Alberta Premier Danielle Smith addresses controversial education issues on radio show

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, speaking on her radio show, is not shying away from some controversial issues on education in the province, with changes by her government still ongoing.

This past week, some Alberta parents were surprised to learn that they’d need to sign forms confirming their young daughters were female at birth for them to play school sports.

It’s a matter Smith has had in view for a while, posting in January of last year about the province’s transgender policy. The policies were introduced in late 2024, but a temporary injunction now blocks the banning of doctors providing gender affirming care to youth. The province is appealing the decision.

Now she’s defending the latest development arising from it, doubling down on the controversial move on her Corus radio show, Your Province, Your Premier, on Saturday.

“If there are amateur sports where it’s competitive and a lot of these kids go on where they’re potentially able to get college or university scholarships out of the basis of their play, we’ve got to make sure those boards are fair and that women and girls aren’t put at risk because they’re having to compete against stronger, male-born athletes,” Smith said.

She also weighed in on the ministerial order that’s being updated on Monday, after receiving strong backlash–including from legendary Canadian Author Margaret Atwood–when a list of books by the Edmonton Public School Board that would be pulled based on the order was leaked.

A press conference was planned for the unveiling of the changes to the ministerial order on Friday, but was cancelled last second and instead postponed to Monday. Smith won’t be in attendance and will instead be in Colorado to promote energy from Alberta.

On her show, the premier insists classic literature is not included; rather, the province is targeting images that “stick in your brain.”

“We are trying to protect the innocence of children for as long as we possibly can. Images just have a way of staying in your brain, and we just do not want young children to be exposed to that material,” she said.

And it’s not just kids and parents dealing with back-to-school woes; contract disputes are also making life uncertain for educators.

Previously, Smith promised to hire more teachers to help ease the burden of soaring enrolment levels, and on Saturday, she shared little info on how she plans to do so.

“We’ve got some exciting new proposals about how we’re going to potentially create more pathways for people to be able to get an education degree. I’ll leave it to my Education Minister to roll that out,” she said.

This comes as contract talks between the Alberta Teachers’ Association and the provincial government broke down. As of Friday afternoon, the two sides remained at an impasse.