It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Sunday, November 07, 2021
Ford Repurchasing $5 Billion in Debt, Tapping Into ESG & Green Bonds
Ford Motor Co. has announced a cash tender offer to repurchase up to $5 billion of the company’s high-yield debt in the hopes of rebalancing its budget after needing to borrow so much during the back-to-back-to-back production shutdowns incurred since the start of 2020. The automaker is retiring as much of the $8 billion in bonds the company issued at the start the coronavirus pandemic as it can and will be doing the same for some older bonds issued at similarly high rates (over 8 percent annually).
However this will be used to make room for environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) initiatives and establish a “sustainable financing framework” the automaker said would be a first for North America. Ford clearly believes social governance investments will become increasingly routine and is attempting to showcase itself as one of the kinder, more forward thinking, and environmentally responsible multinational industrial concerns. Sort of like a fully armed M1 Abrams tank painted with peace symbols and hippie daises.
“Winning businesses are financially healthy and lead in sustainability – it’s not a choice, they rely on each other,” said Ford CFO John Lawler. “We’re again putting our money where our mouth is, prioritizing and allocating capital to environmental and social initiatives that are good for people, good for the planet, and good for Ford.”
ESG investing is growing in popularity, with financial backers increasingly prioritizing strategies that take into account a company’s environmental, social, and governance factors. However critics have pointed out that ESG strategies are often more about the perception of doing good than any genuine altruism and run the risk of setting up corporations as ethical arbitrators. It’s also encouraging investors to pour real money into a corporation’s perceived moral values, rather than focusing on what it’s bringing to the table in terms of legitimate business. This is one reason we’ve seen so many EV startups awash with cash long before they even have a working prototype.
Social Capital founder and CEO Chamath Palihapitiya has called the ESG trend fraudulent, suggesting whatever merit it previously had has been undermined by the way in which environmental jargon has been weaponized to benefit the largest corporations in the world. The venture capitalist/engineer now believes people should be weary of being scammed by business entities and government agencies championing ESG investments because they’re being used to game the system and give certain players an unfair advantage. At their worst, they can even encourage businesses to become overt political actors.
While your author is inclined to agree, let’s test those claims against Blue Oval’s plan to rejigger Ford Credit into a more “inclusive, equitable, and sustainable” business model.
From Ford:
Today’s announcement was made on the fifth anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement, as Ford executives joined world leaders, environmental advocates and other forward-looking companies at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland.
Among other expected benefits, initiatives outlined in Ford’s sustainable financing framework are intended to help the company become carbon neutral no later than 2050, in line with its commitment to the Paris Agreement. Ford was one of the first full-line U.S. automakers to pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its vehicles, operations and supply chain in alignment with goals of the accord. This pledge is backed by science-based interim targets the automaker intends to achieve by 2035.
The potential positive environmental and social influence of projects described in Ford’s sustainable financing framework earned an “advanced” rating – the highest possible – from Vigeo Eiris. Vigeo Eiris, an arm of Moody’s Corp., makes independent assessments of organizations’ goals and performance against environmental, social and governance matters.
Guided by aggressive environmental and social goals, a significant portion of related financing will go toward accelerating Ford’s leadership in electric vehicles. Objectives include expanding EV technology and charging infrastructure to remove obstacles to adoption and improve the customer experience, and EV and battery manufacturing to reduce emissions.
The automaker then goes onto explain how new green bonds should enable Ford Credit to extend financing to customers with lower credit scores. Everything else was vague promises about how it would be putting some of the money back into electric vehicles, cleaner manufacturing protocols, community revitalization projects, and “advancing economic opportunity and equity for underrepresented and/or disadvantaged populations” via programs that help scale up Ford’s dealer diversity networks. That pertains specifically to the advancement of “businesses owned by minorities, women, military veterans and disabled people, and for women-focused community ventures and social enterprises that promote better health, develop critical skills, and support child and maternal health, education and disability support services.”
It’s all incredibly broad. But Ford will also be creating a new “sustainable financing committee” to assure that the funded projects comply with Blue Oval’s corporate social responsibility plan and otherwise meet eligibility criteria. It will be comprised of senior representatives from the automaker’s treasury, sustainability, corporate finance, investor relations, Ford Credit and legal teams.
