The leader of the Alberta NDP says she believes a new policy proposed by the province’s premier that primarily affects transgender youth is “cynical and cruel.”
One day after Premier Danielle Smith announced a new wide-ranging policy via social media that would affect transgender youth in Alberta, Opposition Leader Rachel Notley offered her response in Ottawa on Thursday morning.
“Many Albertans were shocked to watch a message from the premier targeting Alberta’s school children,” she said, adding that she wanted to tell all children and youth in Alberta that they are loved, welcomed, respected “and there are many Albertans who stand shoulder to shoulder with you today.”
In a nearly eight-minute-long video post to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday, Smith said her government plans to introduce policies requiring parents to be notified or to provide consent for their children who want to change their names or pronouns at school.
The premier also said Alberta plans to bring in restrictions related to hormone therapy and surgery for transgender youth as well as new rules governing who transgender athletes can compete with in sporting events.
Speaking to media in Ottawa on Thursday, Canada’s federal health minister said he is “deeply disturbed” by Smith’s policy announcement.
“I thought we were at a place in this country where we’re moving past this,” Mark Holland told reporters.
“It’s extremely dangerous to engage in this kind of thing, which I think is playing politics when you’re talking about children’s lives.”
1:28 ‘Deeply disturbed’ by Alberta’s school pronoun policy: Holland
Holland was among multiple federal cabinet ministers who have already spoken out against Smith’s policy announcement.
Women and Gender Equality and Youth of Canada Minister Marci Ien told reporters she “was struck by the soft tone” of Smith’s video on X, as well as “the almost spa-like music that accompanied it and then the vitriol that it was.”
“To focus in on the most vulnerable segment of our society is reprehensible.”
Justice Minister Arif Virani said he believes Smith is “targeting that small minority for some political purpose in Alberta.”
More on Politics
Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages Minister Randy Boissonnault said for Canada’s LGBTQ2 community, Smith’s proposed policy amounts to “our NATO moment.”
“An attack on one of our communities is an attack on us all. I need allies and champions to stand up. If there’s ever been a time in this century for people to stand up for the kind of Canada and Alberta we want, it’s today.”
Jyoti Gondek, the mayor of Calgary, said “we cannot turn our backs on the trans community” and that “it is our responsibility to ensure that decades of hard-fought battles for human rights are not wiped out.”
He said he wanted to address “all those who are scared or hurt by the recent provincial announcement.”
“I stand in solidarity with you,” he said. “I will continue to stand up for the charter protected rights of all Edmontonians, including yours.
“It should not be the role of any government to marginalize and discriminate against those they are entrusted to serve. Decisions about access to health care should be made by doctors on an individual basis and not by politicians.”
In her social media post on Wednesday, Smith said she wants transgender youth in Alberta to know “how much we love you and support you in becoming the person you want to be,” but added that she does not feel comfortable allowing youth to make life-altering changes until they are ready to make those choices.
“One of the greatest responsibilities we as parents, teachers and community leaders have is to preserve for our children the right to grow and develop into mature adults, so that they are better prepared to make the most impactful decisions affecting their lives,” she said.
At a news conference in Calgary on Thursday, Smith answered questions from reporters about the policy for the first time.
When asked how much her conversations with non-binary people played a role in the policy, Smith said she has “been consulting with members of the transgender community since the last time I was in politics.”
She also noted feedback she has received from members of the transgender community prompted a part of the policy announced a day earlier: to ensure there are more doctors in Alberta with expertise in gender-affirming procedures and the care needed for people who have those procedures.
“One of the constant things that I hear is how difficult it is to get connected with somebody who understands transgender medicine,” Smith said, adding she wants her government to develop a registry of doctors able to provide “this type of treatment long-term.”
Smith said the Alberta government approves about 100 gender-affirming procedures a year but did not say how many, if any, of those are for people under the age of 18.
Notley said that while watching Smith’s video on X, there was one point where she was so angry about what she heard that she “almost leaped through the computer.”
She noted transgender youth disproportionately experience homelessness.
Notley said it was how Smith suggested that if transgender youth have parents who are not supportive of their identity, child protective services are in place to help. Notley pointed out that the child protective system is “broken” in Alberta, pointing out that the province’s Office of the Child and Youth Advocate has just recently raised concerns regarding its budget.
Notley added that it was “cruel and mean-spirited” for Smith to suggest such services could help transgender youth dealing with unsupportive or even abusive parents.
Smith said students 15 or younger who want to change their names or pronouns at school will need parental consent, while 16- and 17-year-old students will need to have their parents notified before doing so, though parental consent will not be mandatory.
Smith said she plans to ban gender-affirming surgery for Albertans 17 and under, while people in the province 15 and under will be banned from access to puberty blockers and hormone therapies meant to be used for gender affirmation. She said an exception will be made for youth who have already begun the process.
On Thursday, Smith noted that when it comes to gender-affirming procedures, Alberta already prohibits “bottom surgery” for people in the province who are under 18.
Notley said she believes the policy with regard to health services amounts to “government interference” in decisions that should be made by parents, children and doctors.
She said Smith’s policy has “taken away their freedom of choice” and said she would be looking into whether the policy in that regard contravenes the Canada Health Act.
