A corporate lawyer and a professor who was an outspoken critic of Alberta’s bill on pronouns in schools are now both senators representing the province.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Saturday that Governor General Mary Simon has appointed Daryl Fridhandler and Kristopher Wells to fill vacancies in the Senate.
The statement from Mr. Trudeau’s office said Mr. Fridhandler is “a corporate lawyer, arbitrator, mediator and businessman with over 40 years of legal experience.”
The statement said Wells, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Public Understanding of Sexual and Gender Minority Youth, is “an educator, scholar and community advocate 2eLGBTQI”.
The Prime Minister’s Office statement said the two new senators were recommended by an independent advisory board for Senate appointments that was created in 2016, which it said ensures the independence of senators.
Mr. Wells has been a vocal critic of the Alberta government’s proposed policy requiring parents to give consent before children under 16 can change their names or pronouns in schools.
“I congratulate Mr. Fridhandler and Mr. Wells on their appointment as Parliament’s newest independent senators. With their experience, they will be important voices for their communities,” Trudeau said in Saturday’s announcement.
The Governor General appoints senators, but by convention they are appointed on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith responded to the appointments on social media, accusing Trudeau of ignoring the interests of Albertans.
“Despite our province’s repeated democratic elections for senators-in-waiting, ready to represent the interests of Albertans, he has chosen to appoint left-wing partisans who will do whatever he and the Liberals order them to do,” Ms.me Smith on X.
Mr Wells wrote on social media that Smith’s “obsession” with the transgender community is “beyond bizarre”.
“This trans panic she is manufacturing is hateful, hurtful and needs to stop,” Wells wrote earlier this month on X.
Mme Smith said his administration will introduce a bill on pronouns in schools during the fall legislative session that begins in late October.
The move is part of a series of policies she first announced in January that also include restricting transgender youth’s access to gender reassignment medical treatments and banning transgender participation in women’s sports.
PHOTO JASON FRANSON, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith
The statement from the premier’s office on Saturday said Wells has, “through research and advocacy, helped advance diversity, equity and human rights in Alberta and across the country.”
He has also received honours including the Alberta Centennial Medal and the Alberta Prize for the study of human rights and multiculturalism in Canada.
Mr. Fridhandler, meanwhile, has served as legal counsel for various businesses and non-profit organizations and has served on the boards of numerous organizations, according to the statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
His past ties to the Liberal Party of Canada and the Alberta Progressive Conservative Association are not mentioned in Mr. Fridhandler’s biography. According to the resume posted on the website of the law firm in which he is a partner, he co-led the Alberta campaigns of Paul Martin in 2003 and Michael Ignatieff in 2006 and 2008 during the LPC leadership races.