Juno News - Trudeau goes to war with Smith over parental rights

00:00:00.000 Hey everyone, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup. I'm your host, Rachel Emanuel.

00:00:03.720 We had another huge news week in Alberta this week. Probably one of the biggest stories of the

00:00:09.440 year dropped this week. Taking a look at today's topics, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced

00:00:14.580 a huge policy designed to protect children. An Alberta minister has been tasked with investigating

00:00:19.600 whether municipal single-use item bylaws are legal. And a follow-up on a story we talked about

00:00:25.140 a few weeks ago, the Alberta government is already taking action ahead of the expected

00:00:30.300 drought this spring. All that and more happening now on the Alberta Roundup.

00:00:44.320 Taking a look at our first story here, this week Wednesday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced

00:00:49.420 a comprehensive set of policies designed to protect children and parental rights. The Premier said that

00:00:55.000 being a teenager is a complicated time and that parents, leaders, and community teachers must

00:01:00.540 preserve the right for children to grow into impactful adults who can make the best decision

00:01:04.980 for their lives. It is my view that list of adult choices includes deciding whether or not to alter

00:01:10.500 one's biological sex. Making permanent and irreversible decisions regarding one's biological

00:01:16.440 sex while still a youth can severely limit that child's choices in the future. Prematurely encouraging

00:01:22.540 or enabling children to alter their very biology or natural growth, no matter how well-intentioned

00:01:28.420 and sincere, poses a risk to that child's future that I, as Premier, am not comfortable with

00:01:33.580 permitting in our province. Similarly, the risks and unfair advantages that young women and girls are

00:01:38.560 experiencing when competing with biologically stronger transgender females in sporting competitions

00:01:43.800 have also grown too high. As such, the Premier announced that she would ban top and bottom

00:01:48.820 gender reassignment surgeries for those aged 17 and under. Puberty blockers and hormone therapies for

00:01:55.100 gender reassignment or affirmation will be strictly prohibited for minors aged 15 and under,

00:02:01.360 except for those already undergoing treatment. For minors aged 16 and 17, the Premier outlined a

00:02:08.240 nuanced approach. Those minors will be allowed to commence hormone therapy for gender reassignment,

00:02:13.300 provided there is explicit approval from parents, physicians and psychologists. The caveat is that

00:02:19.740 the minor must be deemed mature enough to make such a decision. The approach differs for transgender

00:02:24.720 adults. For transgender adults, our government is currently working to attract one or more medical

00:02:30.240 professionals to practice in Alberta who specialize in transgender surgery to ensure those individuals

00:02:36.000 transitioning have access to an expert in Alberta to assist them with their extremely unique and

00:02:42.240 complex medical needs rather than going to Quebec, which is now the practice. We will also be building

00:02:47.460 a private registry of medical professionals who specialize in this field to better support the

00:02:52.140 lifelong healthcare needs of transgender Albertans, including access to needed hormones and surgery

00:02:57.260 after care. The policies also cover parental rights. Classroom instruction on the topics mentioned already

00:03:03.500 will require parental notification and an opt-in. Third-party resource materials or presentations

00:03:09.800 related to these subjects in K through child schools must undergo pre-approval by the Ministry of Education

00:03:16.420 for age appropriateness. Parental notification and consent are deemed necessary to alter the name or

00:03:22.720 pronoun of a child aged 15 and under. Notification but not consent are required to be given for children

00:03:28.760 age 16 and 17. The announcement also made strides to protect female athletes, with the Premier saying there's

00:03:35.400 obvious biological realities that give biological men competing in women's sports a massive competitive

00:03:42.780 advantage. She said the government is working with sporting organizations to offer women and girls the

00:03:48.720 choice to compete in women-owning divisions. For biological men who want to compete in women's sports,

00:03:54.860 the government is working to expand co-ed options.

00:03:58.020 I understand how controversial and divisive discussions on topics of sexuality and gender can be, especially

00:04:04.860 when those conversations involve children. I would therefore ask that as we work through implementing

00:04:10.360 these policies that we, as adults in this province, do all we can to depoliticize the discussion and focus

00:04:16.860 on the well-being of the children involved, whether they are young people identifying as transgender or who find

00:04:22.900 themselves attracted to those of the same sex or simply trying to understand the complex and often

00:04:28.120 changing emotions and feelings of being teenagers. They all need our unconditional love and support.

00:04:33.840 Calgary-based Skipping Stone Foundation and EGAL Canada said they condemned Smith's policy and called it a

00:04:39.780 quote, direct and unprecedented attack on 2SLGBTQI plus Canadians. The Executive Director for Parents' Choice

00:04:48.720 and Education, John Hilton O'Brien, said while Smith didn't go as far as he would have liked,

00:04:55.300 her approach was reasonable and it went further than he expected. Hilton O'Brien said he believes

00:05:01.120 Smith took a middle ground to diffuse tension between schools and parents, adding quote,

00:05:06.880 what you're looking at is a powder keg. If the Premier doesn't do something to diffuse it,

00:05:12.300 there will be much bigger trouble than a potential group of cases in court. She'll be looking at mass protests.

