In this episode of Off The Record, Andrew Lawton, Harrison Faulkner, and Candice Malan discuss the controversial announcement by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith regarding gender reassignment surgery for minors in the province of Alberta, and how she handled the backlash.
00:00:00.000No, I don't know. I mean, even, like, the most left-wing comedians are now doing, like, right-wing things because they've just been, like, forced to the fringes.
00:00:07.840Yeah, no, I think the right is having, like, a cultural moment right now. It's, like, it's a counterculture. It's cool. Like, being manly is now, like, considered being conservative, which I think is good for the movement.
00:00:19.940I think comedy is the only industry that's kind of moving in this direction, though, that's moving in the direction away from political correctness, the radical far left. Like, if you're on that side, you've missed the boat, and you're just not on the side of the majority anymore.
00:00:37.280Yeah, there's a correction happening for sure. All right, guys, let's get this started.
00:00:40.440Everyone, welcome to the podcast. We're starting a new program here at True North. It's called Off the Record. We thought we would bring it to you every Friday, and the concept of the show is that we just talk about the news, we talk about the stories, and, you know, you get our full honest opinions and perceptions on our individual shows.
00:01:03.320So I'm joined by Andrew Lawton, who hosts The Andrew Lawton Show, Harrison Faulkner, host of Race Show, and I host my own show, Candace Malcolm Show.
00:01:09.900And you're going to hear our opinions and our real thoughts on issues during those shows.
00:01:13.720But we thought it'd be fun to get together and just talk about what happened in the week that was, and give you sort of a more relaxed and honest interpretation of the events that were.
00:01:25.320So pleased to be here with you, Andrews, enjoying a nice glass of, what is that?
00:01:31.900You said relaxed and honest. It's a Cabernet Sauvignon.
00:01:35.940Good for you, man. So yeah, so let's get to it, guys. I want to start by talking about what I think is the biggest story of the week, maybe the biggest story of the year so far, which is the Alberta Premier, Danielle Smith, unveiling a new, really a new chapter when it comes to parental rights in Canada.
00:01:55.060I think that this is long overdue. This is something that is completely in line with what almost every parent I know and talk to believes.
00:02:03.660And so, of course, you know, the liberal powers and liberal establishment is losing their mind. It cannot happen.
00:02:09.520So here we have Alberta Premier. I'll just play a bit of what Danielle Smith had to say when she was announcing that reassignment, gender reassignment surgeries, castrations, basically, will not be permitted on children in the province of Alberta.
00:02:24.840After much discussion, the government caucus and I have therefore decided to implement the following policies and guidelines as it relates to transgender minors and athletes, including additional supports to assist transgender adults to secure the health care they need and the counselling support for youth identifying as transgender to ensure they can successfully work their way through their complex feelings and emotions as they grow to adulthood.
00:02:48.440First, on the issue of gender reassignment treatments for minors, for minors age 17 and under, top and bottom gender reassignment surgeries will not be permitted for children age 15 and under, puberty blockers and hormone therapies for the purpose of gender reassignment or affirmation will also not be permitted, with the exception of those who've already commenced their treatment at this time.
00:03:12.860So, Andrew, I'll go to you. So, Andrew, I'll go to you. What was your initial thoughts on this and how do you think the Premier handled it?
00:03:19.700So, from a political comms perspective, she did phenomenally well because she tried to preemptively deal with all of the standard criticisms that she knew she was going to face.
00:03:31.160I mean, the first part of the video, and we had a little bit of it there, the whole thing is seven minutes long, she's talking about how much she loves transgender people and supports them and she's always talked to them and advocated for them and all of that.
00:03:41.620And then when she gets to the policies, I mean, it sounds like, I mean, she doesn't have children, but it sounds like she is being a mother in that capacity.
00:03:50.400I mean, it sounds like she's being really caring and compassionate, but saying we need to draw a firm line on what we do on this issue.
00:03:56.660And I think she went far beyond how the players that have done similar policies, she went far beyond them in terms of how she presented this.
