people are acutely aware that the self-perceptions of English-speaking Canadians' tolerance of religion is often more of a veneer that is quick to block participation, dissolve basic freedoms in administrative language of faux liberalism, or to publicly shame religion when its adherents want to move beyond fashion and articulate in institution.I said Quebec was more honest, but they are also, to their credit, more aware of the fact that religion is powerful. That power, it must be admitted, has been the source of enormous evil in our country, but it has also been the source of great good, the long-term benefits of which we continue to feel and do not frequently appreciate. Our country has for far too long assumed, rather than sought to answer in a deliberate and considered manner, the proper role of not only prayer, but also religion as a force for social and political change. And too often, that assumption is minimalist.Poilievre's shrug was an appropriate reaction to the question at hand. But if we are to completely embrace our Canadian identity, we cannot ignore the fundamental question. Perhaps, like a troubled heart, a small shock will allow us to live more fully together.The Centre for Substance Use and Addiction's (CCSA) study, which suggests radical modifications to alcohol health recommendations, has already sparked much discussion.

The International Scientific Forum on Alcohol Research. 

(ISFAR) described it as "a pseudo-scientific amalgamation of selected studies of low scientific validity that fit their preconceived notions," and 16 prominent Quebec-based harm reduction experts, professors, and researchers have recently stated that the CCSA's report misleads consumers with statements such as "even in small doses, alcohol has consequences for everyone."Despite the criticism the CCSA has gotten from individuals working in the field of alcohol research, there is a previously unknown link between researchers who consistently advocate for neo-temperance policy change and international temperance organizations such as Movendi.Movendi is an international temperance organization that advocates for abstaining from alcohol entirely. Movendi was created in the 1800s as "The Order of Good Templars," but rebranded in 2020, maybe because the former name sounded like it came from a Dan Brown novel. Surprisingly, Movendi funds its neo-temperance lobbying efforts around the world by operating a lottery in Sweden. Now, there is nothing ethically wrong with running a lottery or gambling in general, but running a lottery that has been sued by Sweden's Consumer Agency for utilizing misleading marketing tactics and scamming consumers is certainly dubious and deserving of scrutiny. Not to add that they fund their puritanical battle on one "sin" with the proceeds from another.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How to Navigate Office Politics in the USA

It has been infuriating to see folks who answer the cry to "Freedom!" deny that there is any problem worth bothering about. There is nothing small-government about the belief that if there is no problem, the government should do nothing to remedy it. The justification for libertarianism is based on the premise that difficult, important problems require individual effort, creativity, and consensus. Not the assumption that we live in a world free of difficult, important concerns. The polarization of pandemic concerns is so extreme that we can't even agree on what "doing something" and "moving on" look like. Wearing a mask, testing a few times, and working remotely while sick but otherwise returning to normal may qualify as either for the proper person. The inability to agree makes it difficult to be anything but angry with one another. Voluntary replies are good, however they are not adequate. What would have been the libertarian policy response to the p

Business Approval Guidelines for US Entrepreneurs

  There are some chances that can help people become legal permanent residents of the United States. If you are a permanent resident, you can live and work in the United States forever. You can also usually work your way up to becoming a citizen. Summary of the Ways Entrepreneurs Can Get Hired in the U.S. Nonimmigrant or Parole (Temporary) Ways To learn more, visit our page on Nonimmigrant or Parole (Temporary) Pathways for Entrepreneur Employment in the United States. Start-up Activity for Pathways in the United StatesHow Long It's Valid IER Rule for International Business Owners The new business must be legally set up and operating in the United States. It must also have been created within five years of your first application. It also needs to have a lot of room for fast growth and job creation. For initial parole you must have substantial ownership, which USCIS defines as at least 10%. For re-parole, you must have substantial ownership of at least 5%. You must be at the cente

The Importance of Corporate Strategy in U.S. Business Conduction

The study found a positive correlation between quality management methods, such as quality culture, and organizational learning, as well as information sharing, continuous improvement, and teamwork. Malik and Blumenfeld found that simply implementing quality management principles is insufficient without a leadership commitment to learning, open-mindedness, and shared learning. Business executives must understand the factors that impact employee behavior and habits to ensure quality and compliance with operational standards. To achieve company goals, leaders should establish ways to raise employee awareness of quality and compliance requirements, and encourage them to implement them. The study company was chosen as an example of quality products and a strong Culture of compliance excellence. The study organization used a branded program to integrate product quality and compliance into a holistic strategy that included business, quality, and compliance drivers on a single platform. The