Feedback from our readers

A sample of what people are saying about us online and in social media…

[email]
RE: Trailblazers
Irene Doyle I want to share this story after reading Leanne Fitch’s story. My sister’s family had a family physician named Monica MacNeil. My nephew got injured while at his grandmother’s and it called for a trip to the ER. When they saw the doctor, JF said as Dr. Don Ling went to exam him, “No, I want a real doctor!” My sister had to reassure him that men could be doctors too! This was about 1985 in Charlottetown.

RE: January Issue
Steve Dunne On your cover, I was pleased to notice some of our clients including Jesse Inman, of the Confederation Center of the Arts, and Valerie Eddy. We have a deep field of talented female business leaders based here in Atlantic Canada. It was very inspiring issue to read about the leadership that is happening in so many different fields.

Stephen MacLeod I read with interest your issue about women in business. It made me think of other full issues I would like to see as a reader of your publication. For instance, a full magazine on non-white business people and the struggles, prejudices, racism, and challenges they face in the white dominated business world would be great.

Another great idea for a full issue would be one discussing the status of labour rights, including the 30-some-odd year assault on workers’ rights and the more recent resurgence of a workers’ rights consciousness.

I figure if you are progressive and liberal enough to do a full magazine all about women in business, then you can also be so when it comes to non-whites and workers in general, many non-whites being especially affected by the regression seen in workers’ rights. Both the women’s rights movement and the workers’ rights movement arose out of the same general late 19th/early 20th century Progressive Movement, so I don’t see why there shouldn’t be at least equal concern for both sets of issues (as well as for non-whites in business too).

Besides, there’s been much worse regression in workers’ rights and even minority rights than we’ve seen in women’s rights. In fact, women’s rights have steadily gained over the last three decades while both workers’ and minority rights have declined during the same period, making it perhaps especially important and relevant to do a full issue on those matters and how they affect business, on the labour as well as capital side.

I noticed over half the names in your staff directory are female; I’m forced to wonder how many are non-white or have solid working class roots with a strong consciousness of labour rights?

Alice Crook I am loving this issue — so many ‘aha!’ moments (eg. the Barriers to Entry article). I don’t think of myself as a business woman (I’m a veterinarian who teaches at AVC, UPEI), but so much of what is being said in the magazine reflects, articulates, and validates what I see in my job, and as I serve on committees and boards. Thank you for this issue, and kudos to the authors. Keep up the good work! I will watch for the next issue.

Dan Edgar When I was a young man I felt that there was a finite number of jobs, and that every job that went to a female was one that couldn’t go to a man. I was wrong.

I recently completed my PhD in human and organizational systems, and as part of that journey I studied world systems theory (Immanuel Wallerstein). One of the interesting lessons was that as women’s status improves, everybody benefits. Women’s status is measured by health, annual income and education. As those three factors improved, the national GDP improved, average incomes improved, health improved, and violence declined. Everybody wins!

The same could be said for any minority group. As we improve the lives of those around us, the pie gets bigger, and our slice grows.

Very few people are familiar with structural inequalities and how subtle sexism, and racism really are. Most people have a scarcity mentality. The irony of countries that oppress minorities and females is that they oppress themselves. Certainly this happens in Canada with women and indigenous peoples plus our other minorities.

Keep up the good work, and hopefully this will inspire you to devote more of your energy to promoting understanding, tolerance and generosity.

RE: Devil’s Advocate
Steve Anderson John Risley’s most recent column was titled “Beyond the sound and fury”. The term Devil’s Advocate is completely inappropriate for this particular article. A much more apropos title would be “Sycophantic boot licking to a totalitarian murderer and empire builder”. This kind of pandering drivel should only appear in … blogs that are intended to create falsehoods to cover up the evil acts of dictators. This attempt to soften Putin’s profile so as to sell him to an ingenuous public is unacceptable for this magazine. …The casualness that Risley offers about a Trump-Putin relationship in this article is extremely offensive and dangerous. Business above all human concerns, human rights breaches, military assaults on autonomous nations.

Who allows this type of garbage to be printed in this magazine? Whoever is responsible for allowing this vile message to be printed needs to do a serious reality check. Read the news! These are very dangerous times and Mr. Putin is at the top of the very worst of the worst. To allow Risley to casually propose that it makes sense that Trump give Putin what he wants and make Putin’s economic situation better is almost too hard to believe… Putin has significant sanctions that were imposed on Russia as a result of his military assault on the sovereign nation of the Ukraine and the complete annexation of the Crimea. Does Mr. Risley see this as a business as usual approach to matters?

