‘Pornography is a problem': Smith defends new rules for Alberta school libraries
Danielle Smith was responding to criticism received via text on her provincewide phone-in radio program on Saturday that a lack of education funding and overcrowded classrooms were more important issues than library content.
Smith replied it's important the province make sure young children are exposed to age-appropriate material, and that they're 'not exposed to pornographic images early.'
On Thursday, Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said sexually explicit content must be gone from school library shelves as of Oct. 1, but noted the move is not about book banning.
The new policy stems from an announcement Nicolaides made in May after he said four inappropriate coming-of-age graphic novels were found in school libraries in Edmonton and Calgary.
Smith encouraged people to go online themselves and view explicit images from the books, telling listeners they'll be scratching their heads wondering how they got into elementary schools in the first place.
'If I am not permitted to describe to you the kind of images that seven-year-olds are seeing because it would offend your audience, then we shouldn't be showing them to seven-year-olds,' Smith said.
'So yeah, I think it's important that we make sure that young children are exposed to age-appropriate material only and that they're not exposed to pornographic images early.'
On the question of priorities, Smith said her government is holding consultations with the public and teachers about other issues in schools, such as violence in the classroom.
'That is the biggest issue that we've been hearing from teachers, that in some situations, violent students are making life unsafe for our teachers,' Smith said.
The novels in question are written by American authors: 'Gender Queer' by Maia Kobabe, 'Fun Home' by Alison Bechdel, 'Blankets' by Craig Thompson and 'Flamer' by Mike Curato.
When Nicolaides announced plans for new rules back in May, Smith posted on social media that 'parents are right to be upset.'
As part of the announcement Thursday, Nicolaides issued a list of specific sex acts that can't be explicitly described in library books alongside new rules for what students can read.
Weekly
A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene.
No students will be allowed to access what the government calls explicit sexual content, including detailed depictions of masturbation, sexual penetration or sexual physical contact.
By Jan. 1, new school board policies must be in place dictating how books are selected and reviewed.
An online government survey before Thursday's announcement found that the majority of respondents across demographics don't support the government setting new standards for school library books.
Alberta Teachers' Association president Jason Schilling said in a statement the new rules will add to teachers' workload, politicize a 'non-issue' and target vulnerable students.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 12, 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Vancouver Sun
an hour ago
- Vancouver Sun
Epstein grand jury transcript release a distraction, not a revelation, former prosecutors say
A Justice Department request to unseal grand jury transcripts in the prosecution of chronic sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein and his former girlfriend is unlikely to produce much, if anything, to satisfy the public's appetite for new revelations about the financier's crimes, former federal prosecutors say. Attorney Sarah Krissoff, an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan from 2008 to 2021, called the request in the prosecutions of Epstein and imprisoned British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell 'a distraction.' 'The president is trying to present himself as if he's doing something here and it really is nothing,' Krissoff told The Associated Press in a weekend interview. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche made the request Friday, asking judges to unseal transcripts from grand jury proceedings that resulted in indictments against Epstein and Maxwell, saying, 'transparency to the American public is of the utmost importance to this Administration.' The request came as the administration sought to contain the firestorm that followed its announcement that it would not be releasing additional files from the Epstein probe despite previously promising that it would. Epstein is dead, while Maxwell serves a 20-year prison sentence Epstein killed himself at age 66 in his federal jail cell in August 2019, a month after his arrest on sex trafficking charges, while Maxwell, 63, is serving a 20-year prison sentence imposed after her December 2021 sex trafficking conviction for luring girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. Krissoff and Joshua Naftalis, a Manhattan federal prosecutor for 11 years before entering private practice in 2023, said grand jury presentations are purposely brief. Naftalis said Southern District prosecutors present just enough to a grand jury to get an indictment but 'it's not going to be everything the FBI and investigators have figured out about Maxwell and Epstein.' 'People want the entire file from however long. That's just not what this is,' he said, estimating that the transcripts, at most, probably amount to a few hundred pages. 'It's not going to be much,' Krissoff said, estimating the length at as little as 60 pages, 'because the Southern District of New York's practice is to put as little information as possible into the grand jury.' 'They basically spoon-feed the indictment to the grand jury. That's what we're going to see,' she said. 'I just think it's not going to be that interesting. … I don't think it's going to be anything new.' Ex-prosecutors say grand jury transcript unlikely to be long Both ex-prosecutors said that grand jury witnesses in Manhattan are usually federal agents summarizing their witness interviews. That practice might conflict with the public perception of some state and federal grand jury proceedings, where witnesses likely to testify at a trial are brought before grand juries during lengthy proceedings prior to indictments or when grand juries are used as an investigatory tool. In Manhattan, federal prosecutors 'are trying to get a particular result so they present the case very narrowly and inform the grand jury what they want them to do,' Krissoff said. Krissoff predicted that judges who presided over the Epstein and Maxwell cases will reject the government's request. With Maxwell, a petition is before the U.S. Supreme Court so appeals have not been exhausted. With Epstein, the charges are related to the Maxwell case and the anonymity of scores of victims who have not gone public is at stake, although Blanche requested that victim identities be protected. 'This is not a 50-, 60-, 80-year-old case,' Krissoff noted. 