Considering the report we published outlining the massive amount of automotive debt currently being carried by Americans and the increasingly predatory nature of lenders, Ford creating a kinder, gentler credit arm should be a blessing. But its getting difficult to take any ESG chatter seriously anymore. My guess is that Blue Oval simply wants to upgrade its credit rating after it lost its investment-grade status in March 2020 and thinks ESG can help it avoid future scrutiny.
[Image: Ford Motor Co.]
DER IDIOT
Drama at Volkswagen After CEO Suggests 30,000 Job Cuts
Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess has been facing off with the company’s German workforce for weeks over the changing nature of the business. VW vowed to transition itself toward an all-electric lineup following the 2015 diesel emissions scandal. But the necessary steps to get there haven’t been universally appreciated.
The general assumption has always been that electric vehicles would result in massive layoffs across the industry by nature of their needing fewer parts than internal combustion vehicles. But Volkswagen seems worried that it’s falling behind smaller rivals and needs to take decisive action to make sure it’s not outdone by firms operating in the United States and China. The proposed solution is an industrial overhaul designed to fast-track VW’s electrification goals. Unfortunately, German labor unions are convinced that this plan would incorporate massive layoffs and have become disinclined to offer their support. The issue worsened in September when Diess told the supervisory board that a slower-than-desired transition to EVs could result in 30,000 fewer jobs.
Considering the size of most legacy automakers, there’s really no way around these prospective layoffs. Batteries, which represent the most labor-intensive aspect of an EV, are often outsourced to other companies and the residual work simply doesn’t require the same number of hands. Companies are seeing the table set before them. Fewer workers mean diminished payroll expenses and, since EVs have been heavily subsidized by governments, they can afford to sell more expensive products without consumers getting up in arms.
However, the capital expended just to get to this point has been nothing short of massive. Volkswagen has said it intends to spend around 16 billion euros ($19 billion USD) on developing “e-mobility, hybridization and digitalization” by 2025. Additional funds have been set aside for charging subsidiaries and its autonomous vehicle program — the latter of which is finally supposed to yield fruit by 2030.
Those with reliable memories will recall that the automotive industry was previously promising self-driving passenger vehicles would be on sale by 2019. The timeline for electrification has been similarly pushed back, albeit not nearly as much. EVs are still presumed to reach financial parity with combustion vehicles by 2025. Though their adoption rate is not on pace to supplant them as the dominant mode of transportation for at least another decade, even with aggressive mandates designed to discourage gasoline/diesel use cropping up across the Western world.
This means companies are spending more to make EVs work for them and it’s looking like Volkswagen is getting tired of waiting. It wants to be the next Tesla, only much bigger, and leadership believes it should free up more money to expedite the process. But labor unions are starting to wonder what’s actually in this for them besides a few thousand fewer jobs and the current conflict is only widening the existing rifts with management.
“I’m being frequently asked why I keep comparing us with Tesla. I know this is annoying to some,” Diess told workers this week. “Even if I no longer talk about Elon Musk: he’ll still be there and revolutionises our industry and keeps getting more competitive quickly.”
According to Reuters, Diess has actually been having a series of meetings with German labor groups who have been expressing their growing dismay with electrification strategies over the last couple of years.
“Only as a team can we make Volkswagen future-proof,” The CEO pleaded in one such meeting attended by VW works council boss Daniela Cavallo, Lower Saxony state premier Stephan Weil, and head of IG Metall Joerg Hofmann.
From Reuters:
The conflict highlights the limitations Diess faces in steering the behemoth that employs 675,000 staff and navigating a complex stakeholder structure, where labour representatives and the state of Lower Saxony have a majority on the supervisory board.
Sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday a specially convened committee would discuss the future of Diess in an attempt to solve the dispute.
Works council boss Cavallo criticised Diess for his communication style in recent weeks, which she said fuelled concerns the transformation he was proposing will result in tens of thousands of job cuts.
“We’re tired of hearing time and again that the works council is apparently only concerned with preserving the status quo,” she said, adding workers and labour representatives were all backing the needed overhaul.
Diess, in a supervisory board meeting in September, warned that as many as 30,000 jobs could be lost if Volkswagen was not fast enough in transforming itself, sources have said. He has said Tesla is much more efficient with its much smaller workforce.
