The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - Poilievre stands with Smith

00:00:00.000 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's transgender and parental right policies continue to dominate

00:00:05.500 headlines in the country. The Premier was in Ottawa this week for meetings with federal

00:00:10.600 ministers, but Eastern legacy media seemed only concerned with questions on the Premier's recent

00:00:16.860 announcement to protect children here in Alberta. And of course, there were protests, both here in

00:00:22.920 Alberta and in Ottawa, and there's more planned to come on both sides. And if there's one big

00:00:29.140 takeaway, it's that the Premier's actions have already caused a ripple effect among conservative

00:00:34.320 politicians, with Conservative leader Pierre Polyev finally weighing in and making a strong

00:00:40.600 statement in support of parents. I'm Rachel Emanuel, and this is the Alberta Roundup.

00:00:45.060 Taking a look at what we're going to be talking about on today's show, Pierre Polyev has made a

00:01:00.000 statement in support of the Alberta Premier. Of course, Danielle Smith was in Ottawa this week

00:01:05.180 to open a new Alberta office. As well, a Liberal MP and committee chair snubbed Danielle Smith

00:01:10.800 after goading her into appearing at his committee on X. All that and more happening now on the Alberta

00:01:16.900 Roundup. Starting with our first story here, federal Conservative leader Pierre Polyev made a strong

00:01:22.140 statement in support of Alberta Premier Daniel Smith this week and accused mainstream media of trying to

00:01:27.420 demonize her. Take a listen. Trudeau has not given a single example of any of the policies that

00:01:33.520 Premier Smith has brought forward that he individually disagrees with because he doesn't want to be

00:01:39.300 specific about it. And that's because he and you want to peddle in disinformation in order to demonize

00:01:48.300 parents, Premier Smith and parents. And Justin Trudeau has spread hatred against parents. The Premier was in

00:01:59.280 Ottawa this week to meet with federal ministers and to open a new Alberta office. Here's what she had to

00:02:04.340 say about it. Our government is committed to standing up for Alberta within United Canada. The creation of

00:02:09.640 this office in Ottawa is one way we're delivering on that commitment. And I am looking forward to seeing

00:02:14.560 the positive effects that will come from this space right here. Alberta's new senior representative

00:02:19.260 to Ottawa, James Carpenter, told True North on Monday that his position is an advocacy role.

00:02:25.580 Carpenter said, quote, basically, we're going to be building relationships and working with the

00:02:30.400 bureaucrats and the elected officials, stakeholders and interested parties in regards to Alberta issues

00:02:35.880 on a federal level. Carpenter said energy and the environment will be top priorities, along with

00:02:41.360 agriculture, health and childcare. And both he and Premier Smith encouraged other provinces to follow

00:02:46.960 Alberta's lead in setting up shop in the nation's capital. I can tell you, you could probably talk to any

00:02:51.360 premier. I don't think any one of them has a very positive or constructive relationship with the federal

00:02:55.600 government right now. For the same reasons that we do, it doesn't matter what the political stripe is. So if we can

00:03:01.120 help to further the conversation with our provincial partners in Quebec, we'd be more than happy to

00:03:05.440 continue that. Discussion on Premier Smith's recent transgender policies dominated her visit. It actually

00:03:11.120 seemed to be the only thing Eastern media was interested in asking the premier about.

00:03:15.840 Here's the premier explaining more about her decision in one such exchange.

00:03:19.600 Having a discussion about pronouns is really just the beginning of the process.

00:03:23.280 When a child changes their identity, it moves on to

00:03:26.960 puberty blockers, then moves on to cross-sex hormones, then moves on to top and bottom surgery.

00:03:32.080 That's the pathway. And so we had to have a conversation about what is the appropriate ages to be able to

00:03:38.240 make those life-altering decisions. So that's part of the reason why we put it together as a package.

00:03:42.640 So there's some policy around health, some policy around education, and some policy around sport.

00:03:48.560 Meanwhile, federal employment minister and Edmonton MP Randy Boissoneau told Global News' David Aiken

00:03:55.520 that children need the safe space to come out because they haven't figured out how to tell their parents

00:03:59.840 yet. Here's what that sounded like. I'm still getting phone calls from, you know, people in the community that are

00:04:05.600 quite rightly terrified by last week's announcement by Premier Smith and the forthcoming legislation.

00:04:11.920 I think if I can just be really clear, the state has no business in interfering in the development

00:04:20.320 of a child in the relationship that they have with their parents. And what Danielle Smith is trying

00:04:25.520 to do with this broadside on the LGBTQ2 community and really targeting trans kids is she's trying to

00:04:32.080 insert herself between kids and their parents. She's trying to insert herself between kids and medical 1.00

00:04:37.440 professionals. She's trying to mandate that teachers out kids. And the left's meltdown to Danielle Smith's 1.00

00:04:43.440 policies continues to be so extreme that even the libs of TikTok picked it up. Here's Janice Irwin.

00:04:49.520 To all the queer and trans youth out there, just know that you are so loved and we're going to be

00:05:01.680 with you for every step of this fight. We love you so much.