00:05:18.720 Federal Justice Minister Arif Varani said Smith's measures amount to quote,

00:05:23.340 targeting and demonizing trans children. He told the media quote, I have significant concerns about

00:05:29.740 that. I think targeting that small minority for some political reasons, as it seems the Premier is doing,

00:05:36.160 is not becoming of her office. And just as you expected, the left lost their minds over this very

00:05:42.000 nuanced policy announcement. Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley, who as you likely know,

00:05:47.120 has announced she will resign once a new leader is elected later this year,

00:05:50.880 called the policy horrifying. I'm so deeply, deeply concerned for what this means for transgendered

00:05:59.060 and other marginalized youth within the queer community. We know that houseless children

00:06:07.660 disproportionately come from those communities because the relationships with their families

00:06:14.400 have broken down. She also said she thinks the Premier will have to enforce the notwithstanding

00:06:18.980 clause to enforce these policies because she believes it will be rejected by the court.

00:06:24.420 Asked about the policy, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called it the quote,

00:06:28.920 most anti-LGBTQ policy of anywhere in the country. Take a listen.

00:06:33.280 Canadian parents love their kids and we want the very best for them and we want them to be kept safe.

00:06:44.800 LGBT youth across this country are among the most vulnerable to homelessness, to suicide,

00:06:55.260 to a range of things that can harm them. We need to be there to defend them. We need to be there to protect

00:07:05.760 them and I know Canadians across the country are doing just that. It is telling that the week after

00:07:14.520 welcoming far-right American conservative Tucker Carlson to her province to sit with him on stage,

00:07:23.260 Danielle Smith has now moved forward with the most anti-LGBT policies of anywhere in the country.

00:07:32.560 Canadians need to know that the federal government and all Canadians will be there to protect youth.

00:07:40.960 Meanwhile, an extra magazine journalist quote-unquote said the policy amounts to genocide. Take a listen.

00:07:47.260 Trans lives matter. The lives of trans youth matter. And we should care that Alberta is going

00:07:53.320 to eradicate many of those lives. But don't lose sight of the long-term goal underlying the province's

00:08:00.900 approach. The point of making it impossible to be a trans youth is to make it impossible to grow up

00:08:06.380 and become a trans adult. The point of killing trans youth is to wipe out the next generation

00:08:12.000 of trans adults. The point of everything the province is doing is to destroy trans people as

00:08:18.780 a meaningful population. And what is that? That's genocide. As you guys likely know, whenever a

00:08:24.740 conservative politician takes action on a controversial subject matter, the media tries to get them with a

00:08:30.320 lot of gotcha questions. And at least one of those fell very flat this week. Take a listen.

00:08:35.700 My understanding is that your legal first name is Marlena. Why did you choose? I'm wondering why

00:08:42.080 did you choose to go by a different name? And why you would take steps to restrict the same freedom

00:08:49.580 for others to do the same?

00:08:52.080 Well, my mother's going to get a great kick out of that question because I've been,

00:08:57.460 I've been ever since 9-11, I've been telling her how difficult it is that she decided to have me go

00:09:03.360 by my middle name and not my first name. It was my parents' choice to call me Danielle. And it was

00:09:09.460 my parents' choice to put on my birth certificate that Marlena, Danielle Smith, they just liked the

00:09:14.100 ring of it better. That's actually what it comes down to. They didn't do the same thing for my older

00:09:17.600 brother. He goes by his first name, not his middle name. My middle sister, she goes by her first name,

00:09:22.340 not her middle name. My two other brothers also go by their first name, not their middle name. They

00:09:27.920 just decided to make a difference with me. They liked the name Danielle, but they didn't like the

00:09:32.360 ring of Danielle Marlena Smith. That's what it comes down to. I'd like to hear from all of you guys.

00:09:36.880 Do you think the policies went far enough? Do you think they didn't go too far? Or do you think the

00:09:41.020 premier struck a nuanced and balanced approach? Let me know in the comments below and I'll be sure to get to

00:09:46.400 some of your comments next week. Moving into our next story here, the Alberta government is making

00:09:50.980 moves to mitigate the risk of severe drought in the province this year. Alberta's drought command

00:09:56.000 team has been given the go-ahead to begin negotiations with water license holder to secure

00:10:01.180 water sharing agreements. Alberta relies on melting snow and rain for its water. This year, the winter

00:10:07.780 snowpack is below average and rivers are at record low levels and multiple reservoirs will remain below

00:10:14.920 capacity, the province said in a news release this week. Due to all these factors, the Alberta

00:10:19.760 government has given its drought command team authorization to begin negotiations with major

00:10:25.240 water license holders to begin water sharing agreements in the Red Deer River, Bow River, and Old

00:10:31.400 Man River basins. The goal is to, quote, secure significant and timely reductions in water use. Alberta

00:10:37.500 Minister of Environment and Protected Areas, Rebecca Schultz, said in a news release. She added, quote,

00:10:42.620 this effort will be the largest water sharing negotiation to ever have occurred in Alberta's

00:10:47.160 history. There are 25,000 organizations and businesses in Alberta that hold licenses for

00:10:52.600 9.5 billion cubic meters of water. That's enough to fill 8.3 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.

