The Interview: IDYGF & Danielle Smith Podcast
Disclaimer: I Dig Your Girlfriend is a non-partisan website and does not endorse the Wildrose Party nor any other political party. I Dig Your Girlfriend acknowledges that homosexuality is not a choice and, ergo, is not a ‘lifestyle’. I Dig Your Girlfriend also acknowledges that there are addiction issues within the LGTBQ youth community; however, not all homeless LGTBQ youth have addictions.
Thank you again Danielle Smith for stepping out of your comfort zone and joining us to talk about Edmonton’s LGTBQ community, Conscience Rights, Feminism, Transgender equality and social programs.
Click here to go directly to the track on SoundCloud.
So many points I want to cover, but I’ll try to keep it brief:
a) did Smith actually say that societal bullying of and assaults on gays isn’t an issue and police are reporting that most incidents involving gays are “domestic dispute” issues? b) How did Smith turn the Lake of Fire into an “addictions” issue and how the LGBTQ community deals with addictions?
c) Did Smith call homosexuality a “lifestyle” and then say most churches aren’t accepting of that “lifestyle”? Wow. That was stunning. d) She gets kudos for saying Hunsperger’s comments were strident and offensive.
e) Smith is wrong about the Conscience Rights protection under the Charter of Rights – conscience rights were in the Charter so that Canadians couldn’t be drafted to war. It had nothing to do with medical field nor with marriage commissioners.
f) The MS anecdote is so far off base it’s laughable. Doctors can refuse to prescribe questionable treatments and they NEVER need to invoke Conscience Rights to do so.
g) The entire “marriage commissioner” rambling is also not true. Religious officiants have always had the right to refuse to marry same sex couples. Marriage Commissioners never had that right as their power is granted by the government.
h) Smith hasn’t looked at their policy recently? She is the official leader of the opposition and doesn’t know the party’s policy? Does that frighten anyone other than me? And yes, it was originally stated that marriage commissioners should have the legal right to invoke their Conscience Rights. And their policy was written just 18 months ago so her argument is fundamentally false.
i) She states that she is pro choice and pro gay rights, however she has written articles supporting the funding of abortion and was against gay marriage. Further, the statement that abortion has been decided at a Federal level is entirely false, and Ms. Smith is aware of that. There are NO federal laws with regard to abortion, whatsoever. The abortion laws were struck down in this country and In fact, abortion is left to the discretion of the PROVINCES, which is why the #WRP’s suggestion that we should have a public referendum or “constiuents consensus” on that issue was incredibly dangerous for women’s rights in this province.
j) Not even gonna get into her rant on feminism. Not going there. It will only make me stabby.
k) Does she even realize that if it weren’t for the feminist movement, she wouldn’t be in the position she is in? Does she realize Canadian women actually DIED so that she could be the leader of a socially right wing party that doesn’t respect the right of a woman to choose? She only wants women to have the choice to stay at home or to work and pay for their own daycare. That’s not “equality” simply because until women make the same amount as men, working and paying for daycare is a huge financial burden.
l) Terah – excellent job hitting Smith with the funding requirements for the LGBTQ community. It’s fine for Smith to give lip service to being “pro gay rights”, but she needs to put her rhetoric where this government’s cheque writer is.
k) Does Smith understand that LGBTQ in crisis need specialized care for addictions and that her continual focus on no government funding for addiction or for youth in need is ridiculous? She side-stepped your question on funding. She encourages specialized counselling and rehab, but she doesn’t want the government to pay for it.
l) Of course Albertans would not have put GR surgery at the top of the list. And her examples are of waiting times, not of funding. Apples and oranges. Further, WRP politicized the funding of GR surgery by making a big deal out of it in the media. Further, although Smith states she won’t “defund GR surgery”, she has also said that these things should be decided by a citizen’s mandate, meaning the population could put forth a “referendum” and whether or not GR surgery is funded could be decided by those who understand the least about the surgery and the need for it. For Smith to confuse the need for funding for this surgery with waiting times is ridiculous. GR is still considered “elective surgery” and as such patients wait longer than anyone else.
I entirely agree with Danielle Smith on Hilary Clinton. Would’ve been my choice, as well
The two of you did an amazing job interviewing Smith, even if I found her answers to be much of the same side stepping she did during the election. She didn’t provide us with a lot of solid answers here, and she managed to get around both the conscience rights issue and the abortion rights issue without telling the entire truth about either. Still, your questions made her fidget a bit from time to time. Great interview, broads! Thank yo so much for sharing it with us.
xox,
K.
