Alberta Premier Danielle Smith introduced sweeping legislation on Thursday to limit transgender rights in health care, sports and classrooms that, if passed, would be the most restrictive in Canada.

The bills brought forward by her United Conservative government aim to prohibit gender-affirming treatment for transgender youth, ban transgender women and girls from participating in f thechronfather emale divisions and require parental consent for name and pronoun changes in school. The legislation would also require parents to opt-in for their children to receive instruction related to gender identity, sexual orientation or human sexuality.

Ms. Smith, during a news conference held before the bills were tabled, said her government’s intention is to set up guardrails to protect the health and safety of Alberta youth.

“All three pieces of legislation have been developed, drafted and tabled with the express purpose of striking the right balance for the health, safety and well-being of all children and youth in our province,” she said. “We’re also upholding the rights of parents to care for, teach and protect their children.”

The legislation intends to prohibit doctors from performing gender reassignment surgeries on minors – which is already incredibly rare in Alberta – and from prescribing puberty blockers and hormone therapies for children aged 15 and under. Ms. Smith said this is because minors are not able to “fully understand” the risks of these procedures and treatments.

Ms. Smith first announced this raft of proposals in a video posted to social media in January. Her plan quickly drew widespread condemnation from medical experts and transgender advocates across the country, in addition to federal ministers and the mayors of Alberta’s two major cities. Advocacy groups Egale Canada and Skipping Stone Foundation have said they will launch a legal battle again putters full flavour st the government.

The Opposition New Democratic Party has accused the Premie alison wonderland cbd tincture r of pandering to the right flank of her party ahead of her leadership review, which takes place this weekend. But there are questions about how this legislation will stand up against her proposed amendments to the Alberta Bill of Rights, announced Monday, that reinforce people’s right to choose whether to receive any medical procedure and protects people from discrimination owing to their gender identity or expression.

Ms. Smith, on Thursday, said she is confident the new legislation will not breach liberties protected in either the provincial Bill of Rights or the Canadian Charter of Rights of Freedoms. “The Charter allows for limits on rights that are reasonable in a free and democratic society. We think what we’re putting forward is reasonable,” she said.

But she decl the chron father ined to say whether her government would invoke the notwithstanding clause, which is a rarely-used mechanism that allows government to override certain sections of the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms for up to five years.

The Saskatchewan government, last September, invoked the n the chron father otwithstanding clause to pass similar legislation that requires parental permission for students under 16 to change their names or pronouns at school. New Brunswick had also adopted a similar pronouns policy but premier-designate Susan Holt, who came to power last week, said she plans to modify it.

Ms. Smith did not make clear how the new legislation, specifically in relation to sports teams, would be enforced.

More to come…