Matthew Lau: There are some cultural battles business does need to fight

Skip to Content News Archives Economy Energy Oil & Gas Renewables Electric Vehicles Mining Commodities Agriculture Real Estate Mortgages Mortgage Rates Finance Banking Insurance Fintech Cryptocurrency Work Wealth Smart Money Wealth Management Investor Personal Finance Family Finance Retirement Taxes High Net Worth FP Comment Executive Women Puzzmo Newsletters Financial Times Business Essentials More Innovation Information Technology FP500 Podcasts Small Business Lives Told Tails Told Shopping Financial Post Store Obituaries Place a Notice Advertising Advertising With Us Advertising Solutions Postmedia Ad Manager Sponsorship Requests Classifieds Place a Classifieds ad Working Profile Settings My Subscriptions My Offers Newsletters Customer Service FAQ News Economy Energy Mining Real Estate Finance Work Wealth Investor FP Comment Executive Women Puzzmo Newsletters Financial Times Business Essentials This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.HomeFP CommentMatthew Lau: There are some cultural battles business does need to fightAs a rule, businesses should stay out of politics and stick to providing goods and services people want. Sometimes that rule has to be brokenLast updated 0 minutes ago According to the polls, the B.C. election is close. The business community should commit to fixing both the economic and cultural malaises brought about by the NDP. Photo by SMJones/Postmedia filesBritish Columbia’s Conservatives are looking to defeat the NDP in the October 24 provincial election not only by highlighting the NDP government’s economic failures, but by fighting the culture war, too. Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson says repealing the province’s “sexual orientation and gender identity education” — which teaches kindergarten children to denounce fairy tales such as Cinderella as sexist and “appreciate the gender spectrum, fluidity, and the use of gender pronouns” — will be a priority if the Conservatives form government.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLYSubscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman, and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLESSubscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLESCreate an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountThis advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.Caroline Elliott, former Conservative leadership candidate and now the party’s candidate in West Vancouver-Capilano, recently told the National Post: “You can’t just focus on the economic issues because the economic issues are cultural issues and cultural issues are economic issues.” She is right.Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againProperty rights are the foundation of a functioning economy, but in the name of Indigenous rights, the provincial government created a full-on property rights crisis. Under the NDP’s watch, violent crime has surged. And, according to Elliott, there is a need to battle “the activism in our education system that is teaching kids they have to develop mindsets of cultural humility… (and be) ashamed of being Canadian.”It is very good that the B.C. Conservatives are fighting the culture war. Ordinary citizens and the politicians who represent them must fight these battles, and those from Conservative parties have too often shied away from doing so or been ineffective at it. The consequences for British Columbians under the NDP government and for Canadians in general under the Liberals have been disastrous.This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.Editors of the online publication “Without Diminishment,” which was co-founded by Elliott, have called on ordinary individuals and politicians to fight the culture war but also the business community as well. “The Board of Trade has a stake in the culture war,” one of its headlines reads. In the current moment in B.C., with a property-rights crisis directly hurting businesses and the economy, there is certainly room for the business community to participate in culture war debates.On the other hand, conservatives should not ordinarily want the business community to engage in cultural battles. To begin with, business seems to land on the wrong side of social issues at least as often as on the right side — and more so when the NDP or Liberals are in power whom business leaders don’t want to offend. More importantly, however, it is not the role of the business community to fight cultural battles at all. The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits, not change the culture. Healthy profits are the best indicator a business is meeting the demands for its goods and services at the most reasonable cost possible — and that is its job. For a business to fight cultural battles that don’t have a direct economic impact is to invite risk without financial reward, which is an abrogation of its responsibility to increase profits.This advertisement has not loaded yet.This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.Along with B.C.’s property-rights crisis, another exception to the general rule that business should avoid cultural battles is that the business community writ large should support private schools and school choice. Ideally, the school system would not be a cultural battleground, but governments and teachers’ unions in B.C. and elsewhere have turned it into one by infusing public schools with radical ideology, significantly to the detriment of real education.Even if the school system were not run by government or union officials engaged in radical politics, the business community would still have an interest in reducing government control over education. “Any institution will tend to express its own values and its own ideas,” as Milton Friedman wrote. “Our public education system is a socialist institution. A socialist institution will teach socialist values, not the principles of private enterprise.” Friedman argued that to the extent the business community supports educational institutions, it should support private schools and school choice instead of government-run schools that express socialist values.This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.In addition to opposing radical politics and socialism, businesses have a real stake in the quality of education, which shapes the future workforce. It is entirely justifiable for the business community to advocate expelling political activism from classrooms to restore the education system’s original purpose of teaching children the appropriate knowledge and skills to prepare them for the workforce and real world. There is overwhelming evidence, including studies from B.C., that private schools and school choice improve educational outcomes. The business community should therefore support efforts to expand choice and improve education.According to the polls, the B.C. election is close. Conservative politicians, ordinary citizens, and even, where appropriate, the business community should commit to fixing both the economic and cultural malaises brought about by the NDP. There is much work to do on both fronts.We apologize, but this video has failed to load.This advertisement has not loaded yet.Notice for the Postmedia NetworkThis website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.