Tesla being barred from the White House EV summit has also become a point of contention. “Yeah, seems odd Tesla wasn’t invited,” Musk said in August, adding that his company produced more electric cars than any other company in the world.
When White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked why Tesla had been excluded from the event she said that the press was welcome to draw its own conclusions.
Diess has said Mr. Musk has been in contact with Volkswagen leadership and even spoke with them for over an hour during an October phone call. Though Volkswagen’s works council reportedly wasn’t all that impressed by the supervisory board’s alleged closeness with Tesla.
“The fascination that you apparently feel for Mr. Musk and the effort you’re making in staying in contact with him — we would welcome if it was the same for the huge challenges the company currently faces,” Cavallo said in response.
[Image: Volkswagen Group]
Porsche, Piech families back VW CEO
despite friction with union
Diess's relationship with German labor
bosses has hit a new low over a radical
overhaul to catch Tesla
November 05, 2021 07:03 AM
FRANKFURT -- The Porsche and Piech families, which control Volkswagen Group's largest shareholder Porsche SE, continue to support the automaker's CEO, Herbert Diess, a spokesperson for Porsche SE said on Friday.
"The families continue to back Diess. There has been no change in their position," the spokesperson said.
The comments come after Diess' relationship with German labor representatives hit a new low this week with disagreement over how radically Europe's top automaker must overhaul itself to achieve electric vehicle dominance over Tesla.
Porsche SE, which is 50 percent-owned by the Porsche and Piech families, is Volkswagen's largest shareholder with 31.4 percent of shares. Qatar and the state of Lower Saxony, where Volkswagen is based, own 14.6 percent and 11.8 percent, respectively. Between them they hold more than 90 percent of the voting rights, but on VW's supervisory board -- which approves key strategic decisions -- labor representatives hold half of the 20 seats as part of Germany's co-determination principle.
In the rare event of a stalemate on the board, the chairman -- in this case Porsche SE CEO Hans Dieter Poetsch -- holds sway.
Diess has urged German workers to prepare for a deeper overhaul to remain competitive when Tesla ramps up vehicle production at its first European factory outside Berlin next year.
The CEO canceled a trip to the U.S. this week where he was supposed to meet investors and visit technology firms on the West Coast to soothe growing tensions with VW's powerful union leaders at home.
Daniela Cavallo, head of the powerful works council at VW, called on Diess to focus his attention on resolving the persistent chip shortage that hit VW harder than Tesla or BMW, instead of engaging in social media activities.
"You supply us frequently with nice pictures from your trips, but unfortunately still not with semiconductors," she said.
Diess, whose contract was extended until 2025 in July, is currently hammering out the company's next investment plan to 2030, a process that usually causes friction among stakeholders each year.
The 63-year-old executive has been repeatedly criticized for his communication style that labor representatives say displays a lack of interest in the concerns of 675,000 employees around the world. Diess, in particular, drew the ire of workers when he told VW's supervisory board in September that roughly 30,000 jobs were at risk if the company was too slow in its EV transition, sources have said.
Automotive News Europe contributed to this report
What is driving the latest VW power struggle?
CEO Herbert Diess has clashed again with labor representatives over plans to take on Tesla
VW VW's Diess, left, is pictured with Tesla's Musk. Diess expects the U.S. company will require just 10 hours to build each vehicle at its plant near Berlin, against the 30 hours VW currently needs.
FRANKFURT Reuters -- Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess' frail relationship with German labor representatives hit a new low this week with disagreement over how radical the overhaul at the automaker must be in its quest for electric-vehicle dominance.
While both sides tried to demonstrate unity at a staff meeting on Thursday, the first at VW's giant Wolfsburg plant in nearly two years, there is no guarantee the dispute can be fixed quickly if it can be fixed at all.
In fact, VW's four-member mediation committee is planning to discuss Diess' future soon, sources have said, creating uncertainty around the automaker's leadership less than four months after the CEO's contract was extended. Is Diess still the man for the job?
Daniel Schwarz, analyst at Stifel, thinks so. "His consistent EV strategy makes sense. He has a stronger focus on capital markets than his predecessors, which is benefiting the Volkswagen share," he said.
While VW's preferred shares have gained just 6 percent since Diess took over as CEO in April 2018, its common stock - more than half of which is owned by top shareholder Porsche SE - is up 68 percent.