00:04:09.460And I find it interesting, though, and we'll get to a bit of the criticism of it, none of that matters because the people that dislike the policy don't care about that compassion.
00:04:20.900They don't care how nice it sounds. They don't care about that.
00:04:23.820You know, it was as though she was just going out into the street and executing trans people.
00:04:27.580That's basically the reaction that she was getting on this.
00:04:32.000Right. Which is which is why I think in some ways conservatives try too hard to appeal to the left and the left is never going to agree with you.
00:04:39.360Like the left is going to put a target on your back and call you a bigot pretty much no matter what you do.
00:04:43.760And so in this in this instance, you know, this is this is solid policy.
00:04:48.340This is long overdue. Again, I think this is in line with what almost every parent that I talk to that I know that I interact with at my kids schools.
00:04:55.620This is what people believe. This is people are like paranoid and terrified of the gender ideological like steamrolling is happening in schools.
00:05:04.200And there's always stories and always whispering like parents do not like this stuff. Right.
00:05:07.400And that the policy is sound. It's I loved how Danielle Smith went out to the media afterwards and just took all their questions.
00:05:15.260And she's feeling like the craziest, most deranged reactions.
00:05:19.220And she's like, you know, this is in line with what's happening in Denmark, what's happening in Norway, what's happening in all these, you know, progressive, liberal Scandinavian countries.
00:05:27.720And it's true. It's like it's like, no, no, you are the outlier progressive left in Canada.
00:05:32.160You are the ones that are absolutely out of step with the rest of the world and public opinion.
00:05:39.460And if anything, I think that Danielle conceded too much on the ideological ground by to your point, Andrew, talking so much about how we love transgender people and being transgender is just a OK and it's great.
00:05:52.540It's like, well, that's not exactly true. And and I don't think that most Canadians agree with that.
00:05:57.980I don't know. What do you think, Harrison?
00:05:59.100Well, when I heard the original video, I kind of had the same reaction to Andrew, which was, wow, this was actually very well done.
00:06:07.560This was professional and it was smart politically to try and show that compassion.
00:06:12.580I didn't think that the reaction from the left was going to be as deranged as it was.
00:06:16.600I probably should have, but I didn't actually think they were going to be this way.
00:06:20.000It's unbelievable that they're talking about how this is horrific and this is this is the worst possible thing to happen when all that actually was really announced was men can't compete against women in high school sports.
00:06:32.880We're going to stop that from happening.
00:06:34.240And people who are and kids who are aged 17 and under can't mutilate their own bodies.
00:06:39.160It's it's unbelievable that the reaction to a decision like that is frightening, horrifying, the worst possible thing ever.
00:06:48.920I can't believe it because you don't see people saying that 17 year olds should be should be allowed to drink and get behind, you know, drive on their own.
00:06:57.400But this is the exact same thing, but it's a it's a life altering permanent decision.
00:07:01.620So why why is this why is this so controversial?
00:07:05.760It's actually unbelievable that the federal government and everybody else in the left is reacting this way.
00:07:24.520This is our NATO moment as an LGBTQ community, an attack on one of our communities is an attack on us all.
00:07:31.140And I need allies and champions to stand up.
00:07:34.780We already have the Social Workers Association of Alberta, the Alberta Teachers Association, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and a gal who's already mentioned that they will start a court challenge on board.
00:07:45.320There will be a rally at the legislature in Edmonton on Sunday.
00:07:49.040I will be there. And if there's ever been a time in this century for people to stand up for the kind of Canada and the kind of Alberta we want.
00:07:58.360I just love that. You know, it's a you know, someone steamrolls into Belgium or Poland or Greece and we invoke NATO collective defense.
00:08:09.460That's the same as a policy supporting parental rights.
00:08:12.840Our NATO moment. We should use that, by the way, whenever like, you know, Bill C-18 comes out.
00:08:18.140It's like this is our NATO moment as independent media.
00:08:20.440I mean, it's so silly to think. And he emphasizes that again, right?
