NEWSLETTER: Reality Isn’t Declared by Press Release

Danielle Smith says she’s “protecting women and girls.” Brian Lilley says, “If you disagree, you disagree with reality.” And with that, the Alberta government and its media cheerleaders have told you everything you need to know about how little they respect democratic debate, evidence, or basic intellectual honesty.

Let’s start with Smith’s statement, because it’s doing a lot of work with very few facts.

“Women and girls have the right to play competitive sports in a safe and fair environment against other biological females.

This view is held by a vast majority of Albertans and Canadians. It is also common sense and common decency.

Skate Canada‘s refusal to hold events in Alberta because we choose to protect women and girls in sport is disgraceful.

We expect they will apologize and adjust their policies once they realize they are not only compromising the fairness and safety of their athletes, but are also offside with the international community, including the International Olympic Committee, which is moving in the same direction as Alberta.”

Smith deliberately uses “women,” “girls,” and “biological females” interchangeably. That is not accidental. It is emotional manipulation. It’s meant to force a mental image into your head that simply does not reflect reality: that trans inclusion in sport means adult men overpowering girls.

That isn’t what Skate Canada’s policies are about, and Smith knows it.

She is not “protecting women and girls.” She is targeting trans women and girls and laundering that decision through the language of safety and decency. If this were genuinely about fairness, Alberta would be citing data, studies, athlete-by-athlete policy frameworks, or evidence from Canadian sport bodies. Instead, we get vibes, slogans, and culture-war talking points imported wholesale from American right-wing politics.

Then there’s the claim that “a vast majority of Albertans and Canadians” agree with her. There is no evidence for this. None. No polling cited. No methodology. No breakdown. And notably, no mandate for invoking the notwithstanding clause — an extraordinary, anti-democratic power that overrides Charter rights. Canadians, by and large, do not support using the notwithstanding clause to ram through ideological pet projects. Smith knows this, too.

As for Skate Canada? They made a values-based decision about where they hold events. That is their right. Conservatives claim to love “free choice” and “private institutions” until those institutions refuse to validate government-sanctioned discrimination.

Now to Brian Lilley.

“If you disagree, you disagree with reality.”

That sentence tells you everything about the role the right-wing establishment media sees for itself. Lilley isn’t making an argument. He’s issuing a command. Disagreeing is framed not as a difference of values or evidence, but as a rejection of reality itself. Debate is over. Discussion is closed. Obedience is expected.

An actual journalist explains how to think — by presenting evidence, context, and competing claims. Lilley tells you what to think, and declares dissent illegitimate. That’s convenient when your position is weak and your evidence nonexistent.

At The Provincial Times, we take a different approach.

We do not pretend our opinions are “reality.”
We do not demand compliance.
We do not have backchannels to conservative premiers or party war rooms.

Our editor, Will Adams, is not connected to Conservative politicians, lobbyists, or government offices. No talking points are phoned in. No careers depend on towing a party line. That independence is exactly why we can say this plainly:

You are allowed to disagree with Danielle Smith.
You are allowed to disagree with Brian Lilley.
And doing so does not make you delusional — it makes you a participant in a democracy.

The radical right wants silence dressed up as “common sense.”
We choose evidence, debate, and human dignity instead.

— Samuel Hatch Restrepo
Contributor, The Provincial Times