Trudeau blames Tucker Carlson for Alberta's ban on child sex changes

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed Friday that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's ban on child sex changes and hormone "therapy" was inspired by a recent visit from conservative broadcaster Tucker Carlson to her province.

Trudeau insisted the federal government needs "to be there to defend" children. 

"We need to be there to protect them and I know Canadians across the country are doing just that. It is telling that the week after welcoming fire right-wing American conservative Tucker Carlson to her province to sit with him on stage, Danielle Smith has now moved forward with the most anti-LGBT policies of anywhere in the country," he said.

Trudeau said "the federal government and all Canadians will be there to protect youth."

The prime minister did not specify how the Alberta premier is not protecting youth when she declared that under the new rules, anyone under 17 will not be able to access "top and bottom gender reassignment surgeries," which are in fact double mastectomies and genital reconstruction surgeries, and those under 15 years will be prevented from receiving puberty blockers and hormone therapies aimed at interfering with their natural sexual development. In addition, women's sports will also be protected by barring biological males who claim to be females from competing.

But Trudeau was not the only senior member of the Liberal government to see Smith as an existential threat. Employment and Workforce Development Minister Randy Boissannault (Lib-Edmonton Centre) compared children making decisions about their gender to joining "the chess club" as he claimed informing parents about their children's activities "isn't a question about parental rights."

"This is a unilateral ideological move by Daniel Smith and the UCP government to marginalize kids," he said Thursday. 

"Nobody calls you when you join the chess club. Nobody calls your parents when you join the basketball team. Nobody calls your parents when you join the debate team. But now if somebody thinks you're questioning or queer, they're going to tell the teacher the teacher is going to call the parents that is not the Alberta I want or that we want."

Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault (Lib-Laurier-Ste.Marie), who recently expressed outrage that the Alberta premier called-out the Trudeau government's environment policies when she met with Tucker Carlson, similarly criticized Smith's policies. "I think what we're seeing in Alberta has nothing to do with parents' rights. [This] has everything to do with scoring cheap political points."