Diess, whose contract was extended until 2025 in July, is currently hammering out the company's next investment plan to 2030, a process that usually causes friction among stakeholders each year.
Bernstein analyst Arndt Ellinghorst is more skeptical. "Diess stands for the radical change the company must go through after the dieselgate emissions scandal. What he does not yet stand for is implementation."
Porsche boss Oliver Blume, Audi CEO Markus Duesmann as well as Volkswagen brand CEO Ralf Brandstaetter have all been named as potential successors in the event that Diess is fired or decides to leave the multi-brand group.
"You need someone in Wolfsburg who understands the company and who is prepared to engage with the works council. I do not know if Oliver Blume is the right person," Ellinghorst said. "Ralf Brandstaetter could possibly be better at that."
Why all the fuss?
VW, the world's second largest automaker after Toyota, is under pressure to adapt to huge industry shifts, most notably the rise of EVs and self-driving cars.
Both areas are outside the comfort zone of German automakers, including VW, who have long dominated the age of internal combustion engines. Enter new rivals, particularly Tesla, which have started with a clean sheet of paper and revolutionized production and supply chains.
"In the world of combustion engines we are leading. We are good at that, maybe better than everyone else," Diess told workers on Thursday. "But in the new world ... we are facing competition Volkswagen has never seen before."
Why is Diess bothering the works council?
The 63-year-old executive has been repeatedly criticized for his communication style that labor representatives say displays a lack of interest in the concerns of 675,000 employees around the world.
Diess, in particular, drew the ire of workers when he told VW's supervisory board in September that roughly 30,000 jobs were at risk if the company was too slow in its EV transition, sources have said. The same goes for some of Diess' social media activities, including a video of him thanking staff for record first-half results while surfing on the canal next to the Wolfsburg headquarters.
"The way you have presented yourself in recent months I do wonder whether you are actually aware of the situation at our site here and how this is being perceived by the workforce," works council head Daniela Cavallo said on Thursday.
Why is Tesla bothering Diess?
The U.S.-based automaker has shown it is not just the number of cars you make, but technology and software that determine success in the new auto world.
Tesla, which sold 627,350 vehicles in the first nine months of 2021, is worth $1.2 trillion, more than eight times Volkswagen's 124 billion euros ($143 billion) market valuation, even though the German group sold 11 times as many cars in the period.
Tesla is also producing more quickly and efficiently, with Diess expecting the U.S. company will require just 10 hours to assemble each vehicle at its planned Gruenheide plant near Berlin, expected to open later this year.
"In (our plant in) Zwickau we are at more than 30 hours, we hope to achieve 20 hours next year -- our original project target was 16 hours," Diess said. Who holds the power?
At 31.4 percent, Porsche SE, which is 50 percent-owned by the Porsche and Piech families, is VW's largest shareholder, while Qatar and the state of Lower Saxony, where Volkswagen is based, own 14.6 percent and 11.8 percent, respectively.
Between them they hold more than 90 percent of the voting rights, but on VW's supervisory board - which approves key strategic decisions - labor representatives hold half of the 20 seats as part of Germany's co-determination principle.
In the rare event of a stalemate on the board, the chairman - in this case Porsche SE CEO Hans Dieter Poetsch - holds sway.
Volkswagen CEO says Tesla factory will
threaten German jobs
Cecilia Jamasmie | November 4, 2021 Musk, who is currently awaiting the opening of Tesla’s first European gigafactory in Gruenheide near Berlin, dialled into a meeting of top level Volkswagen executives in October. (Image: Herbert Diess |Twitter.)
Volkswagen chief executive Herbert Diess told workers on Thursday to brace for a deeper company overhaul when US electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla starts ramping up production at its first European factory outside Berlin next year.
The CEO has been pushing to speed up plans for a fundamental transformation of the company to prepare for the era of autonomous EVs.
Addressing thousands of workers at the VW’s Wolfsburg plant, Diess told them they needed to work together to make the company “future-proof.”
Tesla is on track to achieve a production time of just 10 hours per car at its Gruenheide plant, Diess said. VW’s main EV factory in Zwickau currently needs more than 30 hours per vehicle, which should be reduced to 20 hours next year.
The executive said the next VW Golf, the company’s best seller, should not be made by Tesla, or come from China. “The next icon in the market must be one made in Wolfsburg, VW hometown,” Diess said through Twitter.