00:08:25.520Like this is like our once in a generation moment to fight against the right or whatever.
00:08:31.660And it's like, really, liberals, this is the issue?
00:08:34.360Like, you think you're going to run the next election on this issue?
00:08:37.800Like, like it's interesting because there are some other criticism.
00:08:41.100We have a clip we'll play in a second from another Trudeau minister where she's talking about how she doesn't think that Danielle Smith did enough consultations.
00:08:46.440And she didn't talk to enough trans kids, I guess, to introduce this policy.
00:08:52.500It's like, you know, here at True North and through our journals, we talked to a lot of Canadians.
00:09:18.760And this is one of those issues where I just think that they they don't they're not in line with public opinion.
00:09:24.380That most parents, even maybe they won't say it aloud to a pollster or someone calling up.
00:09:28.600I think deep down when it comes to like your children and the fact that they go to school and someone might be telling them that they're born into the wrong body, that there's something wrong with their body and that they have to start taking like chemicals and life altering drugs that will prevent them from being able to like have a normal sex life or potentially have children in the future.
00:09:49.700Like you're telling little kids that I mean, it's just it's just so preposterous.
00:10:04.120And so here's here's what she had to say.
00:10:06.760Randy, Randy and I spent last night and into this morning consoling kids, talking to advocates and then saying we will make sure and go back to our cabinet colleagues that everything is on the table.
00:10:27.440Well, anything that we can do, but the consultation with community and this will be happening across the country.
00:10:35.940I mean, it has been happening, but I'm going to be heading on the road and bringing forward, you know, the opinions and the life experiences of those this impacts.
00:10:46.800So what I wouldn't do is put out a statement without proper consultation and othering people before, you know, I want to say blowing up people's lives.
00:11:00.200Othering people and blowing up people's lives.
00:11:03.660Well, I find it kind of strange that the minister, both of those ministers were talking late at night on the phone with trans kids and consoling them over the decision.
00:11:12.780It is a weird thing to be bragging about, but yeah, you know, why don't they can you just leave the kids alone, please, and let them make their own decisions when they're adults.
00:11:22.220I want to bring this point up, though, as well, because this has been getting lost in all the leftist reaction.
00:11:27.380Danielle Smith's announcement, what people are not talking about is the fact that she's actually making life for transgender people in Alberta who are adults easier.
00:11:35.680She's trying to actually get a doctor who specializes in surgeries and transgender aftercare into Alberta.
00:11:42.120So she's actually trying to make their lives easier while protecting children, allowing them to make their own decisions and not ruin their lives.
00:11:49.900I don't know why Marcy Ian was on the verge of tears over the fact that children will no longer be able to mutilate themselves without their parents' consent.
00:11:59.420It's a very strange thing to fight on.
00:12:01.420And I guess if this is the hill they're going to die on, go for it.
00:12:04.640I don't think you're going to win with the immigrant vote, and I don't think you're going to win with the majority vote either.
00:12:08.140Well, let me just let me bring in Chanel Pfaff, who's a former teacher.
00:12:13.300She's a prominent commentator because I agree with what she has to say here.
00:12:17.160She says, I'll preface this by saying that I like Danielle Smith and I support her efforts to address this.
00:12:21.440Unfortunately, though, she is currently seeking to find a middle ground with a cult.
00:12:24.840She's playing their game and using their language.
00:12:35.760I don't know how we are to fight this ideology when even our most based politicians refuse to discuss the issue truthfully without ideologically written language.
00:12:46.000I think, Andrew, you and I are going to disagree a little bit on this.
00:12:48.760But part of the announcement was bringing in all these resources to accommodate and facilitate more gender reassignment surgery for adults, as Harrison just mentioned.
00:12:57.820And to me, I mean, sure, I guess it's better that they don't have to travel all the way to Quebec in order to get these services.
00:13:04.360But why are we as a society facilitating this?
00:13:07.360Presumably, this is government funded as well.
00:13:09.180It's like, really, is this where we are in a society where we are saying, you know what, as long as you're an adult, you can pretend to be a woman.
