Bathroom bans, pronouns, gender-affirming care among policies to be debated by Alberta UCP

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith looks to the gallery as the 2024 budget is delivered in Edmonton, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson)

Alberta's United Conservative Party members will soon debate 35 policy resolutions that include banning transgender people from women's washrooms, prohibiting non-binary gender identifiers on government documents, and ensuring trans medical treatments are not publicly funded.

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The party's annual general meeting begins Nov. 1 in Red Deer, where Premier Danielle Smith's leadership will also be up for review.

It's being billed by the party as the largest political convention in Canadian history, with at least 5,428 UCP members registered to attend.

Party policies are non-binding on the government, and member approval doesn't guarantee the ideas will become law.

Kristopher Wells, Canada Research Chair for the public understanding of sexual and gender minority youth at MacEwan University, said Smith needs to condemn the resolutions as discriminatory, unconstitutional and dangerous.

"When you don't denounce it, you enable it," said Wells in an interview Friday.

"If passed, they would be some of the most extreme anti-trans and anti-2SLGBTQ policies, not only in Canada, but in the world."

Smith said in a brief statement in her role as party leader that UCP members have voted on policy resolutions that matter to them, including "prohibiting any consumer carbon tax, protecting children, strengthening landowner rights and protecting Alberta’s jurisdictional authority."

"As leader, I respect the grassroots party process and look forward to the debate in November," she said.

Wells was recently appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He said the party resolutions, if they become policy, would be in direct violation of the Alberta Human Rights Act.

Wells said there are already long wait-lists and limited funding for transgender health care in Alberta, and changing the law governing birth certificates, driver's licences and health-care cards would be unconstitutional.

"These policies are designed to attack the very existence of trans people in Alberta," said Wells.

"This is the kind of hate and rhetoric that leads to young people taking their own lives."

In its policy resolution targeting washrooms, change rooms, shelters and dormitories, the Calgary-Lougheed constituency association argues that "men" being allowed in those spaces presents a danger to women and girls.

"Alternative arrangements can be created for the small population who do not conform to their sex at conception without abolishing the single-sex spaces preferred by the vast majority of the population," it reads.

A policy resolution from the Leduc-Beaumont constituency says transgender medical treatments are "in the realm of cosmetic surgery and costs should not be placed on all taxpayers."

A resolution from Cardston-Siksika says the third option for sex on official documents should be mothballed to "maintain clarity and reliability."

Since taking the helm of the party, Smith has made some party policies government priorities and rejected others.

A resolution passed in 2023 to keep transgender people out of correctional facilities for women has not been adopted by Smith's government.

However, new rules requiring schools to get consent from parents before students can change their names or pronouns are expected to be introduced after lawmakers reconvene later this month.

Smith has also promised to restrict transgender youth access to gender-affirming health care, forbid transgender participation in competitive female sports, and require parental consent or notification for classroom instruction on sex or gender.

The premier has said the health policies are meant to protect children from life-altering decisions.

Smith has said she's aiming to eliminate "unfair advantages" in sports, and that "nearly all parents" will still love and care for their children no matter what choice they make.

Other policies up for debate at the November UCP meeting include abandoning the province's net-zero emissions targets, banning union political donations, working to increase the number of physicians trained in Alberta, and reviewing the province's gas and electricity pricing system to reduce costs.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024