The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - What Albertans really think of Smith's gender policies

00:00:00.000 It's huge for women to have our rights, and we're losing our rights by allowing 1.00

00:00:04.560 transgenders to compete in women's sports, especially even young women.

00:00:09.300 I remember as a kindergarten teacher got into trouble because I tacked up drawings 0.90

00:00:14.680 of genitals. I thought, yes, that was in the 70s, and people were shocked.

00:00:30.000 Hey, everyone, it's Rachel Emanuel with True North. I'm here at a mall in Calgary, and I'm going to

00:00:36.400 gather some people's thoughts on what they think about the new transgender policies that Daniel

00:00:41.880 Smith announced last week. Let's go. So did you hear about Daniel Smith's new transgender policies?

00:00:46.960 I did.

00:00:47.680 And what did you think of them?

00:00:49.200 I think it's a good idea. I think parents need to have responsibility for their children and

00:00:55.040 their children's decisions. I don't think children that are that young don't have the

00:01:01.600 life experience to make those kind of decisions that are going to affect their future lives.

00:01:05.420 It's certainly a fine line to walk. It's going to disappoint a lot of people, but I think there's

00:01:13.080 too much power been given to people other than parents in raising their children.

00:01:17.000 I think we do need to protect our children. Yeah, it's very important. I don't think these

00:01:23.240 decisions are meant for children, and that we are here to protect them until they're at the

00:01:29.220 right age to make those decisions.

00:01:31.240 I'm a little torn about that, but in general, it's not up to the government to decide.

00:01:37.040 So do you think parents should be allowed to give their kids sex reassignment surgeries 0.83

00:01:40.460 if the parents and the children agree?

00:01:43.240 Yeah, I think so. It depends. There's lots to go into it, but if there's enough people involved

00:01:50.280 and it's understood, it's kind of hard to say.

00:01:54.020 They know what they're talking about and what's appropriate. I've taught kindergarten to grade 12

00:01:58.720 and post-secondary. And, you know, in kindergarten, I remember as a kindergarten teacher, I got into

00:02:04.840 trouble because I tacked up drawings of genitopes. I thought, yes, that was in the 70s, and people were shocked.

00:02:13.920 I work in health care, and so I, first of all, don't think it's right that politicians are trying to

00:02:19.800 step their toes on anything to do with health and the rights of people, especially minors.

00:02:25.540 I wholeheartedly believe that people's, you know, health care teams, and maybe not necessarily their

00:02:31.700 parents, but these kids that trust their health care team, are in, like, the proper hands.

00:02:37.160 And so I really feel disgustingly upset about the fact that she, Danielle Smith, feels that she

00:02:46.060 can meddle in kids' lives. When it comes to issues of health care, you know, you said leaving these

00:02:50.280 decisions up to the experts. Ultimately, health care is funded by the taxpayers, so our government

00:02:54.180 is going to have a certain amount of oversight on what is spent on. For example, if you want to go see

00:02:58.760 the chiropractor, you're going to pay for that out of pocket. If you go see your family doctor,

00:03:01.520 that's covered by the province. So the government is going to have some oversight. So why do you think

00:03:05.260 it's inappropriate that she would be saying, you know, I'm the leader of this province,

00:03:08.920 and we're going to have oversight. Health care is a responsibility to be administered by the

00:03:12.120 province, and this is a law that we're making because we're not comfortable with minors having 0.95

00:03:15.980 sex reassignment surgeries. You know, I think this is a very fair question to be asking, but I would

00:03:21.100 then pose the same question about abortion for mature minors, is that, I mean, already in the

00:03:27.660 province of Alberta and in Canada, sex reassignment surgery is very few and far between. I do know that

00:03:33.900 people go out of country for that quite often, and so I think it would be very harming to say that

00:03:39.480 we're going to make this decision for you because we are in charge of health care decisions. I feel

00:03:44.380 very strongly that the more appropriate response would be to say, this is our understanding of it

00:03:50.620 holistically, whereas I just feel like this has been a shotgun decision made because of opinion,

00:03:56.340 and this is how we're willing to support you. I don't think it's appropriate for a group of

00:04:01.500 politicians to be saying, we're making this decision for you because we don't feel like

00:04:04.320 it's right and that you're able to make this decision. One of the other things that was

00:04:07.620 announced is that the premier is going to be giving taxpayer money to fund sex reassignment

00:04:12.460 surgeries for adults and actually bring some doctors in that could perform those surgeries

00:04:16.340 for adults. Do you agree with that decision? I haven't thought much on that. Totally different

00:04:23.280 story when we're talking about adults, for sure. Do you think taxpayers should pay for

00:04:27.500 these surgeries? Yes. Yeah, I mean, it's part of health care, in my opinion. So why shouldn't

00:04:33.060 the government have a say in it if the government is deciding whether or not they're going to pay

00:04:36.100 for it? Because it's not, health care is health care. It's not got anything to do with the government.