The next VW Golf can’t be a Tesla The next VW Golf can’t come from China The next icon has to be again one of Wolfsburg – the city where VW’s headquarters are – : The Trinity!
VW’s new works council chief Daniela Cavallo called on Diess to focus his attention on resolving the persistent chip shortage that hit VW harder than Tesla or BMW, rather than engaging in social media activities.
The lack of chips forced VW to slash output at Wolfsburg to the lowest level in almost 70 years.
The slow-down has resulted in the delivery of 122,100 all-electric cars, including a small number of commercial vehicles, in the third quarter of 2021. Tesla produced, in the same period, 241,300 units.
VW, which owns Porsche, Audi, Skoda and SEAT, sold 231,600 battery electric vehicles in 2020. That’s less than half the number of sales Tesla made, but it represents an increase of 214% on the previous year. Rapid growth is expected to continue as Volkswagen launches 70 electric vehicles and opens six battery gigafactories in Europe before the end of the decade.
The automaker’ substantial investment in EVs – €35 billion ($41.7 billion) by 2025 is centred on cell technology and further downstream in the form of charging infrastructure and recycling of spent batteries. Shortages
Both VW and Tesla may see plans thwarted by an expected shortage of battery metals, namely nickel and lithium.
Last month, the EV giant inked a multi-year nickel supply deal with New Caledonia’s Prony Resources. The contract guarantees it about 42,000 tonnes of the metal needed to produce the batteries that power its EVs.
VW is said to be in talks with suppliers to secure direct access to raw materials
L’IDIOT
Complaints about Air Canada CEO's speech soar to more than 1,000
Officials in Quebec City and Ottawa warned the airline about the backlash they would get for delivering an English-only speech in Montreal.
Author of the article:
Philip Authier • Montreal Gazette
Publishing date:Nov 05, 2021 •
Michael Rousseau, chief executive office of Air Canada, speaks to members of the media after addressing the Montreal Chamber of Commerce.
PHOTO BY CHRISTINNE MUSCHI /Bloomberg Article content
QUEBEC — The number of complaints filed with the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages about a speech delivered almost entirely in English by the chief executive officer of Air Canada, Michael Rousseau, in Montreal on Wednesday has soared to more than 1,000.
And it has been revealed that both Premier François Legault’s office and the commissioner of official languages warned the airline in advance of the language backlash that would be created if the speech went ahead.
As the storm surrounding the speech rages and there are more calls for Rousseau to step down, officials in Quebec City and Ottawa confirmed to the Montreal Gazette they had warned Rousseau about the looming train wreck.
Legault himself was in Scotland attending the COP26 summit , but he was among the first to denounce Rousseau’s speech and subsequent comments to the media.
“I saw the video of Mr. Rousseau, and I found it insulting,” Legault said. “It’s inconceivable. It angers me.”
Rousseau apologized on Thursday , which Legault said was the right thing to do but that he would follow the situation nonetheless. The apology has failed to put a lid on the controversy, with some complaining the mea culpa does not go far enough.
In Ottawa on Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau added his voice to the chorus of those criticizing Air Canada. Several political parties are calling for Rousseau’s resignation.
“I find this is an unacceptable situation,” Trudeau told reporters in a brief encounter. “I’m happy that the minister of official languages is in the process of following up.”
Trudeau left without answering whether he thought Rousseau should resign from his post.
Following his speech, Rousseau told reporters that despite having lived in Montreal for 14 years, he had not learned French.
“I’ve been able to live in Montreal without speaking French, and I think that’s a testament to the city of Montreal,” he said.
Rousseau added he has been so busy trying to get Air Canada back on its feet that his schedule did not allow him time to take French courses. The number of complaints to the language commissioner’s office is unprecedented. Normally, the office gets between 85 and 100 complaints a year about Air Canada, which has a spotty record when it comes to official bilingualism.
An aide said the office will assess all the complaints to determine which are valid before proceeding with its investigation.
Air Canada CEO debut a PR disaster following comments on French, say experts
By Ross Marowits The Canadian Press Posted November 5, 2021
WATCH: There is widespread outrage across the country over comments made by Air Canada's CEO that he doesn't need to speak French. This, despite leading a company head-quartered in Montreal where he has lived for the past 14 years. As Raquel Fletcher reports, other leaders are now calling for Michael Rousseau's resignation.
