DEI
Conservative push to end Canada’s ‘anti-merit’ DEI programs receives support
From LifeSiteNews
Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy president Mark Milk criticized government-run DEI programs as discriminatory and detrimental to merit-based hiring.
A Canadian analyst praised Conservative Party efforts to end “illiberal, anti-merit” government-run diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.
In an October 13 post on X, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre posted a petition to end government DEI programs, which Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy president Mark Milke revealed has led to a deterioration of the Canadian workforce.
Sign here. End DEI. Restore the merit principle. https://t.co/IDanYGgIpv
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) October 13, 2025
“It goes to the basic question of what kind of society you want and what governments should be doing. Governments should not have bureaucracies whose job it is to discriminate based on skin colour, ethnicity, gender,” Milke told the National Post.
Milke explained that Canadians should be hired based on merit, not skin color or by falling into another “minority” group.
“If people lose jobs who are promoting DEI, so be it,” he declared. “There are better ways to earn a living than by discriminating against people based on their unchangeable characteristics.”
“It’s not the job of the government to create all sorts of jobs for the sake of creating jobs at the taxpayers’ expense,” he continued.
“You would focus on providing equality of opportunity, as opposed to saying to someone, ‘You can’t have this job because, according to today’s criteria, you look the wrong way,” Milke declared.
Earlier this month, Poilievre, a longtime advocate against DEI initiatives, encouraged Canadians to sign a petition to end Liberal DEI programs that have cost taxpayers millions.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, Canada’s universities, under former Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and now under successor Mark Carney, promised $110 million to fund DEI projects, many of which concern Canadian post-secondary institutions.
Indeed, LifeSiteNews recently reported on Trudeau’s Liberal government spending over $30 million on DEI-affiliated contracts among many federal ministries since January 2019.
That led to an increase in woke ideology creeping into all parts of society. As LifeSiteNews reported recently, the University of British Columbia (UBC) Vancouver campus posted an opening for a research chair position but has essentially barred non-homosexual white men from applying for the job.
Following the lead of the United States, Poilievre has promised if ever elected to power he would scrap government funding of “radical political ideologies” in higher education.
Under U.S. President Donald Trump, public schools and universities were given until the end of February to eliminate their DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs or risk losing federal funding.
More than 30 states have introduced legislation that would eliminate DEI programs from education as part of a broader push against woke ideology spearheaded by Republicans such as Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Conservatives have long criticized DEI and other forms of identity politics for stoking rather than curtailing division. Moreover, many take issue with left-wing ideologies, such as gender ideology, because they contain objective falsehoods such as the denial of biological reality in determining sex.
From LifeSiteNews
Some departments failed to provide clear descriptions of how the taxpayer funds were used. For example, Prairies Economic Development Canada spent $190.1 million on projects related to diversity, equity and inclusion ventures but could not provide details.
Federal diversity, equity and inclusion programs have cost Canadian taxpayers more than $1 billion since 2016.
According to information published September 18 by Blacklock’s Reporter, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) government grants have totaled $1.049 billion since 2016, including grants for “cultural vegetables.”
A $25 million grant, one of the largest individual grants, was given to the Canadian Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce to “strengthen Canada’s entrepreneurship ecosystem to be more accessible to LGBTQ small businesses.”
The government payouts were distributed among 29 departments, ranging from military to agricultural projects.
The Department of Agriculture spent $90,649 for “harvesting, processing and storage of cultural vegetables to strengthen food security in equity-deserving Black communities” in Ontario.
Some departments failed to provide clear descriptions of how the taxpayer funds were used. For example, Prairies Economic Development Canada spent $190.1 million on projects related to diversity, equity and inclusion ventures but could not provide details.
“PrairiesCan conducted a search in our grants and contributions management system using the keywords ‘equity,’ ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion,’” the Inquiry said. “Certain projects were included where diversity, equity and inclusion were referenced but may not be the main focus of the project.”
DEI projects are presented as efforts by organizations to promote fair treatment, representation, and access to opportunities for people from varied backgrounds. However, the projects are often little more than LGBT propaganda campaigns funded by the Liberal government.
As LifeSiteNews reported, the University of British Columbia Vancouver campus posted an opening for a research chair position that essentially barred non-homosexual white men from applying for the job.
Additionally, during his short time in office, Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney has already shown Canadians that he is a staunch supporter of the LGBT agenda after he spent over $2 million in taxpayer funding on LGBT groups during his first week in office.
Canadians have repeatedly appealed to Liberals to end pro-LGBT DEI mandates, particularly within the education system.
As LifeSiteNews previously reported, in June 2024, 40 Canadian university professors appealed to the Liberal government to abandon DEI initiatives in universities, arguing they are both ineffective and harmful to Canadians.
The uproar over the restaurant chain’s rebrand might appear trivial, but it carries a deeper significance.
Last week, another viral culture war story captured the headlines. The old-timey restaurant chain Cracker Barrel had rebranded, removing the old man and the barrel from its logo, and replacing it with a simple, modernistic, typography-only design.
At first, I dismissed the story as trivial. I have never set foot in a Cracker Barrel and, as such, have little stake in what is emblazoned above its doorways. But after speaking with conservative activist Robby Starbuck, I learned there was something beyond the logo that deserved our attention. According to Starbuck, Cracker Barrel, whose customer base is heavily white, conservative, and rural, had spent the last few years adopting all the fashionable left-wing corporate policies: DEI, Pride, pronouns, race politics, and the rest.
The logo change might have caught the public’s initial attention, but the underlying political story had real stakes. If companies that depend on conservatives adopt radical left-wing policies, they must face the consequences.
And, thanks to the work of Starbuck and others, the social media uproar seems to have made a difference. As the story circulated through the media, the company’s stock price plummeted by as much as 17 percent. Cracker Barrel has quickly walked back its changes.
All this is salutary. Beginning with the revolt against Bud Light, the Right learned how to flex its muscles in the marketplace. Rather than defer to corporations as they did in the past, conservatives have realized that corporations have a culture and must be constantly reminded that, if they deviate from core American values, the consequences will be felt in their bottom line. Starbuck has had enormous success on this point, leading boycott campaigns that have changed policies at Harley-Davidson, Tractor Supply, John Deere, and other major brands.
A number of lessons can be drawn from this experience. First, conservatives can win these culture fights. Second, corporations follow the narrative in the media. Third, behavior changes through reward and punishment.
This last point is especially important. Some might dismiss the Cracker Barrel campaign as minor, or even embarrassing, given that the company is a decidedly down-class brand. But there is enormous value in making an example of the company and cementing a fear that conservatives can spontaneously lash out at any institution that crosses the line. Today, it’s Cracker Barrel; tomorrow it might be Pepsi, Target, or Procter & Gamble. As we have seen in recent years, corporate CEOs are highly sensitive to shifts in public opinion—and marginal changes in revenues—and will drop left-wing policies as soon as they become a liability.
The question is how to gain leverage. We are all tempted to be polite in public. But the fight over corporate culture can’t be won without securing real, tangible victories—which means real, tangible losses for institutions on the other side. Even if we don’t care about Cracker Barrel in particular, we should all care about the ideological capture of American institutions and use whatever power we have to reverse it.
And for that to occur, the Barrel must be broken.
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