00:05:09.600 Of course, it's important to remember that according to media reports, Irwin is considering

00:05:13.120 a run for the Alberta NDP leadership. So that could be the next leader of the official opposition,

00:05:18.160 everyone. Just let that sink in. And for those of you who haven't viewed it yet, I headed out to the

00:05:23.280 streets of Calgary this week, well a mall actually, to pull regular Albertans to see what they think

00:05:29.360 about Danielle Smith's transgender policies. You can go back and watch that, but I'm just going to play 0.99

00:05:34.640 a brief teaser for you now. It's huge for women to have our rights and we're losing our rights by 1.00

00:05:40.560 allowing transgenders to compete in women's sports, especially even young women. I remember as a

00:05:46.560 kindergarten teacher, got into trouble because I tacked up drawings of genitals. I thought,

00:05:54.000 yes, that was in the 70s and people were shocked. Lots of good stuff there. You guys won't want to

00:05:59.440 miss that. And of course, I have moved up to two episodes a week now. I'm hoping to do some more

00:06:04.160 streeters. And of course, if there's anyone you'd like to see me interview, please drop it in the

00:06:09.360 comments below and I'll look into having them on my show in the weeks to come. Moving into the

00:06:13.520 controversy of the week, a Liberal MP who goaded Premier Smith into appearing before the House of

00:06:19.840 Commons Natural Resource Committee never actually invited her, even though he's the chair. In a

00:06:25.520 statement posted on X prior to Smith's arrival in Ottawa, Liberal MP George Jahal wrote, quote,

00:06:32.160 when Premier Daniel Smith comes to Ottawa next week, I hope she'll explain to the Natural Resources

00:06:37.440 Committee why she's putting clean energy investment at risk. Hours later at a press conference in Ottawa

00:06:43.760 on Monday morning, Smith said she'd be happy to come. Take a listen.

00:06:47.600 I would note that as I was in flight, the chair of the Natural Resources Committee, George Jahal,

00:06:55.600 asked me if I would appear before his committee to explain our renewables policy. And I would just

00:07:02.000 like to accept that invitation. If they happen to finish their business today, I know they have a

00:07:06.800 packed schedule. I'd be delighted to join them. I do have time in my calendar. So my phone is on.

00:07:12.400 And if he would like to invite me to that, I'd be more than happy to come. And this is part of the

00:07:18.160 reason why we're here is to be able to explain Alberta's position and be able to collaborate with

00:07:22.960 our federal partners. But Jahal never responded. Later, the Premier's press secretary, Sam Blackett,

00:07:29.280 said the invitation lacked substance and was nothing more than a political job. Moving in to what we're

00:07:34.880 watching in the weeks to come, this one is from our good friends over at the Counter Signal.

00:07:38.880 A official petition has been launched to try and recall Calgary Mayor Jody Gondek. You can only

00:07:45.200 wonder what it is that finally did her in. Maybe it was the move to try and cancel Canada Day last 0.61

00:07:50.640 year, if you guys remember that. The city of Calgary confirmed the reception of the recall petition

00:07:56.080 against Mayor Gondek on January 30th, as announced by city clerk Kate Martin. Martin said,

00:08:02.320 quote, This is the first notice of recall petition that has been received by the city clerk's office

00:08:08.160 since the legislation took effect. The petition action leverages the 2022 amendments to the Municipal

00:08:14.480 Government Act, permitting the recall of municipal officials through a structured process. Just over

00:08:21.040 500,000 signatures are needed to recall Gondek, which is about one third of the total number of

00:08:26.320 individuals who voted for her in the last Calgary election. The petitioner, Landon Johnson, hasn't

00:08:33.200 officially launched a website to collect signatures, but you can register at the Counter Signal if

00:08:38.080 you're interested in receiving updates and for information on where the petition can be signed.

00:08:43.840 And finally, moving into our weekly comment roundup, these are some comments from the last two episodes

00:08:48.240 I posted. Starting with a comment from at Troy Lloyd here. He says, quote, transition surgery for adults

00:08:54.880 should be classed as cosmetic surgery and not paid for by taxpayers. The healthcare system is already

00:09:01.760 overburdened. You are, of course, correct. And I saw a lot of similar sentiments under my post.

00:09:07.280 User at Laura Turner said, quote, I identify as a younger and thinner woman. Now, maybe the government

00:09:13.200 will pay for all the plastic surgery it will take to make that happen. I had a good chuckle at that one.

00:09:17.920 I actually think I'm going to identify as a blonde. So the government should pay for 1.00

00:09:21.520 all my hair treatment. It's very high maintenance to be a blonde. I did it for a couple of years

00:09:26.400 and I simply couldn't keep up with it. But now that I know the government's willing to pay for it,

00:09:29.840 I might give that a shot again. And finally, user, the voice of reason said,

00:09:34.560 these people are talking like they're looking for acceptance to their opinion. Just tell the truth

00:09:39.600 about how you feel. It's how we form a consensus. That comment was posted underneath the episode

00:09:44.720 where I was polling people. It was so difficult to get people to stop and give their opinion.

00:09:49.600 To be fair, some people seemed like maybe they were considering it. And as soon as I said the

00:09:53.200 word transgender, they scurried off. Now it's a very controversial topic. About 40 minutes in,

00:09:58.000 I finally got a little smarter and started asking people to give their opinion on women's only 0.65

00:10:03.520 sporting spaces. And I think that drew a few more people in. So lesson learned for next time,

00:10:08.160 though it was quite a bit of fun doing those straighters and I hope to get back to them.

00:10:11.040 Okay, everyone, that's all for today. Thank you so much for tuning in. Don't forget to watch both

00:10:16.560 episodes this week. Don't forget to like this episode and subscribe to True North. I'll be back

00:10:21.840 on Wednesday with more content. I hope that you guys have a great rest of your weekend. God bless.

00:10:41.040 God bless you.

00:10:53.460 God bless you.

00:10:53.800 God bless you.

The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - February 10, 2024

Poilievre stands with Smith

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