Pushing the Limits Interview with Maude Barlow

With just an idea and some burning passion rooted in feelings of western alienation and opposition to big government, Preston Manning started up a marginal grassroots political movement in Alberta that gathered momentum, grew its base into a national profile, and has now morphed into the Government of Canada. His new passion: the environment. He calls himself “a green conservative rather than a blue environmentalist,” and wants to install a water metre in his house that is connected to his home computer, so he can track his water use in real time. Corporate Knights caught up with the reinvigorated statesman on September 11 at the Manning Centre for Building Democracy’s Calgary office.

The view from the analyst and the expert

In boardrooms and executive suites across the nation, distinguished, grey gentlemen make the decisions on what we buy and how we live. Who are “we”? Most likely not distinguished, grey gentlemen, no – 51 per cent of us are women, and almost one in five of us are foreign-born.

By ignoring this reality, by failing to tap the full potential of immigrants and women in the hiring process, employers are causing a personal income shortfall of $174 billion per year.

An RBC-commissioned study conducted in 2005 found that if women and immigrants had the same likelihood of employment at the same average income as men and people born in Canada, respectively, the result would be an extra 1.6 million employees and an extra $174 billion in personal income – a gain of 21 per cent compared to 2005 levels.

Can’t see the forest for the trees, indeed.