Western Standard - Alberta government opens new office in Ottawa

00:00:00.240 Today we launched our Alberta Ottawa office that will give us the base of operations we need to

00:00:05.760 advance Alberta's priorities on the ground in our nation's capital. The office will strengthen our

00:00:10.720 relationship with partners on Parliament Hill and in other parts of Canada and will help us to stay

00:00:16.240 informed on emerging decisions that impact Alberta. Our province has so much to offer,

00:00:21.920 our resources and economic growth and our innovative ways of working with Indigenous

00:00:26.320 communities towards reconciliation and shared prosperity. I was very pleased that Grand Chief

00:00:31.920 Willie Littlechild shared a prayer with us this morning to open up our office along with several

00:00:36.240 chiefs from Alberta. This office is going to play a key role in sharing Alberta's story as widely as

00:00:42.240 possible through his work here, through James's work here. Our government is committed to standing

00:00:47.520 up for Alberta within United Canada. The creation of this office in Ottawa is one way we're delivering

00:00:52.560 on that commitment and I am looking forward to seeing the positive effects that will come from

00:00:56.960 this space right here. I would note that as I was in flight, the chair of the Natural Resources Committee,

00:01:04.320 George Chahal, asked me if I would appear before his committee to explain our renewables policy and I

00:01:12.160 would just like to accept that invitation. If they happen to finish their business today, I know they

00:01:16.960 have a packed schedule. I'd be delighted to join them. I do have time in my calendar so my phone is on

00:01:22.880 and if he would like to invite me to that I'd be more than happy to come and this is part of the

00:01:28.640 reason why we're here is to be able to explain Alberta's position and be able to collaborate with

00:01:33.440 our federal partners and with that I'd be happy to take questions. Thank you Premier. We'll go with one

00:01:38.640 question, one follow-up today. Please state your name and outlet at the mic and we'll take as many questions as

00:01:42.640 we can but we're running it tight on time. Good morning Premier. Rafi Budjikanyan, CBC News.

00:01:48.080 Are you willing to meet with Minister Randy Boissoneau over your newly announced transgender policies?

00:01:54.080 Our understanding is he's sent you an invitation but has not heard back. We're in the process of working

00:02:00.080 out a couple of meetings with ministers. I understand that the weather has kept a couple of them away from

00:02:04.800 Ottawa so I believe that my chief of staff is in touch with his office. And just on these policies,

00:02:11.840 why talk about them now? Who was asking for these in Alberta? Well I can tell you any time there has been

00:02:19.760 a change in an approach is often spurred on because of a particular case. For instance when

00:02:26.400 the Tavistock Centre was closed in the United Kingdom it was because of a young individual named Kira Bell

00:02:34.800 who felt at the age of 16 that they were pressured into making a decision earlier than they might have

00:02:42.000 otherwise. And in our province we have a transgender woman named Lois Cardinal who after two years started 0.59

00:02:51.760 her transition at age 19 and received bottom surgery two years later. And this is her word, she says,

00:02:59.680 as I lived with shame and regret for 14 years I came to realize it wasn't just myself to blame.

00:03:05.040 It was the psychiatrists in Edmonton, the doctors in Montreal. They kept persuading me despite my

00:03:11.360 serious misgivings. I had to relearn my place as a native and where I belonged in my culture.

00:03:16.880 So she approached the government to seek medical assistance in dying because of the severe complications

00:03:24.800 that she had after her bottom surgery. So these are the kinds of conversations I've been having

00:03:30.080 for many years about how we can provide better post-operative and surgical care for those who

00:03:36.720 are transgender. Right now we send transgender patients to Quebec for their treatment and then

00:03:44.080 there is a gap in being able to provide transgender follow-up care. So that's one of the reasons why as part 1.00

00:03:50.080 of this policy we'll be recruiting someone to be able to do these surgeries in Alberta and also be

00:03:55.840 able to provide a roster of doctors who can provide the lifelong post-operative surgical as well as

00:04:02.640 hormonal care to transgender adults. But in addition to that we also have been, when I look at this case

00:04:11.440 and see that somebody at age 19 had very serious reservations about the kind of counseling and care they

00:04:18.560 received, I have to make sure that we're doing our due diligence in all age groups. So we are going to be

00:04:27.680 putting forward policy in the fall to make sure that we create a few guidelines so that we can do a more

00:04:34.720 rigorous process. As I mentioned we'll be supporting transgender adults in their journey. We'll be supporting families

00:04:40.800 so that they can have the journey with their loved one as well. And in addition, we're going to just to make sure that

00:04:46.080 there's a bit more rigor in our school system as we talk about these kinds of really difficult topics.

00:04:52.320 So those are part of the reasons. A lot of it was motivated from individuals I've spoken with in the

00:04:57.920 transgender community about some of the holes that we have and some of the concerns that they've raised.

00:05:03.040 So we're hoping to be able to address that.

00:05:05.200 I was wondering if you had any discussion with Pierre Poiliev about these transgender policies and

00:05:16.640 if he gave you any kind of support?

00:05:19.120 No, I've not had a conversation with them.

00:05:21.280 And MP Wesson, Minister Wesson said this morning maybe your policy will inspire other

00:05:30.000 premiers, other conservative premiers. Did you have any discussion with them? And do you know if

00:05:34.800 any one of them want to maybe put their policies forward?

00:05:41.600 No, I've not had any discussions with other premiers.

00:05:46.960 Hi, I'm Mylène from La Presse, Mylène Crète. I was wondering why did you decide not to go with the

00:05:53.920 transgender policy right away? In Quebec, for instance, they decided to have a committee to

00:05:58.640 study the whole thing first.

00:05:59.840 Well, I think we have announced our intention on a number of policy items and we're going to be

00:06:05.680 putting the architecture and the legislation in place in the fall. So we've got lots of time

00:06:11.200 for consultation and we'll be able to get that feedback. But there are things about the process

00:06:16.160 that I do want to investigate, just to make sure that there is that level of rigour that

00:06:20.800 has been recommended. You are supposed to have a long period of time of counselling and living in

00:06:27.120 the opposite gender or the gender of choice. And just from some of the stories I've heard,

00:06:36.640 I just need to make sure that that process is being followed. So there'll be a bunch of

00:06:39.920 consultation in the next number of months.

Western Standard - February 05, 2024

Alberta government opens new office in Ottawa

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