Air Canada’s new chief executive ignited a PR disaster by his inept handling about the French language that could have repercussions for the airline as it attempts to get back on its feet from the COVID-19 pandemic, say public relations experts.
“I can’t remember a more tone deaf and ham-fisted handling of a new CEO’s debut on the public stage than this,” said Bob Pickard, a veteran public relations expert and principal at Signal Leadership Communication Inc.
While former Air Canada chief financial officer Michael Rousseau may be very capable, Pickard said his maiden speech as CEO Wednesday — almost entirely in English, his defensive response to reporters and then unsatisfactory apology — demonstrate a failure of emotional, cultural, communications and social intelligence.
Rousseau should have addressed his language shortcomings head-on and either not made the speech to begin with, or proactively addressed them.
Instead, he showed great disrespect to Air Canada employees and customers, especially by releasing an apology on the company’s website instead of a personal video where he tried to strike the right chord of contrition, Pickard said in an interview.
“He should be saying sorry, not just for those who were offended, which is PR 101 nowadays.”
Canadian politicians piled on Rousseau, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling it “an unacceptable situation,” noting that the minister in charge of official languages is “following up.”
The New Democratic Party called for Rousseau’s resignation. NDP deputy leader Alexandre Boulerice, the party’s lone MP in Quebec, says Rousseau was “spitting in the face of Quebecers and all members of French-speaking communities across the country.”
He said Rousseau should be ashamed for boasting that his mother and wife speak French while never learning the language.
Boulerice noted that Canada’s largest airline, based in Montreal, is subject to an average of 80 complaints annually to the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages. A spokesperson for the commissioner of official languages says more than 1,000 complaints about Air Canada have been filed since the incident on Wednesday afternoon.
Public relations expert Jason Patuano, senior director of public relations firm TACT, said Rousseau’s lack of sensitivity could have a ripple effect on the airline, just as United Airlines faced a couple of years ago when its removal of a passenger from one of its flights went viral and had a large impact on the value of its stock.
He noted that an Air Canada ad on Facebook Friday attracted comments from customers vowing to boycott the airline.
4:07 New book on Bill 101New book on Bill 101 – Sep 17, 2021
So far, investors don’t seem too troubled. Air Canada’s shares climbed 6.1 per cent as the Toronto Stock Exchange set new record highs.
Patuano said it’s too soon to say if Rousseau can survive the blunder.
He said it’s important for companies to recognize there’s no such thing as local news anymore with social media.
“My advice is always for people to remember that whatever they say, they need to remember that it can go more broadly very, very quickly.”
THE AGE OF HORUS ANDROGENOUS CHILD-GOD
CANADA
Anti-trans views are worryingly prevalent and disproportionately harmful, community and experts warn
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'We're exhausted from constantly having to debate our
People protest outside a Netflix office in Los Angeles, during a walkout over a recent comedy special by Dave Chappelle. The special has been criticized for anti-transgender comments and comes at a time when some members of the trans community are feeling under fire by coverage in the media. (Damian Dovarganes/The Associated Press)
Members of transgender and non-binary communities say they're seeing concerning signs that transphobic ideology is worsening in Canada.
Anti-trans sentiments are not new to the country, but several factors make this moment in time fraught, say activists and educators. That's despite the fact that the federal government moved to protect the rights of transgender people in 2017 with the passing ofBill C-16, which made gender identity and expression a protected human rights category.
"The climate for trans people has improved in the last decade very considerably, but we're definitely starting to feel some of those waves of anti-trans activism that have really taken hold in the United Kingdom and in the United States in recent years," said Travers, a professor of sociology at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C, who goes by one name.
Recent media coverage, including a story by the CTV News investigative program W5 and opinion columns published by theToronto Star andCBC, have been criticized by some members of the transgender community for pushing transphobic ideas and misrepresenting the dangers they face daily, which, according to Statistics Canada, includeviolence and poor mental health due to discrimination.
Among the concerning messages, say critics, are assertions that trans people who have not undergone transition-related surgery are not real men or women or that falsely paint trans women as dangerous men. Similarideas have been spreading in the U.K. for years.
British authorJ.K. Rowling, for example, has made comments blurring sex (biological characteristics) and gender (personal identity) to push back against inclusive terms such as "people who menstruate," which Rowling sees as an erosion of women's rights.