At her news conference on Thursday, Smith said the proposed policy has been created with the aim of attempting to “preserve the rights of kids to be able to make decisions as adults.”
“I think that we’ve seen in other jurisdictions,” she said, referencing recent pronoun policies in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, as well as policy debates in a number of European countries regarding gender-affirming procedures.
Albertans who are 16 or 17 will be allowed to access hormone therapy if they obtain approval from a parent, physician and psychologist, Smith said.
Smith’s policy would also impact sex education for all Alberta youth. She said the new policy will see a requirement take effect so that all parents have to be notified and consent to their child learning about gender identity, human sexuality and sexual orientation.
Notley said she believes this policy would make Alberta the only province in Canada where parents would now need to actively opt-in to have their child receive sex education, noting it is “a program that teaches safe sex, birth control, consent.”
Notley added that she believes the policy is mired in misinformation and expressed concern that Smith also announced plans to require any third-party instruction materials for sex education to be approved by the education minister.
Notley said she believes Smith’s “horrifying policy will be tested and rejected by the courts” and that it is Smith’s attempt to distract Albertans from what she sees as broader policy failures in the realms of education and health.
When asked on Thursday if she was prepared to use the notwithstanding clause if necessary, Smith said she hopes “it doesn’t come to that.”
2:25 Smith using ‘mean-spirited’ gender pronoun policy to ‘distract’ Albertans from provincial issues: Notley
Smith’s policy could also impact transgender youths’ participation in sports. The premier said Wednesday that she wants to come up with a plan so that women and girls do not have to compete against transgender female athletes, and to allow transgender youth to compete in sports in co-ed leagues.
Notley said that she believes “a trans woman is a woman and a trans man is a man” and that she believes Smith is purusuing the policy on transgender athletes because she is “pandering to the most extremist element” of her party’s base.
When asked Thursday if she believes her policies will receive widespread support from Albertans, Smith suggested she did.
“I am confident that Albertans do not want children to make irreversible decisions that impact their reproductive health,” she said, adding she thinks most Albertans will consider those “adult decisions.”
“I am also confident that parents love their kids and they want to know what’s going on with their kids.”
–With files from The Canadian Press’ Dean Bennett and Colette Derworiz
2:54 Danielle Smith unveils Alberta’s proposed guidelines on parental consent, gender-affirming care rules
OTTAWA – The federal agency that investigates election infractions found insufficient evidence to support suggestions Beijing wielded undue influence against the Conservatives in the Vancouver area during the 2021 general election.
The Commissioner of Canada Elections’ recently completed review of the lingering issue was tabled Tuesday at a federal inquiry into foreign interference.
The review focused on the unsuccessful campaign of Conservative candidate Kenny Chiu in the riding of Steveston-Richmond East and the party’s larger efforts in the Vancouver area.
It says the evidence uncovered did not trigger the threshold to initiate a formal investigation under the Canada Elections Act.
Investigators therefore recommended that the review be concluded.
A summary of the review results was shared with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP. The review says both agencies indicated the election commissioner’s findings were consistent with their own understanding of the situation.
During the exercise, the commissioner’s investigators met with Chinese Canadian residents of Chiu’s riding and surrounding ones.
They were told of an extensive network of Chinese Canadian associations, businesses and media organizations that offers the diaspora a lifestyle that mirrors that of China in many ways.
“Further, this diaspora has continuing and extensive commercial, social and familial relations with China,” the review says.
Some interviewees reported that this “has created aspects of a parallel society involving many Chinese Canadians in the Lower Mainland area, which includes concerted support, direction and control by individuals from or involved with China’s Vancouver consulate and the United Front Work Department (UFWD) in China.”
Investigators were also made aware of members of three Chinese Canadian associations, as well as others, who were alleged to have used their positions to influence the choice of Chinese Canadian voters during the 2021 election in a direction favourable to the interests of Beijing, the review says.
These efforts were sparked by elements of the Conservative party’s election platform and by actions and statements by Chiu “that were leveraged to bolster claims that both the platform and Chiu were anti-China and were encouraging anti-Chinese discrimination and racism.”
These messages were amplified through repetition in social media, chat groups and posts, as well as in Chinese in online, print and radio media throughout the Vancouver area.
Upon examination, the messages “were found to not be in contravention” of the Canada Elections Act, says the review, citing the Supreme Court of Canada’s position that the concept of uninhibited speech permeates all truly democratic societies and institutions.
The review says the effectiveness of the anti-Conservative, anti-Chiu campaigns was enhanced by circumstances “unique to the Chinese diaspora and the assertive nature of Chinese government interests.”
It notes the election was prefaced by statements from China’s ambassador to Canada and the Vancouver consul general as well as articles published or broadcast in Beijing-controlled Chinese Canadian media entities.
“According to Chinese Canadian interview subjects, this invoked a widespread fear amongst electors, described as a fear of retributive measures from Chinese authorities should a (Conservative) government be elected.”
This included the possibility that Chinese authorities could interfere with travel to and from China, as well as measures being taken against family members or business interests in China, the review says.
