The Alberta government just dropped a hammer on woke and diversity hiring policies. Multiple institutions, including government, universities and others are abandoning that liberal practice. The province is now supporting those professionals who don t want to be forced to take part in that leftist ideology. And this is yet another example of Alberta taking matters into its own hands and drawing a clear line between the way Canada sees the world and Albertans' way of life.
00:00:00.000The Alberta government just dropped a hammer on woke and DEI hiring policies.
00:00:07.100Multiple institutions, including government, universities and others, are abandoning that liberal practice.
00:00:13.640The province is now supporting those professionals who don't want to be forced to take part in that leftist ideology.
00:00:21.240And this is yet another example of Alberta taking matters into its own hands and drawing a clear line between the way Canada sees the world and Albertans' way of life.
00:00:33.020And you can already hear Ottawa and the establishment melting down over this.
00:00:37.980I'm going to show you exactly how the government of Alberta is sticking it to the federal liberals when it comes to merit-based hiring.
00:00:46.280So this is the premier of Alberta a couple of months back revealing a law that she calls the Peterson Law based on Jordan Peterson,
00:00:53.920who happens to be from Alberta and was discriminated and threatened with the loss of his psychology license just for expressing his opinion.
00:01:09.880And at its worst, it becomes an outright threat to free expression.
00:01:13.620Alberta's latest legislation taking aim at how professional bodies limit free speech.
00:01:19.100It's proposed Regulated Professionals Neutrality Act limiting groups like Alberta's College of Physicians and Surgeons or the Law Society of Alberta from disciplining members for expressing opinions while not on the clock.
00:01:32.160For example, the Commons cannot threaten violence or misuse the professional's position with an intent to harm.
00:01:37.940Sometimes it's hazy where the workplace ends and their personal life begins.
00:01:44.720These cases are cropping up because of the ubiquity of social media where regulated professionals are chiming in on hot-button issues in the new digital public square.
00:01:54.040Two years ago, Dr. Jordan Peterson, a clinical psychologist, podcaster, and author,
00:01:58.600was disciplined by Ontario's College of Psychologists for a series of online comments, including statements about transgender actor Elliot Page.
00:02:07.580Well, it wasn't really about incorrect information.
00:02:10.580In fact, it was more about the tone which he made his statements, which they viewed as unprofessional.
00:02:17.220And I believe they used the words dishonorable and degrading as well.
00:02:20.920So it wasn't what he said is how he said it.
00:02:24.440That's the state of Canada's professional bodies.
00:02:33.120...program in order to keep his license.
00:02:35.540He eventually agreed after the Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal.
00:02:39.780Fear of similar discipline, the premier believes, has kept medical professionals from speaking out in support of a recent Alberta law limiting access to transgender medical care.
00:02:48.600We spoke to many professionals who were afraid to put their names in the public realm,
00:02:53.580not only due to the threat of public cancellation, but mainly due to fear of losing their professional status or their livelihood.
00:03:01.400So this is one of those moments where I definitely give credit where due and the premier of Alberta putting out that law,
00:03:07.520the Jordan Peterson law, to allow professionals to not be blackmailed or threatened by their associations that are now more political than anything.
00:03:29.200So she put out a tweet a couple of months back in regards to this.
00:03:32.320Watching Jordan Peterson and other Canadian professionals being targeted by their professional associations for speaking their minds made it clear to me that Alberta has to act.
00:03:43.800That's why we are changing the law to ensure no one in Alberta will ever be punished by their professional body for standing up and sharing their views.
00:03:53.540In this province, we protect the voices that challenge, question, and inspire.
00:03:57.940Here's an article from the National Post talking about the stand that Alberta is taking when it comes to DEI practices here in Canada.
00:04:06.860Alberta protects professionals from witch hunts and forced diversity training.
00:04:12.280Regulators have been abusing their power for political ends.
00:04:18.080The tricky thing about boundary pushing is that if you unwisely take it too far, it might snap back in your face.
00:04:25.980That's what the regulators of lawyers, doctors, psychologists, and every other job gatekeep by professional bodies are now facing in Alberta after their sister entities across the country started dabbling in political policing.
00:04:40.680On Thursday, Alberta Premier Daniel Smith and Justice Minister Mickey Amory announced Bill 13, the Regulated Profession Neutrality Act, which would prohibit regulators from mandating diversity training, among other forms of political conditioning, while also protecting most off-duty speech.
00:05:02.080It's unbelievable that Alberta had to create a law to protect free speech.
00:05:07.660That's just the state of Canada today.
00:05:10.680Like, you have to get a province, subnational government, like Alberta, reinforcing your ability to say what you actually believe, what your opinion is, expressing your opinion when you're off work.
00:05:27.240But the government of Alberta has taken this fight even further with multiple institutions now ending the DEI and race-based hiring practices that most of Canada continues to implement.
00:05:40.880This is an article which came out yesterday from the National Post titled, University of Alberta to become first to abandon race-centric hiring.
00:05:51.160Schools set to return to prior system of hiring based on qualifications.
00:05:56.200So ridiculous how that's even a thing, that we change the policy going from merit-based, which is how we should have always been, to race-based.
00:06:08.200Article goes, the University of Alberta is set to become the first major Canadian university to abandon race-centric hiring in a move that could expose it to federal litigation.
00:06:19.440Oh, you know the federal government is going to want to fight this.
00:06:22.780You better believe they're going to want to fight this.
00:06:25.200The school's current recruitment policy, first adopted in 2011, prioritizes the hiring of persons historically underrepresented at the university, end quote, a category that includes women, disabled people, indigenous people, and, quote, members of visible minority groups, end quote.
00:06:45.620But under a draft revision, currently headed to the school's board of governors, these clauses will be discarded, and the school will go back to hiring based solely on qualifications, as it should be, as it should be.
00:07:01.720They revealed would represent the first major policy change at the University of Alberta since the school first announced last year that it was abandoning its adherence to the principle of equity, diversity, and inclusion.
00:07:14.240That's DEI, it's just Canada has to be fancy and change it.
00:07:34.220Every time you have to talk about someone's skin color, someone's gender, someone's past, as opposed to their qualifications and their merit, you're literally dividing people.
00:07:47.460You're doing exactly that, which you say you're against.
00:07:50.120How about you hire people based on the effort they put in to be qualified for the position and forget all about their skin color, their background, their ancestry, who they choose to sleep with.
00:08:05.660None of that has anything to do with the job.
00:08:08.080Some perceive an ideological bias at odds with merit.
00:08:11.960Bill Flanagan, president of the University of Alberta, explained in a January 2025 op-ed for the Edmonton Journal.
00:08:19.700It really is such a joke that we ever move from hiring people based on how qualified they are for the actual job and instead started employing them based on a bunch of other BS like their skin color and who they choose to sleep with.
00:08:34.160I'm glad Alberta is leading the charge in returning to common sense because, boy, does Canada ever need some common sense?
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