People attend a walkout in Los Angeles organized by members of the transgender employees group at Netflix. The streaming giant has stood by the Chappelle comedy special despite criticism that some of its content is anti-trans. (Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)
Last month, American comedian Dave Chapelle in his Netflix special defended Rowling's comments,prompting a walkout by the streaming company's transgender staff and their allies. In the special, Chapelle declares, "I'm team TERF," referring to the term trans-exclusionary radical feminists, which is used to describe people who see trans rights as not aligned with women's rights.
"There have always been feminists who support trans inclusion, and there's been a vocal minority of people who identify as feminists who view trans inclusion as a step backward for feminist movements. I find this very puzzling, I won't lie," said Travers. "It's a very hateful message."
Many trans people view the singular focus on biological sex as transphobic. Rowling and others who share similar views reject that label.
"My life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe it's hateful to say so," the author of the Harry Potter series said in 2020.
WATCH | Trans people shouldn't be 'fodder' for comedy, experts say after Chappelle special:
Trans people shouldn't be 'fodder' for comedy, experts say after Chappelle special
14 days ago
15:56
Courtney Skye, research fellow for the Yellowhead Institute, and Syrus Marcus Ware, artist and scholar, discuss how Dave Chappelle's latest special could harm the trans community by using them as a punch line for his jokes. 15:56
Members of trans community 'exhausted'
In anopinion column in the Toronto Star, columnist Rosie DiManno was critical of the use of inclusive language in health care, such as using the term "pregnant people" instead of "pregnant women" to acknowledge that trans men and nonbinary people can also get pregnant. Di Manno claimed the adoption of such terms was "trans activism run amok."
In aCBC opinion piece last month, Jessica Triff, a trans woman, shared her view that activism around trans rights was becoming "toxic." In that column, she claimed instances of trans women who haven't medically transitioned using women's spaces, such as gender-specific bathrooms or women's prisons and shelters, have "proven problematic." Critics of that view say such positioning undermines many trans identities and falsely frames trans women as being inherently dangerous to other women when accessing such spaces.
Christian Wright, the founder of the student advocacy group Rainbow Carleton in Ottawa, says while the piece was written by a trans woman, it doesn't mean its rhetoric isn't transphobic.
"Can gay people be homophobic? Yes. Can women be anti-feminist? Yes," Wright said.
"Every trans person is ultimately at the end of the day, an individual. They have their own thoughts, feelings, experiences. Her opinions and her points of view are hers."
Anna Murphy is a trans woman and LGBTQ activist who lives in Calgary. (Tom Barker)
Anna Murphy, a trans woman in Calgary and an LGBTQ activist, said seeing transphobic ideas get traction is worrying.
"I'm heartbroken because I recognize what seeing that in the media, or seeing that message or seeing that narrative, does to ... those kids who are, literally, honestly just trying to go out and be welcomed and safe and affirmed in the world," she said.
Murphy says trans and non-binary people already face barriers and that transphobic ideas could erode support and make their lives more difficult.
Progress takes time, but it should not end with us going back in time.- Anna Murphy, trans woman and LGBTQ activist
"We're exhausted," said Murphy. "We're exhausted from constantly having to debate our existence. We're exhausted by constantly having to self-advocate in the face of ignorance."
Wright said there was a period of time where it felt like trans rights and visibility in Canada were improving — but that's shifting.
"Maybe we were a bit naive to think that," said Wright.
"Maybe we should have listened to community leaders who were telling us that the fight isn't even close to over."
In an email to CBC News, the Toronto Star's director of communications, Bob Hepburn, wrote: "The Star, like other news organizations, gives its columnist wide latitude to express their opinions."
Hepburn noted that the paper published twocolumns following DiManno's, includinga column by Florence Ashley who is quoted in this article.
About Triff's column, CBC's head of public affairs, Chuck Thompson, said in an email: "This is an opinion piece, and like any of them, we fully acknowledge and respect that not everyone will share the point of view presented."
Gender-affirming health care portrayed as dangerous
Narratives presenting gender transition as dangerous have become more prevalent in international reporting, according to Kinnon MacKinnon, an assistant professor in the school of social work at York University in Toronto and a trans health-care researcher.