“Several Chinese Canadian interview subjects were of the view that Chinese authorities could exercise such retributive measures, and that this fear was most acute with Chinese Canadian electors from mainland China. One said ‘everybody understands’ the need to only say nice things about China.”
However, no interview subject was willing to name electors who were directly affected by the anti-Tory campaign, nor community leaders who claimed to speak on a voter’s behalf.
Several weeks of public inquiry hearings will focus on the capacity of federal agencies to detect, deter and counter foreign meddling.
In other testimony Tuesday, Conservative MP Garnett Genuis told the inquiry that parliamentarians who were targeted by Chinese hackers could have taken immediate protective steps if they had been informed sooner.
It emerged earlier this year that in 2021 some MPs and senators faced cyberattacks from the hackers because of their involvement with the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, which pushes for accountability from Beijing.
In 2022, U.S. authorities apparently informed the Canadian government of the attacks, and it in turn advised parliamentary IT officials — but not individual MPs.
Genuis, a Canadian co-chair of the inter-parliamentary alliance, told the inquiry Tuesday that it remains mysterious to him why he wasn’t informed about the attacks sooner.
Liberal MP John McKay, also a Canadian co-chair of the alliance, said there should be a clear protocol for advising parliamentarians of cyberthreats.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
WINNIPEG – The federal New Democrats have kept a longtime stronghold in the Elmwood-Transcona riding in Winnipeg.
The NDP’s Leila Dance won a close battle over Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds, and says the community has spoken in favour of priorities such as health care and the cost of living.
Elmwood-Transcona has elected a New Democrat in every election except one since the riding was formed in 1988.
The seat became open after three-term member of Parliament Daniel Blaikie resigned in March to take a job with the Manitoba government.
A political analyst the NDP is likely relieved to have kept the seat in what has been one of their strongest urban areas.
Christopher Adams, an adjunct professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba, says NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh worked hard to keep the seat in a tight race.
“He made a number of visits to Winnipeg, so if they had lost this riding it would have been disastrous for the NDP,” Adams said.
The strong Conservative showing should put wind in that party’s sails, Adams added, as their percentage of the popular vote in Elmwood-Transcona jumped sharply from the 2021 election.
“Even though the Conservatives lost this (byelection), they should walk away from it feeling pretty good.”
Dance told reporters Monday night she wants to focus on issues such as the cost of living while working in Ottawa.
“We used to be able to buy a cart of groceries for a hundred dollars and now it’s two small bags. That is something that will affect everyone in this riding,” Dance said.
Liberal candidate Ian MacIntyre placed a distant third,
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau say the Liberals have “all sorts of reflections” to make after losing a second stronghold in a byelection in Montreal Monday night.
His comments come as the Liberal cabinet gathers for its first regularly scheduled meeting of the fall sitting of Parliament, which began Monday.
Trudeau’s Liberals were hopeful they could retain the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, but those hopes were dashed after the Bloc Québécois won it in an extremely tight three-way race with the NDP.
Louis-Philippe Sauvé, an administrator at the Institute for Research in Contemporary Economics, beat Liberal candidate Laura Palestini by less than 250 votes. The NDP finished about 600 votes back of the winner.
It is the second time in three months that Trudeau’s party lost a stronghold in a byelection. In June, the Conservatives defeated the Liberals narrowly in Toronto-St. Paul’s.
The Liberals won every seat in Toronto and almost every seat on the Island of Montreal in the last election, and losing a seat in both places has laid bare just how low the party has fallen in the polls.
“Obviously, it would have been nicer to be able to win and hold (the Montreal riding), but there’s more work to do and we’re going to stay focused on doing it,” Trudeau told reporters ahead of this morning’s cabinet meeting.
When asked what went wrong for his party, Trudeau responded “I think there’s all sorts of reflections to take on that.”
In French, he would not say if this result puts his leadership in question, instead saying his team has lots of work to do.
Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet will hold a press conference this morning, but has already said the results are significant for his party.
“The victory is historic and all of Quebec will speak with a stronger voice in Ottawa,” Blanchet wrote on X, shortly after the winner was declared.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and his party had hoped to ride to a win in Montreal on the popularity of their candidate, city councillor Craig Sauvé, and use it to further their goal of replacing the Liberals as the chief alternative to the Conservatives.
The NDP did hold on to a seat in Winnipeg in a tight race with the Conservatives, but the results in Elmwood-Transcona Monday were far tighter than in the last several elections. NDP candidate Leila Dance defeated Conservative Colin Reynolds by about 1,200 votes.
Singh called it a “big victory.”
“Our movement is growing — and we’re going to keep working for Canadians and building that movement to stop Conservative cuts before they start,” he said on social media.
“Big corporations have had their governments. It’s the people’s time.”
New Democrats recently pulled out of their political pact with the government in a bid to distance themselves from the Liberals, making the prospects of a snap election far more likely.
Trudeau attempted to calm his caucus at their fall retreat in Nanaimo, B.C, last week, and brought former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney on as an economic adviser in a bid to shore up some credibility with voters.
The latest byelection loss will put more pressure on him as leader, with many polls suggesting voter anger is more directed at Trudeau himself than at Liberal policies.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
