Multiple federal cabinet ministers are criticizing Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s proposed restrictions on transgender youth as targeting a vulnerable minority for political points, indicating Thursday they are looking at options for how to respond.
“Everything is on the table, anything that we can do,” said Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth Marci Ien.
Speaking with reporters on Parliament Hill, Ien said as the Canadian government waits to see what tangible measures Smith brings in, she won’t speculate on what exactly could be done. Instead, she’ll be heading on the road to consult those impacted before coming back to the federal cabinet with suggested ways to respond.
“We are going to look at every option that we have, and this is our NATO moment as an LGBTQ2S+ community. An attack on one of our communities is an attack on us all, and I need allies and champions to stand up,” said Randy Boissonnault, the sole Alberta MP in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet.
“If there’s ever been a time in this century, for people to stand up for the kind of Canada, the kind of Alberta we want, it’s today.”
On Wednesday night, Smith released a seven-and-a-half-minute scripted social media video pre-positioning her plans to advance a series of changes around pronouns in schools and access to gender-affirming health care that go beyond what Saskatchewan and New Brunswick have put in place.
Framing the package in terms of “parental involvement” and “preserving choice,” Smith’s government is specifically seeking to:
Require parental notification and consent for students aged 15 and under who want to change their names or pronouns at school, while for teens 16 and 17, the parents will be informed but do not need to consent;
Ban “top and bottom” gender-affirming surgeries for all Albertans ages 17 and under and ban hormone therapy for gender reassignment purposes for those aged 15 and under unless their treatment has already begun;
Require parental notification and an opt-in requirement when teachers intend to teach about LGBTQ2S+ issues such as gender and sexual identity; and
Implement restrictions around transgender women participating in women’s sports, citing “safety” while suggesting an expanded co-ed or gender-neutral league for trans athletes as an alternative.
According to the Canadian Paediatric Society, “processes and age cut-offs for funding gender-affirming surgeries vary by province/territory in Canada,” but generally, the kinds of surgical procedures Smith is seeking to restrict are rarely available to Canadians under the age of 18, following extensive medical and psychological consultation.
Smith’s office told CTV News that these proposals will be implemented through a combination of policy and legislation, to be announced by the Fall with the intention of implementation by the end of the year.
Asked on CTV News Channel’s Power Play if the federal response will be ready by then, Ien said “she’ll have a response.” Boissonnault and Ien spent Wednesday night on the phone speaking to queer community members in Alberta who, Ien said after listening to video, despite its “soft tone” and “spa-like music” they feel less safe.
In the video, Smith said that she accepts all transgender Albertans, and wants to eliminate the discrimination they face.
Though, after discussions with her United Conservative Party caucus, she’s decided that given the “often changing” emotions of Albertans aged 17 and younger, as premier she’s “not comfortable” permitting “prematurely encouraging or enabling children to alter their very biology or natural growth, no matter how well intentioned.”
Among the promises Smith has made, is to seek out specialized medical professionals to provide gender-affirming surgeries to adult Albertans, in Alberta. She’s also vowed to “strictly” enforce child protection laws in cases where trans youth are rejected or abused by their parent.
Speaking to media in Alberta on Thursday afternoon, Smith doubled down on her position, asserting confidence that nothing her government is pursuing is against the law and rebuffing the rebukes from Ottawa.
“These are sensitive conversations involving children, and I hope we can de-politicize these issues as much as possible as we work through the process of implementing these policies,” Smith said. “We’re not stopping any covered service.”
Health minister heading to Alberta
Asked to comment on Thursday morning during a press conference about new assisted dying legislation, federal Health Minister Mark Holland and Justice Minister Arif Virani also stopped short of committing to federal action, but both expressed their dismay.
“I’m deeply disturbed. The decision that was made by Alberta places kids at risk,” Holland said Thursday. “Affirming gender, making sure that kids and families have the health care that they need on extremely sensitive issues, is so very important.”
“I thought we were in a place in this country, where we were moving past this. It’s extremely dangerous to engage in this kind of thing, which is, I think, playing politics when you’re talking about children’s lives.”
The health minister said his first move is going to be heading to Alberta to speak with his provincial counterpart Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, face-to-face.
“I want to talk through these issues. I want to see if we can find a solution through talking, to really understand what this is going to mean, and the devastation that it’s going to bring, so that we can find an offering,” Holland said. “So, that’s my first priority is to try through communicating.”
Court challenge? Too soon: Virani
The federal ministers’ comments come after a barrage of reaction overnight from LGBTQ2S+ advocates voicing fear over what they called the most restrictive anti-trans policies in the country.
