Symbol of remembrance does not conform to dress code, company says
Kimberley Molina · CBC News · Posted: Nov 06, 2020 4:00 AM ET
Pasted: An employee of the Whole Foods in Ottawa says she was told by a supervisor that wearing the poppy would be seen as "supporting a cause."
ââââââââââââ-
Not 100% sure what is going on here but I suspect that managers are deploying some kind of pop-sociology driven 'slippery slope' argument.
Talk about tone deaf...... Can you fathom how this impacts people with family history in one or both wars?
Mixup of intentions and meanings involved? Poppy can easily be seen as a "cause" when it comes to legalizing drugs. The symbol's history may easily be misinterpreted, even though it shouldn't be during these days!
With coronavirus cases surging across most of Europe and the Americas, it can be easy to give into nihilism and wonder whether there is any good way for a country to fight the virus.
But the scale of the recent outbreaks really is different, depending on the country. Two countries are worth some attention: Canada and Germany.
By The New York Times | Sources: Johns Hopkins University, World Bank
Neither Germany nor Canada has escaped the fall wave of the virus, as you can see. But they are also both doing a lot less bad than their neighbors. How?
For one thing, both countries have done a better job of avoiding wishful thinking than either the Trump administration or some European governments.
Germany announced yesterday that it would close restaurants, bars, gyms, theaters and more for several weeks. âWe must act, and act now, to prevent a national health crisis,â Chancellor Angela Merkel said. Compare that with the U.S., where the rate of confirmed new cases has been higher than Germanyâs current rate for almost all of the past five months â yet almost nobody is talking about closing restaurants.
Yesterdayâs move isnât the first aggressive one from Germany. It was also far ahead of the U.S. in developing widely available tests this spring and offers them to residents free.
But Canada may be an even better example, given that its current rate of new cases is well below Germanyâs. Consider this map:
By The New York Times | Sources: State and local health agencies and hospitals, United States Census Bureau, Statistics Canada
Some of Canadaâs success is probably cultural and would have been hard to replicate in the U.S., as Ian Austen, a Canadian who has covered the country for The Times for more than a decade, told me. âThere is generally a lot of deference to authority in Canada,â Ian said.
But specific actions have also mattered. Unlike in the U.S., conservative politicians in Canada are not doubting the wisdom of mask-wearing, Ian said. This spring, Doug Ford, the conservative premier of Ontario, described people protesting social-distancing measures as âa bunch of yahoos.â
And some top public-health officials in Canadian provinces have become semi-celebrities, as they have repeatedly urged social distancing, mask-wearing and other forms of caution. Imagine versions of Anthony Fauci, but ones who are praised across the political spectrum, rather than being called âa disaster,â as President Trump did with Fauci.
Among the most successful Canadian regions have been the four small provinces along the Atlantic Ocean, all of which have almost extinguished the virus. They have done so by largely closing their borders â a strategy that has also worked in several other countries, including Australia, Ghana, Taiwan and Vietnam, despite skepticism from some political liberals around the world.
The four Canadian provinces â Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and the combined Newfoundland and Labrador â were successful enough this spring that they were able to form a joint âbubbleâ this summer. Residents can travel among the four, even as they remain closed to the outside.
âWe donât have any cases here,â Sharon Stewart, a restaurant owner in Pictou, Nova Scotia, recently told The Globe and Mail, âand we want to keep it that way.â
You can take the same actions early or you can take them late. Early means fewer cases, fewer deaths, and a faster return to quasi-normal.
With coronavirus cases surging across most of Europe and the Americas, it can be easy to give into nihilism and wonder whether there is any good way for a country to fight the virus.
But the scale of the recent outbreaks really is different, depending on the country. Two countries are worth some attention: Canada and Germany.
By The New York Times | Sources: Johns Hopkins University, World Bank
Neither Germany nor Canada has escaped the fall wave of the virus, as you can see. But they are also both doing a lot less bad than their neighbors. How?
For one thing, both countries have done a better job of avoiding wishful thinking than either the Trump administration or some European governments.
Germany announced yesterday that it would close restaurants, bars, gyms, theaters and more for several weeks. âWe must act, and act now, to prevent a national health crisis,â Chancellor Angela Merkel said. Compare that with the U.S., where the rate of confirmed new cases has been higher than Germanyâs current rate for almost all of the past five months â yet almost nobody is talking about closing restaurants.
Yesterdayâs move isnât the first aggressive one from Germany. It was also far ahead of the U.S. in developing widely available tests this spring and offers them to residents free.
But Canada may be an even better example, given that its current rate of new cases is well below Germanyâs. Consider this map:
By The New York Times | Sources: State and local health agencies and hospitals, United States Census Bureau, Statistics Canada
Some of Canadaâs success is probably cultural and would have been hard to replicate in the U.S., as Ian Austen, a Canadian who has covered the country for The Times for more than a decade, told me. âThere is generally a lot of deference to authority in Canada,â Ian said.
But specific actions have also mattered. Unlike in the U.S., conservative politicians in Canada are not doubting the wisdom of mask-wearing, Ian said. This spring, Doug Ford, the conservative premier of Ontario, described people protesting social-distancing measures as âa bunch of yahoos.â
And some top public-health officials in Canadian provinces have become semi-celebrities, as they have repeatedly urged social distancing, mask-wearing and other forms of caution. Imagine versions of Anthony Fauci, but ones who are praised across the political spectrum, rather than being called âa disaster,â as President Trump did with Fauci.
Among the most successful Canadian regions have been the four small provinces along the Atlantic Ocean, all of which have almost extinguished the virus. They have done so by largely closing their borders â a strategy that has also worked in several other countries, including Australia, Ghana, Taiwan and Vietnam, despite skepticism from some political liberals around the world.
The four Canadian provinces â Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and the combined Newfoundland and Labrador â were successful enough this spring that they were able to form a joint âbubbleâ this summer. Residents can travel among the four, even as they remain closed to the outside.
âWe donât have any cases here,â Sharon Stewart, a restaurant owner in Pictou, Nova Scotia, recently told The Globe and Mail, âand we want to keep it that way.â
How's that renegotiated free trade agreement working out?
OK I guess. The NAFTA II agreement is not much different from what preceded it.
Hard to worry about that with the gut punch the pandemic has delivered the global economy. Thankfully we have President Trump and his Republican supporters to thank for delaying economic recovery as long as possible.
There is some significant support for Trump in Canada. In particular in Alberta. Which concerns me because these poll results will play into the hands of folks who like to stoke Canada's own 'culture wars'.
Jagmeet Singh is probably a very comfortable anti-native racist (perhaps like most recent immigrants from the Punjab?). That and he heads the New Democratic Populist party.....
Unfortunately, the Trump approach to policy is very popular with trendy populist lefties in Canada.