[atlanticbusinessmagazine.com]
RE: Beyond the sound and fury
George Ferrier I cannot understand the statement “Barack single-handedly cost” regarding the Iran Nuclear Framework (accord). This was an agreement forged by the U.S., the U.K., China, Russia, France, Germany and the E.U. It was lauded by all commentators except North Korea.

RE: Just Sayin’
Nateleen Zinck I think you have summed it up really well! What a colossal waste of time, money and energy. Dr. Horne is a brilliant researcher who has proven herself over and over again. A jury of her peers gave over eight weeks of their busy lives to sit there listening to and evaluating evidence. They came to the same conclusion that most of us had already reached: that the hospital had acted in bad faith by halting Dr. Horne’s research project and that she deserved to be compensated. The hospital has spent a small fortune persecuting Dr. Horne. If they have money to waste, I recommend that we should forget about supporting any fundraising projects.

Marlene Excellent article! #standupfordrhorne

Wendy Moscovitch Thank you for the excellent article! No other case, that I am aware of, has shaken my faith in the commitment to patient-centric care and justice in Nova Scotia.

Mark I don’t know the details of this article but it sounds typical. One other that I am aware of: mishandling of the systematization of midwifery care. They took a working system that was literally lobbying to be regulated, and regulated it to near destruction; despite the existence of functional models throughout the rest of the country.

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RE: Trailblazers
Natalie Frederick-Wilson #ouch. Ann Divine, isn’t it sad when in an entire community you attend event after event and rarely see someone who looks like you? Thank you for speaking up!

RE: Gender quotas?
Ryan Crocker I support gender and other quotas for employment in general, not just leadership positions. We’re still at a point where you can take a resume, change the name, and get different results — always with the name likeliest to be male and white performing best. I don’t think it’s necessarily overt sexism and prejudice, I think it’s likely a lot of this is subconscious, but that doesn’t make it any less real. Treating everyone equally when it comes to the final hiring/promotion only works if everyone truly has equal opportunity to reach that point.

And, of course, there are some negative consequences. I, for example, have sometimes wondered if I was passed over for being hired or promoted because I’m a white male. But you have to remember: I likely wouldn’t have the experience and qualifications that I do if I wasn’t. So I’m already, in some ways, unfairly ahead. And I’m also part of the group for whom my circumstances are most likely to work out for the best in the end.

Diversity is critical to success in the modern world, in every sense — from society, to business. People of different backgrounds bring valuable points of view to the table, and one of the most obvious, and striking is, of course, women’s experience. And social progress has the potential to benefit all of us. For example, take paternity leave. I think it’s pretty obvious that paternity leave wouldn’t exist if not for the influence of women entering the workforce, fighting for maternity leave, and so on.

And there’s just so much more left to accomplish. We’re in a decent place right now, we’ve made lots of progress, but there are still glaring things that are so backwards they really make it easy to understand how far we have left to go. For example, feminine hygiene products are classified as luxury goods in much of the developed world and taxed extra. That’s right here, right now. Still happening.

Quotas are one of the precious few ways we can expedite the process of creating a world where that’s not the case. In the long run (and, honestly, for the most part, even in the short run) these quotas benefit all of us.

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RE: January issue
@Billy_weld Can’t wait to read @AtlanticBus Fantastic work to all the featured ladies. This cover is absolutely stunning @ABM_Editor #BadAssBuzGals

@SandraJGoodwin Best. Issue. Ever. @mcinnescooper we’re loving it

@DrMeghanNorris So many awesome role models on this cover for women in business. Thanks for inspiring! #biz #womeninbiz #getitdone

@davelevesque Maybe 2017 should be entirely dedicated to women in business.

@Ldominix Can’t wait to pick up this issue! As a female MBA student I see first-hand the importance of having female business role models #womeninbiz

@JoelHRichardson Stellar lineup of #Atlantic #Canadian female leaders! Great to see @AtlanticBus @ABM_Editor feature them. #pei #nb #nl #ns

RE: What would Graham say?
@MarknHfx Very disappointed you allowed a known union mouthpiece to write this. No balance, very one sided and missing facts

CORRECTION In our January issue, Dr. Ramona Lumpkin’s quote on gender quotas was improperly attributed to Dianne Kelderman, and vice versa (page 33). The error has been corrected in our online and digital editions. Atlantic Business Magazine sincerely apologizes for the error and thanks both parties for their contribution to our January edition.