00:04:43.560 One other thing that she announced was that they're going to be working with sports

00:04:46.800 organizations to make sure that there's spaces for women's only sporting, so biological men or 1.00

00:04:52.180 transgender women won't be able to perform in sports with women, and then they're going to try to 1.00

00:04:56.040 increase co-ed options as well. Do you think that this is a right move to protect, you know,

00:05:00.240 female-only sporting, or do you think that this goes too far? I think it's important. It's huge for

00:05:05.320 women to have our rights, and we're losing our rights by allowing transgenders to compete in 1.00

00:05:11.100 women's sports, especially even young women. So I think it's important that we have just a league 0.90

00:05:16.260 of their own. They can still perform, but given that, just give the opportunity for biological women. 1.00

00:05:22.820 I'm not saying women are weak or something, but they should have the leverage of competing with 1.00

00:05:30.320 other women. When it comes to sports and things that really define the character of a person, 1.00

00:05:37.520 I think that should be limited to whatever the perimeter that belongs to.

00:05:42.640 She's taken on the role of a sports expert now. Again, those decisions are being made by people in

00:05:49.420 the sports community, and they haven't since the need to do that. So why does she?

00:05:57.400 Well, what about some women athletes who have come forward and said, you know,

00:05:59.960 this is really unfair that I'm being forced to compete against biological men who have

00:06:03.900 an advantage against me?

00:06:05.900 Well, I believe that a trans woman has undergone a lot of different hormonal treatments,

00:06:14.740 so they're not totally a man anymore. That's the whole point. They still may have a little more

00:06:22.460 muscle mass or whatever, but I think it seems okay to me. But again, I bow to the people in the sports

00:06:32.820 field who have worked with different medical staff to work out what's proper and who's allowed in.

00:06:38.560 Depends what kind of sport. With only swimming, it's fine. But with the game sport, football or,

00:06:48.900 you know, game sport, I don't think it's right.

00:06:52.360 So biological men can compete against women in sports like swimming, but not in sports like football, 0.96

00:06:56.800 where women might be physically harmed, is what you're saying?

00:07:01.380 It's difficult.

00:07:02.540 If I punch you, or you punch me, you know, the girl punch with less power. If the man punch, 1.00

00:07:10.960 they may die. That's the main reason for protection, you know.

00:07:16.620 Currently in Alberta, four out of five of women's weightlifting records and awards are held by

00:07:24.700 biological men or transgender women. Do you think that's fair? 1.00

00:07:29.620 That's what I said, like, you know, that demotives the character and the perspective of a woman in general.

00:07:37.040 So that's something that we should not know. That's where the fine line comes into play. And we should define the line between the character and the sport.

00:07:52.320 That's very interesting. That would be the muscle mass, I suppose.

00:07:56.380 Maybe they should think about having another category? I don't know. It's something to think about there, I guess.

00:08:07.160 There's some room to think about categories.

00:08:10.880 Yeah, I mean, that's basically what the Premier announced, that they were going to be looking at making more co-ed sporting events

00:08:16.580 so that biological men or trans women could compete against, you know, other women that feel comfortable competing against them,

00:08:22.800 but that there would also be some exclusively sports spaces and tournaments for biological women. 1.00

00:08:29.900 And the Premier is going to be working with sporting organizations on this,

00:08:33.180 so I think it's safe to say she has consulted with sporting experts on this matter.

00:08:37.260 Well, I'd be surprised. She didn't seem to have consulted with too many people, and that's not what I've heard.

00:08:44.260 It's hard for me to have an opinion there.

00:08:47.300 All right, everyone. I hope that you enjoyed that.

00:08:49.200 I think I asked about 100 people to stop, and as soon as they heard the word transgender, 0.96

00:08:53.520 they really weren't interested in giving their opinions.

00:08:55.660 It's obviously still such a controversial issue today,

00:08:58.360 and I think we can all honestly give homage to the Premier for opening it up

00:09:02.080 and diving into what is a really difficult subject matter to discuss and to create policy on.

00:09:07.120 I had some really good interviews today.

00:09:08.800 I know that you guys won't agree with everything everyone said,

00:09:11.560 but I ask you to just be polite in your comments

00:09:13.580 because I appreciate that these people were willing to stop and engage

00:09:16.420 because so few people weren't, and I did continue to talk to some of the people afterwards,

00:09:20.380 especially that lady in the green jacket, 1.00

00:09:22.280 and I feel like there can be common ground that could be found

00:09:25.640 if we were all a little more willing to have these difficult discussions.

00:09:28.340 So thank you guys for tuning in.

00:09:29.900 That's all I have time for today,

00:09:31.000 and don't forget that our regular episode will be out on Saturday as always.

00:09:34.920 Have a great week, and God bless.

00:09:36.020 Have a great week, and God bless.

The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - February 07, 2024

What Albertans really think of Smith's gender policies

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