Alberta Premier Danielle Smith defended her province’s opposition to federal involvement in provincial matters to a packed room of conservatives Friday morning.
“Federal politicians, and the Prime Minister in particular, should do his job and stop trying to do my job,” Smith said in an interview with journalist Andrew Lawton, after speaking before an enthusiastic crowd at the Canada Strong and Free Networking conference.
Alberta welcomes federal funding but does not need Ottawa’s advice on programs such as dental care, pharmacare or school lunches, she told the crowd. The Alberta government can decide how to spend federal funding.
The federal government has a lot it should be doing, including increasing defence spending and building more roads, ports and pipelines, she said. The Prime Minister has lots to do. “It’s not a boring job,” she said to the cheering crowd.
The approach Alberta wants to take is similar to what already happens between Quebec and the federal government, she said. Quebec has a law that requires provincial approval for funding agreements between the federal government and Quebec municipalities.
Alberta wants the same type of arrangement. “We’re going to be pretty vocal about it,” said Smith.
Smith’s comments came days after she introduced the Provincial Priorities Act. The bill, which has not become law, would require provincial entities — including municipalities, health authorities, school boards and post-secondary institutions — to get provincial approval before entering into agreements with the federal government.
At a press conference, Smith told reporters that one of the goals of this legislation is to force the federal government to work with the province on priorities such as housing and infrastructure. She also said she would not be surprised if more provinces considered similar legislation.
Smith told reporters that, if passed, this law would continue even if the Conservatives win the next federal election. “The policy that we have applies no matter who is in the Prime Minister’s chair,” she said. “I believe that this is just the way cooperative federalism should work, regardless of who is in the chair.”
Smith also praised Alberta’s recent investments in mental health and addiction treatment. Earlier this week, the Alberta government introduced legislation to create the Canadian Centre for Recovery Excellence, a Crown corporation focused on addiction recovery. The government plans to open Recovery Alberta, a new mental health and addiction treatment organization, this year.
Focusing on addiction and mental health recovery may not be a typical Conservative policy, Smith told conference attendees. But Conservative governments need to address homelessness and drug addiction.
“Don’t be afraid to tackle these tough issues,” she urged the crowd. “This is absolutely at the heart of what it is that we need to do.”
Protect children
Much of Premier Smith’s talk focused on policy issues more commonly discussed by conservatives recently: the carbon tax and policies around gender identity.
Smith reiterated her support for using technology, such as carbon capture, instead of a carbon tax. “I have no problem with a transition away from emissions,” she said. But reducing emissions does not mean moving away from producing oil and gas, she said. Oil and gas products are in items people use every day, from food storage to roads.
Smith again outlined her plans to introduce policies that would prohibit youth 15 and younger from starting hormone replacement therapies for the purposes of changing their gender. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds could start these hormone replacement therapies only if a doctor, psychologist and a parent approved the treatment.
“I believe we have to protect children from making decisions that they are too young to make and could prevent them from having children of their own,” she told the crowd. She praised the recent study from the U.K. that recommended against prescribing hormone treatments for older teenagers.
Under the policies, which have not yet been introduced, parents would need to give permission for youth 15 and younger to change their names or pronouns at school and the school would have to notify parents if their 16- and 17-year-olds were using different names or pronouns.
The “vast, vast majority of parents love and support their children unconditionally,” Smith told the crowd who cheered in support of the policies. “I do not subscribe to the notion that parents do not have rights, that parents have ill intent or that parents cannot be trusted.”
Smith told the crowd and reporters at a press conference that she is not planning to introduce policies about single-gender spaces that would, for example, prohibit transgender women from being in the same prisons as women. She told the crowd she has not seen anything that would require that.
But she does expect the policies relating to children to pass into law with great public support, she told the crowd.
Smith did not answer reporters’ questions about when the policies would be introduced.
Far-right
Parental rights has been a focus at the conference. A Thursday morning panel discussed the topic. Later on Thursday, Andrew Layton interviewed New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs about his province’s policies that require non-binary or transgender students under the age of 16 to have parental consent before they go by a different name at school.
Higgs criticized the idea that informing parents if their child is using different pronouns or a name at school is far-right. “Isn’t it amazing that in today’s world ‘far-right’ is having parents involved with their kids?” he told the crowd.
Youth with gender dysphoria need proper treatment with doctors, he said. “In some cases it is very real,” he said. “In other cases, it’s a process of kids growing up.”
He did not imagine that having parents involved in these decisions with their children would be controversial, he said.
“It seems like such a basic and fundamental principle that we all cherish.”
The Canada Strong and Free Conference was founded in 2005. It was called the Manning Foundation Centre for Building Democracy, after founder Preston Manning, until 2020. This year’s conference has boasted a record attendance of more than 1,000.
Speakers throughout the conference, including former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, have spoken optimistically of the Conservatives winning the next federal election.
Smith opened her remarks Friday by saying that “hope and renewal are in the air.”
The conference ends Saturday.