00:11:00.160 Moving into what we're watching in the weeks to come, you guys are going to love this one.

00:11:04.180 Alberta's Minister of Municipal Affairs, Rick McIver, will investigate whether municipal single-use

00:11:09.440 item bylaws in Edmonton and Calgary violates the Municipal Government Act. The Premier was speaking

00:11:14.960 at a conference last week when she was asked about the bylaws in light of the federal court ruling,

00:11:19.660 which found that federal single-use plastics ban was unreasonable and unconstitutional.

00:11:25.840 The Premier said, quote,

00:11:26.880 I heard there was near-mutiny on wing night in some restaurants because you have to ask whether or not

00:11:32.520 people want napkins. I mean, some things are just so obvious that you need napkins when it's wing

00:11:38.120 night. The Premier also said that she does not support the single-use plastics ban, adding, quote,

00:11:43.140 I'm not supportive of the decision in both Calgary and Edmonton, but I've put it to my Minister of

00:11:47.720 Municipal Affairs to see if they've gone outside the realm of the Municipal Government Act. I think

00:11:52.760 there's a little bit of ideology getting ahead of common sense here. Edmonton Mayor Anne Marietta

00:11:57.080 said he is confident that the city's bylaw is in accordance with its authority under the Act.

00:12:02.940 In a statement to Global News, he said, quote,

00:12:05.060 The MGA authorizes the city to pass bylaws for environmental purposes and to regulate businesses.

00:12:11.060 Some of you probably remember when we covered this in the early days of the show. Edmonton's

00:12:15.260 single-use item bylaw has been in place since last year, but councillors moved to increase the fees

00:12:20.060 for paper and reusable bags just last month, and that's set to come into effect by July 1st.

00:12:26.160 Edmonton's bylaw has banned plastic bags from stores, but paper bags can be sold for 15 cents,

00:12:32.080 and reusable bags cost $1. Calgary passed a single-use items bylaw in mid-January,

00:12:38.200 requiring businesses to provide cutlery, condiments, and shopping bags, only by request.

00:12:42.900 While McIver has been tasked with investigating the municipalities,

00:12:46.060 Smith recommended that in the meantime, people contact their councillors and mayors

00:12:51.300 to let them know what they think about the bylaws.

00:12:54.060 And finally, moving into my weekly comment roundup, the comment of the week goes to a response from

00:12:59.460 at Phil Rack, who responded to a video of Justin Trudeau clapping erratically at a women's hockey

00:13:05.600 game, writing, What's going on with Trudeau? Maybe he's dipping into his safer supply a little too

00:13:11.540 liberally. I'm not going to read this entire next comment here, but I do want to just touch on the

00:13:16.240 beginning of it. User IamTheJuggernaut said,

00:13:18.940 Smith's response to the reporter was okay, but I'd like to see her take the poly of approach of

00:13:23.760 asking the reporter to provide their evidence when making blanket statements like, quote,

00:13:28.600 this is somebody who has been accused of defending white supremacy, end quote.

00:13:31.660 While it is fine to draw the distinction of not needing to agree with everything a person

00:13:35.920 believes in order to take an interview with them, I would have preferred her to respond with a

00:13:40.400 question like, who has linked him to white supremacy? I've seen a lot of comments like

00:13:45.120 this. I think that Polly Ebb's approach to deal with the media has probably been the strongest of

00:13:49.340 any Canadian politician that I've ever seen, at least in my lifetime. Let me know if you think

00:13:54.080 of someone better, but it is very distinct and unique to him. That being said, I think that we're

00:13:58.480 really seeing the Primer Smith kind of come into her own when it comes to handling the media.

00:14:02.780 I said this on the Andrew Lawton show a few weeks ago. I think she's becoming a really polished

00:14:07.660 public speaker and really just hitting all the right notes to avoid unnecessary controversy

00:14:13.000 as well with the clip I played earlier for you guys today when she was answering that question

00:14:17.220 about why she goes by Danielle when her actual first name is Marlena. I think she handled that

00:14:22.460 splendidly and we're seeing more responses like that from the Premier. So I think we're going to

00:14:26.820 be seeing her taking a stronger approach to the media. I think as she just gets more comfortable

00:14:31.460 with the role and more comfortable with dealing with media. Okay, everyone, that's all we have time

00:14:35.500 for today. Thank you so much for tuning in. As always, if you're able to support our work,

00:14:39.040 you can do that over at donate.tnc.news. Have a great weekend. I'll see you guys next week and God bless.

Juno News - February 03, 2024

Trudeau goes to war with Smith over parental rights

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