So, get this…

A small hair salon outside of Montreal structured its online booking system so that clients had to select “man” or “woman” to receive a discount on their haircut… and there was no option for “non-binary”.

What should have been no more than a baseless complaint has now become a multi-year legal battle that culminated in Quebec’s Human Rights Tribunal ordering the salon to pay $500 in damages for discrimination.

The reality that a small business owner trying to survive in a high-tax, high-cost, regulation-heavy market must now divide their attention between serving customers and protecting themselves from nonsensical legal exposure is deeply backwards.

Surprise, surprise, the complaint was brought by a young man who identifies as “non-binary” (ah, I miss the simplicity of the 90s), who objected to being required to “select a gender” to complete the booking process.

Surprise, surprise: the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission determined that discrimination had occurred and recommended $500 in damages, which the salon refused to pay.

…do you think they just let the salon off the hook for this Abu Ghraib-level offence after they refused to pay the $500 “settlement fee”?

…remember, after all, this is Canada we’re talking about…

Obviously not.

They escalated the matter to the human rights tribunal. 

Where then, the plaintiff sought more than $12,000 (extortion) in damages, and the salon counterclaimed (standing their ground on behalf of all Canadian business owners), for $5,000, alleging what they refer to as “abuse of process”. 

… the tribunal sided with the commission’s original recommendation and concluded that the salon had to pay the $500 as initially “recommended”.

If you own a salon in Canada, offering men's and women’s cuts is par for the course.

…obviously.

However…

Now, as a salon owner (or any business that offers distinct services to both men and women) in Canada, you have to worry about being targeted by some loonie who is just after a quick buck.  

So, as a business owner, do you just carry on and hope you don’t get a legal letter in your mailbox saying you owe real money over a (fake) discrimination claim?

OR do you capitulate and add “non-binary” to your pricing list just to keep the online army of social justice warriors at bay and avoid being sued?

…the fact that these are your two options is the exact point I am trying to make by telling you about this… 

This is not about debating whether trans stuff should be a part of the mainstream narrative; it is about what kind of environment is being created when private businesses face government interference over elements of THIER BUSINESSES that are so far from being material to their regular day-to-day operations that it is laughable. 

…remember, one single straw on its own rarely breaks the camel’s back… 

The trajectory of Canada is genuinely frightening.

And smart people just like you seem to agree. 

More and more people just like you see the writing on the wall and are asking themselves the same question:

“is the weight of all the woke BS, immigration BS, fiscal BS and regulatory BS worth carrying? 

In my opinion, it’s not. 

If you don’t yet agree, just give it time. You’ll come around.

For the past decade, I’ve been helping investors and families just like yours set up Plan-B lives in jurisdictions where the trajectory is favourable, not frightening.

When you’re ready to open your eyes to the reality of what the present and future of our once-great Canada holds for you and your loved ones, I am here to help. 

If that sounds interesting, the first small step you can take today is to read this important letter here.

After that, the next step will become blatantly obvious. 

Speak soon,

Mikkel

PS. This past Saturday, hundreds of people from our community joined me for a live presentation where I unveiled a new residential condo tower in the heart of Paraguay’s fastest-growing investment corridor. If you didn’t catch it live, you can watch the replay here. I highly recommend you carve out some time to watch it ASAP, as in less than two weeks, I’ll be locking the replay away in the Hub, and access will then become members-only. 

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