I had high hopes for this interview but was disappointed once again! Her answers weren’t particularly helpful since she side-stepped most of the questions. And she kept coming back to addictions even after the points about suicide and violence. This community, in my understanding, faces more issues than just addictions and we need to address them in a comprehensive manner. I don’t understand her point about feminism. Yes, it is about making choices possible but sometimes policies like daycare funding are needed to spur along the equality. Ah, I just found her answers frustrating.
You guys did such a great job! I loved the questions and thought you were both great. Thanks!
Thank you both so much for your comments. It’s pretty crazy how fast 40 minutes goes by and you still have a ton of questions you want to ask.
Lots of thoughts after listening to this podcast. I will only comment on a few things.
-Homosexuality as a lifestyle? Sigh. Perhaps when Danielle Smith continues her journey to building bridges with the LGBTQ community, she will be more cautious of her choice of words.
- I feel that she made it rather clear that her party doesn’t see issues of gay marriage and abortion as a priority; my interpretation of that is that protecting these things are not a priority. Therefore, I still feel alienated from the Wild Rose Party.
- I’m not going to touch on the feminism part. Like Kikki, it made me feel stabby. I will say though; if Danielle Smith believes in supporting all women’s individual choices, should there not be a push for government funding to support the women who require it?
- LGBTQ youth who are facing issues of homelessness and suicide aren’t necessarily facing the struggle of addictions. As a vulnerable population, LGBTQ youth need supports beyond addiction recovery and in addition to it. However, I suppose this is considered a social problem and Danielle Smith made it pretty clear that government spending is not the way she would prefer to aid this population. I’d like to know what her alternative is.
Terah & Janelle – you both did an AMAZING job with this interview!! So appreciative of this.
[...] The I Dig Your Girlfriend crew recorded a podcast in which they interviewed Danielle Smith. Check out a politician who is incredibly on-message, as well as some great questions from Janelle an…. [...]
Danielle Smith supports conscience rights for independent marriage commissions et al because, unlike many social liberals, she’s not a hypocrite.
Loud Applause for both IDYGF
and Danielle. I have to say, it is soooooo refreshing to hear people
actually have an intelligent conversation. I congratulate Janelle for having
this discussion and applaud her for actually listening after asking a question.
I also applaud Danielle for being straight forward with her answers(although a
little long winded occasionally) and not doing the political two step around contentious
issues. May we continue to have much more of this kind of dialogue, instead of
the nonsense so often spewed out of ignorant closed minded bigots on both sides
of an issue.
Thank you so much, Kenny. We are incredibly humbled.
Excellent job Janelle and Terah! I dig your grit, grace and perspicacity. Great initiative to go after this interview, which was thoughtful and engaging. Setting aside some of the slight obfuscations I gained a new appreciation for Ms. Smith. Her shift of emphasis, even tone, since the election, I’ll attribute to her growth. In any case I came away hopeful that occasionally we can get past default politicization to actual engagement. It’s here where we all may be open to change. Hats way off to IDYGF.
[...] a long and very interesting audio clip posted on idigyourgirlfriend.com – a website aimed primarily at an LGTBQ audience – Ms. Smith indicated a government she led [...]
I find most of the commentors here are having trouble getting past their own ingrained bias towards the WRP and are seeing things in the interview that were not there.
I however went in with an open mind and it sounds like Smith was just speaking about issues she has been learning about, things that have been brought to her attention and how she wants to get more info. She seems very inclusive and accepting as is much of her party, those members whom I’ve spoken to.
Yes she was long winded but that’s just politico speak. Get you message across.
Stop being so judgemental and open up your minds.
Thanks for your comment, Melissa. I appreciate that you were able to focus on what was being said with objectivity.
Some of my friends and family are WRP supporters because of their fiscal policies but they are socially liberal and supportive of LGTBQ equality.
I must disagree. Ms. Smith’s comments were contradictory and inconsistent throughout the interview.
Her comments on GRS were contradictory, and expressed “concerns” about 2009 which there is exactly zero record of from her or any representative of her party. Sorry, but I have to call BS.
Her continuing arguments about so-called “conscience rights” is nothing more than institutionalized bigotry. The fact that Ms. Smith hasn’t figured this out herself tells me that either she isn’t thinking things through, or she is entirely in the thrall of the theocon elements in her party.
Sorry to say it, but where trust is concerned, Ms. Smith has to earn it. Her approach to events during the election wiped out most of any trust she had to start with, and her comments regarding GRS funding in June didn’t exactly win me over.
This is at best a rather weak first step.
Thank you Kikki. Beneath her affability and charm there really isn’t much “there” there.