Western Standard - February 23, 2024


Trudeau says Poilievre waging culture war with gender ideology


Episode Stats

Length

4 minutes

Words per Minute

136.42575

Word Count

599

Sentence Count

22


Summary

Learn English with the Prime Minister of Alberta, Rachel Notley. In this episode, Rachel takes on the controversial issue of protecting the rights of trans kids in Canada, and challenges her government to do more to do so.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Pierre Polyev specifically said that children born biologically male should be banned from female washrooms, changing rooms, sports.
00:00:09.360 Do you think your government has done enough to protect trans rights?
00:00:16.900 I think Mr. Polyev and politicians like him are choosing to attack some of the most vulnerable people in our society
00:00:27.540 as a way of deflecting from the fact that they're very good at creating division and anger
00:00:36.780 and creating political toxicity and driving wedge issues,
00:00:40.800 but so far they have been terrible at putting forward any concrete solutions for the big problems
00:00:48.700 that people, that all Canadians are facing in their daily lives.
00:00:52.540 They're quick with slogans and buzzwords and culture wars,
00:00:59.500 but they're not doing the work of actually rolling up their sleeves and delivering.
00:01:07.120 330 housing units here delivered next year, this summer,
00:01:14.180 including over 60% of them affordable.
00:01:18.540 billions of dollars in investment in childcare
00:01:23.500 that provinces like Alberta are not delivering properly to Albertan families
00:01:30.380 because of ideology.
00:01:34.440 We're stepping up on the fight against climate change to draw in global investment.
00:01:39.200 Here in Alberta, for years, I've been pointing out
00:01:43.160 that Alberta is the number one place in the country for green investments,
00:01:49.440 for investments into renewables, for innovation in the future
00:01:53.660 of how we're going to power our country and our world in a net-zero economy.
00:01:58.160 And what does the Alberta government do?
00:02:01.100 Oh, it puts a pause on renewables.
00:02:03.320 I was talking to the Alberta Business Council just last fall
00:02:06.160 who were up in arms about it, rightly,
00:02:09.400 because what kind of signal does that send to investors?
00:02:13.520 What kind of signal does that send to Albertans who know
00:02:16.140 that providing energy in a net-zero world
00:02:19.940 will provide incredible jobs for Albertans?
00:02:24.960 If you work in construction, if you work in the oil sector,
00:02:29.180 you can also work in the hydrogen sector.
00:02:31.520 You can work in the nuclear sector.
00:02:33.800 You can work in carbon capture, utilization, and storage.
00:02:37.520 These are good, skilled jobs that Albertans are already doing
00:02:41.040 that they will be able to do
00:02:42.220 as long as we make sure the capital is flowing in those areas.
00:02:47.240 But these are all real issues with real solutions
00:02:50.660 that we're working on,
00:02:52.480 and people like Pierre Polyev would rather pick a fight with trans kids.
00:02:58.600 That's not leadership.
00:02:59.780 And that's not a game I'm going to play with them.
00:03:03.100 Yes, we're going to make sure we're doing everything we can
00:03:05.440 to protect vulnerable people in this country,
00:03:07.160 because that's what Canadians expect.
00:03:09.560 But I'm not going to get dragged into culture wars about this
00:03:13.960 when the fact is Canadians expect their governments
00:03:18.040 to roll up their sleeves and deliver for them,
00:03:20.580 and that's what we're doing.
00:03:21.500 I'll ask it again, sir.
00:03:24.060 What can or what is your government doing
00:03:26.380 to protect the rights of trans kids now and in the future?
00:03:28.780 I was sitting down with a number of doctors
00:03:32.500 from the Canadian Medical Association.
00:03:34.820 I think one of the things we should all do in difficult issues
00:03:40.100 is rely on experts, rely on science, on researchers,
00:03:45.380 on people who actually work with vulnerable kids,
00:03:49.620 people who sit down with families
00:03:51.660 to talk through extremely difficult decisions
00:03:54.700 and rely on them to depoliticize issues
00:03:59.300 and look at what is in the best interest of Canadians,
00:04:02.340 of communities, of individuals.
00:04:04.780 Relying on our service and health professionals
00:04:11.000 to make decisions about how to best protect people
00:04:14.200 is, I think, something that this government will always stand for
00:04:18.320 and highlight that more governments should be doing
00:04:21.420 rather than picking fights with vulnerable people.