Red Deer-South MLA Jason Stephan expects Alberta’s UCP government to soon push forward on efforts to require parental consent if a student under 16 wants to use a different name or pronoun at school.
On the weekend UCP members at the party’s annual general meeting overwhelmingly passed a motion requiring parental consent, mirroring legislation recently passed in Saskatchewan that has drawn harsh criticism from LGBTQ+ advocates.
Such resolutions are not binding on the government, but do reflect grassroots sentiment.
Stephan said there’s probably more ways, in addition to Saskatchewan and New Brunswick’s policies, to affirm and protect the relationship between parents and their children.
“I think that we’ll see something, and I think we’ll see it soon,” Stephan said.
“Parents in the vast majority of situations are in the best position to support whatever our children are going through, or are experiencing.
“The vast majority of parents should be trusted. They know their children best and they love them so deeply. I’m very grateful that we affirmed in our policy a resolution supporting and protecting that sacred relationship.”
He added that while the rights of the LGBTQ+ community are protected, the community may see from their perspective, that improvements are needed.
“I know there are protections, but maybe there are opportunities to do better too,” Stephan said.
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Another resolution that was passed at the AGM was a proposal to protect an individual’s right to refuse any medical procedure they disagree with — including therapy and vaccines — regardless of the societal benefit.
Stephan said many pandemic policies were well-meaning, but some of the restrictions did more harm than good, especially policies for healthy young adults and children. Mandates for healthcare workers also exacerbated staff shortages.
“We didn’t need to do some of the things unfortunately that were forced upon them by government.”
Stephan, who was encouraged by the record turnout at the AGM, said some great resolutions were passed.
“We’re a better party actually today than we were two days ago.”
The UCP’s AGM will be held in Red Deer next year.
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A troubling issue for Friends of Medicare that came up at the AGM, while not a resolution, was the UCP government’s focus on decentralizing the provincial health care system.
“We’re quite concerned at this moment — when there’s closures across the province, short-staffing across the province — they’re focused on restructuring and more chaos, rather than solving the problems on the ground where Albertans are struggling to access care where they need it,” said Chris Gallaway, executive director Friends of Medicare.
He said recently the province has been talking about the successful recruitment of doctors, yet few doctors are taking on new patients in most parts of Alberta. More nurses have permits to work here, but healthcare facilities are still facing closures due to a lack of staff.
“We’re not seeing a meaningful change. Just because you have a licence to practice in Alberta as a nurse doesn’t mean you have a full-time job,” said Gallaway, adding that more nurses doesn’t mean that nursing agencies aren’t being used to fill positions instead of hiring staff.
— with files from The Canadian Press
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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