Stories of individuals who detransitioned — when a trans person stops a medical transition, or stops identifying as trans — commonly show up in British media, he said. By focusing on the minority of individuals who have detransitioned, particularly as a result of regret about their initial transition, media stories, including the one by W5, imply it's a common phenomenon when, in fact, it's rare.
The W5 story included the perspective of an Ontario man, 20, who had transitioned and found it life-saving but also featured two individuals from the U.K. expressing regret over transitioning.
"The U.K. has been, for a number of years, using the stories of detransition and a very limited sample of detransitioners to invalidate trans identities in a very alarmist, sort of canary-in-the-coal-mine manner," said MacKinnon.
Bell Media, the parent company of CTV News, did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.
Recent media coverage makes 'people feel a sense of being targeted,' says Kinnon MacKinnon, an assistant professor in the school of social work at York University in Toronto and a researcher on transgender health care and those who have detransitioned. (Submitted by Kinnon MacKinnon)
MacKinnon, who is currently leading research on the topic, said an analysisof the available data suggests that only around one per cent of people who undergo gender-affirming surgery express regret. MacKinnon says that for some, detransitioning is part of a journey to better understand their gender identity.
An analysis recently published in the peer-reviewed journal LGBT Health of more than 17,000 individuals who reported they had transitioned — which may or may not include surgery — found that around 13 per cent had detransitioned at some point.
The authors noted that, in the majority of cases, approximately 83 per cent, respondents identified external sources for their decision to detransition, including pressure from family and social stigma. Nearly 16 per cent of respondents reported at least one internal driving factor, such as fluctuations in or uncertainty in their gender identity.
Beyond the media, some anti-trans activists also claim that aspects of gender-affirming health-care practices are damaging to young people. For example, the website of one Canadian group claims puberty-blocking drugs, which some young patients may be prescribed to halt puberty-related development, will lead to "sterilization and loss of sexual function and pleasure."
"When you hear, 'People want to sterilize your children,' you get people concerned, but it's not a representation of the truth," Wright said.
The consequence of misinformation and anti-trans narratives, says MacKinnon, is that access to gender-affirming health care, including hormones and surgeries that could benefit the well-being of those experiencing gender dysphoria, risks being limited or cut.
WATCH | Families in Arkansas fear losing access to gender-affirming care:
Arkansas ban on gender-affirming care for minors leaves families with difficult choice
6 months ago
5:16
Some families of transgender kids in Arkansas fear they will be forced to leave the state if they want their children to keep receiving hormone treatments or puberty blockers after a ban on those treatments for minors. 5:16
New legislation called regressive
Shifts on the political landscape also have members of trans communities on edge.
The Quebec government last month announced Bill 2, which wouldamend the province's family law and create separate designations for sex and gender identity on official documentation. The bill would also limit changing sex identifiers to those who have medically transitioned.
"The bill outs trans people," said Florence Ashley, a jurist and PhD in bioethics at the University of Toronto.
Ashley says if the bill passes, separate gender identity markers would typically only apply to those who are trans.
"It promotes this idea that trans people aren't really the sex that they claim to be," Ashley said.
Florence Ashley is a trans-feminine jurist, bioethicist and a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto's faculty of law and Joint Centre for Bioethics. (Submitted by Florence Ashley)
The proposed legislation comes in the wake of aQuebec Superior Court decision forcing the province to reword parts of the Civil Code that discriminate against transgender and non-binary individuals.
The court also ruled that non-binary Quebecers must be given the right to change the sex designation on a birth certificate to match their gender identity.
"There's really a fear of this law passing," said Ashley. "And there's also the sense of like, 'Wow, the government is so disconnected from the realities of trans people that we can't really trust them to protect our rights.'"
Anti-trans voices disproportionately harmful
Ashley says that anti-trans voices have an outsized impact on the transgender community.
"The problem is the people who are inclusive of trans people ... mostly, in practice, have a neutral impact on the lives of trans people," they said.
"The best that they do is not be transphobic, not interfere with the well-being of trans people, whereas the people who are against trans people are very negatively impacting them."
Freedom of expression is important, says Anna Murphy, but it's necessary to hold people accountable if they're promoting harmful ideas.
"Trans women are women; trans men are men," she said.
"If people can just keep that in their minds and go forward with that thought, then, you know, we might get somewhere. Progress takes time, but it should not end with us going back in time."
