Week 8

Welcome back everyone, we missed you - and we hope you missed us! We’ve brought another week of the newsletter. We wanted to bring up ice cream, talk about our good friends at Unilever this week again, we wanted to talk about investing, and how you could do it guilt free!

Ice Cream: Not a Creamy Business

I know we’ve spoken of the Unilever boycott, but we had to bring it back this week for Ice Cream. There’s been a huge update, Unilever, a company that was one of the first to be on the BDS list, achieved this through undermining one of the decisions of their subsidiaries, Ben & Jerry’s. When Ben & Jerry’s announced their removal of products from Occupied Palestinian territories, Unilever, their parent company sold all Ben & Jerry locations to private entities to remove Ben & Jerry’s control over their locations, and to allow Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to continue being sold in Occupied Palestinian Territories despite Ben & Jerry’s stance.

Ben & Jerry’s sued Unilever for this back in 2021 and settled in 2022 with Unilever paying $5 million USD to Ben & Jerry’s to donate to whichever human rights group they choose. But now Ben & Jerry’s is back and suing Unilever ONCE AGAIN. As of earlier this month on November 14, they’re back in courts because Unilever is still stopping Ben & Jerry’s from publicly calling for a ceasefire, supporting safe passage of Palestinian refugees, backing protesting students in US colleges against civilian deaths in Gaza, for advocating for a halt in US military aid to Israel, as well as objecting against Ben & Jerry’s selections of human rights groups as they are “too critical of the Israeli government”.

I don’t know about you, but I would much rather not support a company that is being sued by their subsidiaries for trying to be socially conscious. We won’t dive into their financials because we already have mentioned in our previous newsletter.

Employee Relations Done Right: Chapman’s Ice Cream

Everyone know the iconic cardboard box filled to the top with smooth REAL MILK creamy goodness. Now, contrary to Unilever and their constant power struggle with their own subsidiaries, Chapman’s shows us how to do business right. Chapman’s Ice Cream had a fire in their 150 year old main factory in Markdale Ontario back in 2009. In this fire, the factory burned down completely, and all production had halted - with over 500 employees and management worried about their livelihoods, Chapman’s made a commitment and stuck by it; their owner personally contacted all their employees and told them not to worry.

Chapman’s owners built a temporary factory, bought new equipment, and the entire time, not a single employee missed a single paycheque, despite production being halted, through insurance and owner’s savings. Ten years later, Chapman’s Ice Cream has won awards year after year and has some of the most robust sustainability achievements out of any other ice cream manufacturer. Key points to consider:

• They have over $332.2 million revenue for 2024

• 100% Real Canadian Dairy and sustainably sourced

• Donated over $4 million for local infrastructure such as schools and hospitals

Next time you’re considering a sweet treat, consider the local alternative Chapman’s. They have over 280 flavours and they’re in all stores.

Stocks: How to Trade Guilt Free

We’re throwing it back to our most popular article from a few issues ago: Banking. We know there are a lot of people that invest and trade stocks amongst our friends, and we know a lot of people hold onto their investments through some of the major banks - and I’m sure after our article on Canadian Banks, a lot of people considered moving away from their banks, but don’t know what to do about their investment accounts. For those of you that missed our previous newsletter, these are some key points to note on why you shouldn’t use or invest with the big banks:

• Scotiabank: Invested over $500 USD million in Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, Elbit

• Bank of Montreal (BMO): Investments in illegal settlements and over $90 USD million loan to Elbit, Israel’s largest arms manufacturer

• CIBC: Promote Israeli investments, with endorsement from Jewish National fund president

• HSBC: Major shareholder and loan provider to companies selling weapons and military tech to Israel, as well as investments in illegal settlements

• Manulife: Investments in illegal settlements

• Royal Bank of Canada (RBC): Over $57.7 USD million in investments in illegal settlements and Palantir Technologies Inc, Israeli Artificial Intelligence (AI) predictive system to spy on occupied Palestine

• TD Bank: Over $16 USD million in investments in General Dynamics, Israeli arms aerospace and weapons company

Better Trading Alternatives: Interactive Brokers & QTrade

Want to feel like a you work in wall street, looking at graphs, and invest like a pro? Then Interactive brokers is for you! They’re 100% virtual, and you can sign up very easily. They have a comprehensive website, phone app, and even desktop app to take your experience to the next level.

Best part is, as of now, we haven’t found any political affiliations between Interactive Brokers and any government.

• $8.62 USD Billion USD revenue 2024

• They’ve won 8 broker awards in 2024

• They’ve won 12 broker awards in 2023

• They have a “IBKR Campus” which hosts countless courses, podcasts, articles, videos, and more

We hope you enjoyed this week’s newsletter, give us your feedback below and we look forward to seeing you again next week!