A Liberal government uninterested in fighting culture wars? This could be it
Religious and scriptural books will also be exempt.
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Kathleen Wynne, a former Liberal premier of Ontario, said the order would send Alberta down '(T)he slipperiest of slopes.' She also shared an article calling the order a 'blatant act of cultural vandalism.'
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Alberta Senator Kristopher Wells said he was worried about the order limiting access to sex-ed materials, but added he was relieved that there was nothing in its plain text preventing students from learning about LGBTQ identities.
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Wells, a 2024 Trudeau appointee, accused the Alberta government last month of playing to an 'old homophobic trope' by singling out LGBTQ-themed books as pornographic.
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So far, Carney and his cabinet have not commented on the policy.
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His predecessor, Trudeau, blasted New Brunswick in 2023 over its policy requiring schools to disclose student pronoun changes to parents, calling the policy 'far-right.' The policy enjoyed the support of the vast majority of New Brunswickers and their fellow Canadians at the time.
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Then minister of women, gender equality and youth Marci Ien was an equally vocal critic of similar parental disclosure policies rolled out in Saskatchewan and Alberta, saying at one point that these policies put transgender and nonbinary children in a ' life-or-death situation.'
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Trudeau also accused Alberta's plan to restrict medical transitioning for children of being 'anti-LGBT,' opposed Ontario's changes to its sex-ed school curriculum, and criticized Quebec for rules barring religious symbols being worn by public servants.
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Chrystia Freeland, a senior minister under Trudaeau would later argue that Trudeau's loud championing of LGBTQ rights and other culture war issues were part of the reason he fell out of favour with Canadians.
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'Liberals … lose when people think that we are focused on virtue-signalling and identity politics,' Freeland said in an interview earlier this year.
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Carney looks to be taking this lesson to heart, treading lightly on cultural issues. The women and gender equality portfolio was conspicuously absent from Carney's maiden cabinet, although he assigned former minister of small business Rechie Valdez to the role shortly after April's election.
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Carney said in a post-debate media scrum that he believed there were two biological sexes, but also believed that transgender individuals should be accommodated where possible.
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'This is Canada (and) we value all Canadians for who they are,' said Carney.
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Tyler Meredith, a longtime Liberal insider and former senior adviser in the Prime Minister's Office and Ministry of Finance, said that attacking the Alberta school libraries order would be a bad use of Carney's time and political capital.
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