00:13:50.700I have seen people that have had more plastic surgery than I think the Lego factory has managed to do when you see them walking around with lips that are the size of hot air balloons and, you know, other organs that have been inflated.
00:14:05.200Well, not organs, but, you know, anyway, it's off the record.
00:14:08.120So I've seen all of that, and, you know, I don't want the state saying you can't do that because it's not in your best interest.
00:14:15.320So there is a libertarian argument for it, which is why I actually think Danielle Smith made the politically wise decision here, which is to focus on children, focus on the area where there is a protective role for the state.
00:14:28.040And even the most civil liberties-minded people and individual freedom-minded people tend to agree that, that you protect the vulnerable.
00:14:34.800So, yeah, should the government be bending over backwards to go out of its way to bring all of these resources in?
00:14:43.680And I'd be interested in seeing, to Chanel Fall's point, was Danielle Smith doing that because she believes in that and she believes that's important?
00:14:51.120Or was she doing it because she wanted that as a shield so that when people criticized her for being transphobic for the kids' stuff, she could say, well, no, we're actually doing all of this.
00:15:00.480If she believes it, look, that's her government's position, fine.
00:15:04.840If she's just doing it because she's trying to make this concession, then I have a significant problem with that.
00:15:11.560But ultimately, what's going to happen here is we're going to see jurisdictions shopping anyway.
00:15:17.580And I think the problem that we were already going to see in Canada is that people from the United States were going to be coming up north because you had provinces that are far more permissive with this.
00:15:27.020And I think that when provinces start to take this seriously, it's actually a good thing, not just for Canadians, but arguably for some Americans as well.
00:15:35.060Well, so according to your logic, then, this next story shouldn't bother you at all.
00:15:43.800David Menzies, our friend over at The Rebel, broke this story, this incredible, like, real-life Lady Ballers, the Daily Wire movie that just came out.
00:15:53.320He went down to Seneca College, which is, you know, adults over the age of 18, right, Andrew?
00:15:58.880And here we have five men playing on a women's volleyball team.
00:16:10.600Let's play David Menzies' clip here because it's really, really something.
00:16:15.960David Menzies for Rebel News here at Centennial College in Toronto.
00:16:20.960And we have the latest example of trans-sanity to the power of five, quite literally.
00:16:28.700We were tipped off that this female volleyball game that we witnessed earlier featured not one, not two, not three, not four, but five men pretending to be females.
00:17:39.880I think it was like Facebook where when you choose your gender, you've got like, you know, 97 options.
00:17:44.140So, you know, if someone wants to start a league that will take the pangender, the agender, the transgender, the non-gender, the male, the female, all of that, fine.
00:17:52.660So I think that is where my libertarianism is there.
00:17:56.800It is not the ability to inject yourself into spaces that are supposed to be single sex.
00:18:02.320And that's where I don't think there's any disagreement from anyone on this call.
00:18:07.920Well, I mean, to me, it just makes my blood boil.
00:18:09.920That moment where you see all of the female athletes who, like, don't forget the sacrifice, the commitment, the dedication it takes to become an athlete at that level.
00:18:19.020Like, it's not, you know, we're not talking about a beer league here.
00:18:34.340And then interestingly, the longer clip, which we didn't play, you can see that the people around the team get, like, really angry and really defensive.
00:18:42.380And they start yelling at Menzies and calling them a transphobe and saying F off and talking about vaginas.
00:18:47.220Like, it gets really deranged and weird.
00:18:50.580But it's weird to see how people react.
00:18:53.640It's like, they don't stop and think, like, what is right here?
00:20:21.500Gaming or Females in Gaming PSA, and it was this video of, like, all of these younger girls, young women that were talking about being in the gaming world.
00:20:35.500And there was probably in the video only one female.
00:20:39.060That was, like – so you had, like, you know, this montage of nine people talking.
00:20:42.280And, like, it might have been all were male, but there was one that I think was the most compelling example.