Though, while groups like Egale Canada and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have indicated intent to pursue legal action “to protect rights and freedoms of trans and gender diverse people in the province,” if needed, the federal government isn’t crossing that bridge, yet.
“That is a completely speculative question,” Virani said. “They’ve announced what they’re thinking about doing, they’ve not tabled anything, there’s no legislation. There’s nothing to be taken to court, I’m not going to speculate.”
Virani said that as a dad, parents need to be able to have these conversations with their children.
“I think actually targeting that small minority for some political purpose in Alberta, as it seems that the premier is doing, is not becoming of her office, and is in fact actually targeting and perhaps even demonizing those children. We’re not talking about their exploration of their sexuality when we’re banning kids from a school yard, from a playground, or from a sports team.”
An ‘assault’ on trans rights: advocate
Fae Johnstone, executive director of the Society of Queer Momentum said what Smith has proposed is “an egregious assault on the rights and freedoms of vulnerable young people and their families.”
“This is a government interfering ideologically, in the provision of evidence-based health care, and stopping families from helping their kids access life-saving services that those young people need and deserve.”
In an interview on CTV News Channel, Johnstone cautioned that if implemented, Smith’s suite of measures could send trans and gender-diverse students back into the closet, or force them to come out before they know they’ll be supported at home.
“We recognize that health interventions are not an option for every child, but they are necessary for some and it is irresponsible for a government to get between that young person, their family, and their provider.”
NDP reacts, Conservatives yet to
Alberta Official Opposition Leader Rachel Notley held a press conference in Ottawa alongside federal NDP MPs on Thursday afternoon to respond to Smith’s “policy and guidelines aimed at dismantling the human rights of transgender Albertans.”
“Smith’s new policy represents government interference in what should be a collaborative and private decision between parents, their child, and their doctor,” Notley said, adding that this move is “designed to further divide those who have been subjected to misinformation and conspiracy theories.”
Notley said her caucus will push Smith to reverse course, noting the provincial government’s obligations under the Canada Health Act and Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
One of the MPs who appeared alongside Notley was Canada’s first openly two-spirit member of Parliament Blake Desjarlais. In separate remarks to reporters, he called on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to speak up.
“He has remained completely absent from ensuring that his own Conservative counterparts in these provinces are told that they won’t accept it. Silence is complicity,” Desjarlais said.
Last September, at the federal Conservative convention in Quebec City, delegates voted to include a pair of policies in the party’s playbook that would restrict gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth and oppose the inclusion of trans women in women’s spaces, such as on sports teams and in bathrooms.
To date, Poilievre has not said whether these are policies he’d campaign on, or would be pursued by a prospective federal Conservative government.
CTV News reached out to the Official Opposition leader’s office for comment and has yet to receive a response.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Schools in Mexico will have six months to implement a government-sponsored ban on junk food or else face heavy fines, officials said Monday.
The rules, published on Sept. 30, target products that have become staples for two or three generations of Mexican schoolkids: sugary fruit drinks sold in triangular cardboard cartons, chips, artificial pork rinds and soy-encased, salty peanuts with chile. School administrators who violate the order will face fines equivalent to between $545 and $5,450, which could double for a second offense, amounting to nearly a year’s wages for some of them.
Mexico’s children have the highest consumption of junk food in Latin America and many get 40% of their total caloric intake from it, according to the U.N. Children’s Fund which labeled child obesity there an emergency.
The new ban targets products that have become staples for two or three generations of Mexican schoolkids: sugary fruit drinks sold in triangular cardboard cartons, chips, artificial pork rinds and soy-encased, salty peanuts with chile.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday schools would have to offer water fountains and alternative snacks, like bean tacos.
“It is much better to eat a bean taco than a bag of potato chips,” Sheinbaum said. “It is much better to drink hibiscus flower water than soda.”
However, the vast majority of Mexico’s 255,000 schools nationwide do not have free drinking water available to students. According to a report in 2020, the effort to install drinking fountains succeeded in only about 10,900 of the country’s schools, or about 4% of them. Many Schools are located in areas so poor or remote that they struggle to maintain acceptable bathrooms, internet connection or electricity.
Also the most common recipes for beans, refried beans, usually contain a significant dose of lard, which would violate rules against saturated fats.
Mexico instituted front-of-package warning labels for foods between 2010 and 2020, to advise consumers about high levels of salt, added sugar, excess calories and saturated fats. Some snack foods carry all four of the black, octagonal warning labels.
But under the new rules, schools will have to phase out any product containing even a single warning label from school snack stands. It wasn’t immediately clear how the government would enforce the ban on the sidewalks outside schools, where vendors usually set up tables of goods to sell to kids at recess.
