Ontario is also not Alberta: Smith's cheques are signed by the oil industry, and you have to get deep into denialism to whitewash that industry, and denialism comes with a lot of anti-intellectual and protofascist baggage.
Ford's are signed by real-estate developers and small-business douchebags (and the Venn with them and organized crime on it, well, has some overlap). They're a very different crew, and they prefer to operate in the shadows. Shouty religious zealotry results in unwanted attention, which is bad for business.
This isn't at all evidence-based, this is just a gut reaction and being an Ontarian I hear a lot more about what happens in my province that Alberta.
I find Doug Ford much scarier than Danielle Smith because I think he's more effective at destroying this country, more people would vote for his destructive policies than hers (which are more clearly socially regressive), and I could see him being successful at the federal level.
Higgs scares me too. I'm appalled by the devolution of trans rights in AB and SK, but politicians gunning to increase corporate power, gut the public sector, and reduce labour's power really unsettles me vis-a-vis the direction we're heading in.
Higgs scares me too. I’m appalled by the devolution of trans rights in AB and SK, but politicians gunning to increase corporate power, gut the public sector, and reduce labour’s power really unsettles me vis-a-vis the direction we’re heading in.
Trust me, Smith is still taking enough time away from attacking the trans community to destroy healthcare and then sell it to her corporate friends. Same with education. As for unions, the secret wage limits Kenney imposed were just opening the door to Smith's plans.
more people would vote for his destructive policies than hers
Smith won by just 1300 votes, if you look at the close ridings, and has done nothing but unpopular shit ever since - starting with an attack on CPP, which is a sacred cow to the most vote-y demographic. And it's still the first few months. So, yeah, she's not on track to re-election, to put it mildly.
I just got into a debate with an erstwhile Conservative who assured me that this wasn't something the political right was going to do, and that they certainly weren't going to try abortion next.
Ford doesn't have any special tolerance or respect for trans rights, he just knows it's a can of worms that doesn't benefit him to open.
Make no mistake - he'd kneecap a trans person at least as quickly as anyone else for stiffing him on drug payments; and probably add an extra few kicks for being a freak; but that's personal, and his business dealings (mob-backed government) aren't helped by declaring war on trans folks.
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.
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.
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.
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”.
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.
“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.
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