00:20:48.060And that's, again, that's going to be the future of sports.
00:20:51.020And you and Candace have, like, compared this to that Daily Wire movie that either just – has it come out yet?
00:21:05.240So, I mean, Lady Ballers is – I mean, it's a pretty cheesy, like, low-budget movie or whatever, independent movie.
00:21:11.080But the concept is, like, a bunch of washed-up high school basketball players decide to, like, reunite for their glory days.
00:21:19.060And they're obviously, like, too old and out of shape to play for, like, a competition against men.
00:21:25.240So they, like, you know, realize that they can game the system and they go play against women and they dominate them.
00:21:30.760And it's satire, but it happens, right?
00:21:33.760It's, like, this is literally what we're watching.
00:21:35.700And so when you go back and you watch Lady Ballers, you realize that it's not this, like, absurd scenario that they've just, like, created to mock the left.
00:21:43.820It's, like, this is literally happening every day, especially in countries like Canada where everybody is just so polite.
00:21:51.380And, you know, they want to be seen as progressive.
00:21:53.600They want to be seen as good little liberals.
00:21:55.080And so they don't want to rock the boat.
00:21:56.840They don't want to say anything, even though, like, deep down I think you have to realize, especially if you have a daughter or if you're a woman.
00:22:02.540I mean, look, I told a story before, but I grew up playing hockey when I was younger.
00:22:06.800I played with the boys because I was pretty good.
00:22:08.820And it got to a certain point where, biologically, I was just different and I couldn't fight against my biology as much as I tried.
00:22:15.660And it was just not really safe for me to play with the boys anymore.
00:22:20.980And at first I didn't like it because it wasn't challenging enough.
00:22:23.300But over time it's, like, this is a space where I can excel and I can get opportunities and I can play and this is my sport.
00:22:29.320And, you know, the idea that they would start inserting boys into that scenario, it totally erases the whole idea of having women's sports.
00:22:40.260But I commend the guys over at The Daily Wire for having the courage to point this stuff out and really for playing an active role in the culture, right?
00:22:48.320Like, we're journalists, we're nerds, we sit on the sideline and we watch it all unfold and we comment on it.
00:22:53.160Whereas The Daily Wire, they're actually, like, in the culture now and they're, like, fighting a ground war.
00:22:59.480So I know you guys are both going to cringe at this next clip.
00:23:04.060We live in a world where Ben Shapiro, you know, the fast-talking, nerdy Jewish guy that hosts the most popular podcast, he is now America's number one rapper.
00:23:14.940I think he might be the number one rapper in the entire world with his song, Facts.
00:23:21.380He's collaborating, by the way, with a Canadian rapper who's actually a rapper, this guy, Tom McDonald, who's quite good and quite popular.
00:23:28.680He has a large following in the independent world.
00:24:20.160I think that the conservatives, conservatism is having a cultural moment right now where people are going and downloading this song, not necessarily because they like it or because they think Ben Shapiro is a talented rapper, which he isn't.
00:24:32.740But because it's like fighting against the establishment.
00:24:36.020It's like a big middle finger to the music industry, to the powers that be that we know manipulate everything.
00:24:42.320We know that they have their hands on the scale.
00:24:43.840We know that the last thing that they want is for a conservative pundit to become the top, especially someone who's been so critical of rap over the years.
00:24:52.240And I think there's quotes of him saying that rap isn't real music and all that stuff.
00:24:56.680So the fact that it's almost like a game-stop moment.
00:25:00.000It's like, let's take down the big guys.
00:26:12.340Yeah, 0.75 just to understand what he's saying.
00:26:15.000But the thing I like about it is that other like rappers, like legitimate rappers are actually giving props to Ben and saying that, you know, we have Nicki Minaj saying, you know, go listen to it and congratulating him for his success.
00:26:29.780And, you know, of course, I think Ben knows that his music is kind of cringy, but that's the point of it, right?
00:26:36.480And I think that he's making like multiple points at the same time by actually saying like, anyone can do this.