Canadian conservatives divided over trans policy

People protest Alberta premier Danielle Smith’s proposed youth transgender policies in Toronto on 6 February 2024. Photograph: Canadian Press/Rex/Shutterstock

At the end of January, Danielle Smith, the premier of Alberta, announced a list of policy changes targeting transgender youth in the Canadian province, including a ban on hormonal treatment, puberty blockers and gender-confirmation surgery for children 15 years old and younger. The move marked the most restrictive rules on gender confirmation in the country.

A few days later, Doug Ford – the Conservative premier of Ontario, and one of the most influential politicians in Canada – was asked whether his government intended to follow Smith’s policies. “No,” he told reporters. “We have a lot here, and we’re leaving everything alone.”

The two conservative leaders’ contrasting views on care for transgender youth highlight the limits of a culture war apparently imported to Canada from the United States. The issue, which affects only a slim minority of youth across the country, has nonetheless sharply divided political leaders within the conservative movement, with some believing it is a losing political issue that puts them on the wrong side of public opinion.

In a video posted to social media on 31 January, Smith announced a string of what she described as policy changes. She said top and bottom gender-confirmation surgeries would be banned for minors under age 17, although bottom surgery is already limited to adults. While top surgery is permitted in Alberta, reporting also suggests only eight youth received surgery for gender confirmation last year.

Under the new proposal, hormone therapy will only be available to teens aged 16 and older, with permission from their parents, a physician and a psychologist, instead of at the onset of puberty. Parents will need to give permission before students 15 and under can use a name or pronoun at school other than the one given at birth, Smith said. Students will need to opt in to classes dealing with sexuality and gender, reversing previous policy under which parents could have their children opt out of sexual education classes. Transgender women would be banned from women’s sports.

In the days after the announcement, Smith told the media the changes were motivated by a “concern of what will happen”, rather than any current issues facing her government.

Smith’s announcement prompted widespread criticism, both from the Alberta Medical Association, which called on the premier to “reconsider” the proposed policies and to work with “experienced professionals” and the Canadian Paediatric Society, which warned that the proposals “will lead to significant negative health outcomes, including increased risk of suicide and self-harm”.

“It has to be the most hateful piece of legislation that we’ve seen in the LGBTQ community,” said Jen Gilbert, a professor at the University of Toronto. “They seem to want to take a very small number of young people and turn them into political pawns. And not only does it hurt those young people, it sends a signal to all queer and trans kids that their identities are up for debate.”

Gilbert, who specializes in sex education, said Smith’s proposed changes mirror the legislative activism of conservatives in the United States and the burgeoning “parental rights movement”.

“These activists are networked with each other and they’re sharing techniques, strategies about how to affect policy. This particular set of restrictions is very similar to what we’ve seen proposed in the US,” said Gilbert. “And these policies that claim to be for the rights of parents clearly aren’t: what about LGBTQ parents and the parents of queer and trans kids?”

Months before Alberta waded into the issue, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan – both led by conservative premiers – announced changes to pronoun policies in schools, the latter using the notwithstanding clause of Canada’s constitution to block any legal challenges.

But as a growing list of conservative politicians court a fixation on gender issues, Doug Ford has bucked the trend.

“Of course, we don’t know where he’s going to be six months from now. He’s the king of the flip-flop,” said Susan Gapka, a Toronto-based community organiser and transgender rights activist. “But he also cares a lot about public opinion. And so his recent stance – that he’s not going to get involved in this – has given me a bit of hope. And hope is something we desperately need right now.”

Ford has resisted neat political categorization amid the deep partisanship that has come to define modern Canadian politics.

“He’s rightwing, he believes in smaller government. But he’s not as driven ideologically as other leaders in the province,” said Nelson Wiseman, a professor of political science at the University of Toronto. “His background is in business, not politics.”

The Ontario premier also has a reputation as a leader willing to quickly retreat on major policy proposals if he senses a shift in public opinion against his government.

“The proposals in Alberta would not stand up to court challenges and so Smith would need to invoke the notwithstanding clause to suspend the fundamental rights of trans people if she wants to pass these sorts of policies,” said Gapka. “I suspect Doug Ford sees this – and realizes it’s something he wants to avoid.”

Other Ontario conservatives seem baffled by Smith’s decision. One told the Toronto Star it was a “solution in search of a problem”.

Wiseman said few people in Ontario – or even in Alberta – list gender confirmation for young people as a major voting concern: “When you ask people in either province what are the issues, nobody mentions this. They talk about inflation, they talk about the environment. And so you’re stupid wading into it.”

But Gapka says the Alberta policies have cast a dark cloud over the transgender community and renewed the need for national efforts to help those most affected by the proposed changes.

“I think about those young families in rural Alberta and how they must be feeling right now,” she said. “But we’ll fight for them. They can count on that. And we will overcome.”