Mexican authorities say the country has the worst childhood obesity problem in the world, with about one-third of children overweight or obese.
NEW YORK – Florida Panthers centre Sam Reinhart was named NHL first star of the week on Monday after leading all players with nine points over four games last week.
Reinhart had four goals, five assists and a plus-seven rating to help the Stanley Cup champions post a 3-0-1 record on the week and move into first place in the Atlantic Division.
New York Rangers left-winger Artemi Panarin took the second star and Minnesota Wild goaltenderFilip Gustavsson was the third star.
Panarin had eight points (4-4) over three games.
Gustavsson became the 15th goalie in NHL history to score a goal and had a 1.00 goals-against average and .962 save percentage over a pair of victories.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Deshaun Watson won’t finish the season as Cleveland’s starting quarterback for the second straight year.
He’s injured again, and the Browns have new problems.
Watson ruptured his right Achilles tendon in the first half of Sunday’s loss to Cincinnati, collapsing as he began to run and leading some Browns fans to cheer while the divisive QB laid on the ground writhing in pain.
The team feared Watson’s year was over and tests done Monday confirmed the rupture. The Browns said Watson will have surgery and miss the rest of the season but “a full recovery is expected.”
It’s the second significant injury in two seasons for Watson, who broke the glenoid (socket) bone in his throwing shoulder last year after just six starts.
The 29-year-old went down Sunday without being touched on a draw play late in the first half. His right leg buckled and Watson crumpled to the turf. TV replays showed his calf rippling, consistent with an Achilles injury.
He immediately put his hands on his helmet, clearly aware of the severity of an injury similar to the one Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers sustained last year.
As he was being assisted by the team’s medical staff and backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson grabbed a ball to begin warming up, there was some derisive cheers and boos from the stands in Huntington Bank Field.
Cleveland fans have been split over Watson, who has been accused of being sexually inappropriate with women.
The reaction didn’t sit well with several Watson’s teammates, including star end Myles Garrett, the NFL’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, who was appalled by the fans’ behavior.
“We should be ashamed of ourselves as Browns and as fans to boo anyone and their downfall. To be season-altering, career-altering injury,” Garrett said. “Man’s not perfect. He doesn’t need to be. None of us are expected to be perfect. Can’t judge him for what he does off the field or on the field because I can’t throw stones for my glass house.
“Ultimately everyone’s human and they’re disappointed just like we are, but we have to be better than that as people. There’s levels to this. At the end of the day, it’s just a game and you don’t boo anybody being injured and you don’t celebrate anyone’s downfall.”
Backup quarterback Jameis Winston also admonished the uncomfortable celebration.
“I am very upset with the reaction to a man that has had the world against him for the past four years, and he put his body and life on the line for this city every single day,” he said. “The way I was raised, I will never pull on a man when he’s down, but I will be the person to lift him up.
“I know you love this game. When I first got here, I knew these were some amazing fans, but Deshaun was treated badly and now he has to overcome another obstacle. So I’m going to support him, I’m going to lift him up and I’m going to be there for him.”
The injury is yet another twist in Watson’s tumultuous time with the Browns.
Cleveland traded three first-round draft picks and five overall to Houston in 2022 to get him, with owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam approving the team giving Watson a fully guaranteed, five-year $230 million contract.
With a solid roster, the Browns were desperate to find a QB who could help them compete against the top AFC teams.
The Browns had moved on from Baker Mayfield despite drafting him No. 1 overall in 2018 and making the playoffs two seasons later.
But Watson has not played up to expectations — fans have been pushing for him to be benched this season — and Cleveland’s move to get him has been labeled an abject failure with the team still on the hook to pay him $46 million in each of the next two seasons.
Watson’s arrival in Cleveland also came amid accusations by more than two dozen women of sexual assault and harassment during massage therapy sessions while he played for the Texans. Two grand juries declined to indict him and he has settled civil lawsuits in all but one of the cases.
Watson was suspended by the NFL for his first 11 games and fined $5 million for violating the league’s personal conduct policy before he took his first snap with the Browns. The long layoff — he sat out the 2021 season in a contract dispute — led to struggles once he got on the field, and Watson made just six starts last season before hurting his shoulder.
Cleveland signed veteran Joe Flacco, who went 4-1 as a starter and led the Browns to the playoffs.
Before Watson got hurt this year, he didn’t play much better. He was one of the league’s lowest-rated passers for a Cleveland team that hasn’t scored 20 points in a game and is back in search of a franchise QB.
