DEI is ‘illiberal, anti-merit,’ says analyst as Poilievre pushes to end government DEI programs
2025/10/20 2 Comments
The echo chambers reinforce each other. While some measures of merit are objective, character measures are more challenging. And of course the irony given that much of this discourse comes from South of the border, where merit and character are sorely lacking among many politicians and political appointees:
Bringing an end to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within Canada’s government, as proposed by Pierre Poilievre, would allow people to be chosen for roles based on merit and character, says the founder of a Canadian think tank.
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,” Mark Milke told National Post.
Milke is the president of Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy, which is dedicated to renewing a common-sense approach to public discourse and policy.
He said diversity, in general, within Canada “adds to the potential for greater understanding, for greater economic growth.” But used within the context of DEI, it can lead to restrictions of Canadian identity based on skin colour.
Milke’s comments come after the Conservative leader urged Canadians to show support in shuttering such programs within the government by signing a petition. Poilievre said he wants to “restore the merit principle” in a post on X….
Source: DEI is ‘illiberal, anti-merit,’ says analyst as Poilievre pushes to end government DEI programs
About Andrew
Multicultural Meanderings 
Is it possible to curb some of the excesses of DEI while preserving the essence of the initiative? We have all read stories where unqualified people got jobs and qualified people were rejected, but I believe that those occurrences are rare.
When we evaluate a proposal for a contract, we look at both the quality of the proposal and the cost. Why not look at both diversity goals AND merit?
I agree with you that merit can be subjective. For some jobs, a test can be given to potential employees, with correct answers indicating greater amounts of merit. For other jobs, it may be possible to quantify elements on the resume on evaluation scales applied evenly to all candidates. It is not perfect, but we do need to be more objective in evaluating merit.
Agree. Not either or, both can be assessed. Suspect you also have experience with going through candidates and assessing their qualifications and experience, along with interviews. Not perfect, as you say, always room for improvement.