'There's still someone in custody.' Appeals court's 1997 ruling might matter She said citing 'public intrigue, interest and excitement' about a case was likely not enough to convince a judge to release the transcripts despite a 1997 ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that said judges have wide discretion and that public interest alone can justify releasing grand jury information. Krissoff called it 'mind-blowingly strange' that Washington Justice Department officials are increasingly directly filing requests and arguments in the Southern District of New York, where the prosecutor's office has long been labeled the 'Sovereign District of New York' for its independence from outside influence. 'To have the attorney general and deputy attorney general meddling in an SDNY case is unheard of,' she said. Cheryl Bader, a former federal prosecutor and Fordham Law School criminal law professor, said judges who presided over the Epstein and Maxwell cases may take weeks or months to rule. 'Especially here where the case involved witnesses or victims of sexual abuse, many of which are underage, the judge is going to be very cautious about what the judge releases,' she said. Tradition of grand jury secrecy might block release of transcripts Bader said she didn't see the government's quest aimed at satisfying the public's desire to explore conspiracy theories 'trumping — pardon the pun — the well-established notions of protecting the secrecy of the grand jury process.' 'I'm sure that all the line prosecutors who really sort of appreciate the secrecy and special relationship they have with the grand jury are not happy that DOJ is asking the court to release these transcripts,' she added. Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, called Trump's comments and influence in the Epstein matter 'unprecedented' and 'extraordinarily unusual' because he is a sitting president. He said it was not surprising that some former prosecutors are alarmed that the request to unseal the grand jury materials came two days after the firing of Manhattan Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey, who worked on the Epstein and Maxwell cases. 'If federal prosecutors have to worry about the professional consequences of refusing to go along with the political or personal agenda of powerful people, then we are in a very different place than I've understood the federal Department of Justice to be in over the last 30 years of my career,' he said. Krissoff said the uncertain environment that has current prosecutors feeling unsettled is shared by government employees she speaks with at other agencies as part of her work in private practice. 'The thing I hear most often is this is a strange time. Things aren't working the way we're used to them working,' she said. — Associated Press Writers Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
Toronto Sun
an hour ago
- Toronto Sun
SHAPIRO: Online media ecosystem an inaccurate gauge of American views
Request to unseal Epstein grand jury transcripts likely to disappoint, ex-prosecutors say SHAPIRO: Online media ecosystem an inaccurate gauge of American views Photo by Alex Brandon / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Article content This week, Tucker Carlson spoke at Turning Point USA's big event in Tampa, Florida. Without naming President Donald Trump, he unleashed on the Trump administration, suggesting it's covering up a child sex trafficking ring and denigrating Trump's victories thus far. Advertisement 2 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account or Sign in without password View more offers Article content 'If you deny people what they actually want, long enough and instead substitute things you claim they should want, like bombing Iran … or you spend all day telling me that it's so important that boys not play on girls' soccer teams or whatever. Article content tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or SHAPIRO: Online media ecosystem an inaccurate gauge of American views Back to video tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Play Video Article content 'I agree,' Carlson stated. 'But I don't know, it kinda feels like you're feeding me appetizers. At some point, I want to look around and see a better country. I want to see a country I recognize. I don't want to see people sleeping on the sidewalk. I don't want to see people ODing on drugs. I want to know where those drugs are coming from. Why can't you stop it? 'You've got the U.S. military. Don't you have SEAL Team Six? What are they doing today? Are you going to give me another segment about how impressive the U.S. military is? Why aren't they employed to make my country better? Why are my cities disgusting?' Your Midday Sun Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. There was an error, please provide a valid email address. Sign Up By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Thanks for signing up! A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Your Midday Sun will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Article content Advertisement 3 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Now, there's essentially no logic to this rant. Trump's bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities — warned against by Carlson, who claimed they would lead to a Third World War — was a massively successful and historic American foreign policy move, devastating Iran's nuclear program at the cost of zero American casualties. Trump's commitment to ending the epidemic of transgender mutilation and propaganda, particularly targeting kids, is one of the signal developments in social policy over the past several decades. Trump's passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill is a legislative feat of true legerdemain and Trump's border crackdown has cut illegal immigration to near zero. Carlson's preferred issues, like homelessness and drug overdose, are deeply important, of course. But those are typically handled at the local and state levels. What's more, would Carlson truly support the use of SEAL Team Six in Mexico or American troops in Mexico more broadly? What would his strategy be for deploying the American military across the country to combat the scourge of fentanyl or to clean up the streets? And what, precisely, is the connection between these problems and his crusade to provide softball interviews for foreign leaders who despise the United States (Vladimir Putin of Russia and Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran)? Advertisement 4 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content And herein lies the problem of much of the online media ecosystem: It is designed not to ask questions designed to elicit answers and solutions, but to posit unfalsifiable theories. Those theories may be fun to consider, but when they end with a sense of impotent rage, as all unfalsifiable theories tend to, they simply demoralize. And the last six months, for conservatives, should have been anything but demoralizing. In fact, they haven't been: 53% of Republicans say Trump is doing a better job than expected, along with another 37% who say that he is doing as expected. Only 10% of Republicans say Trump is doing a worse job than expected. All of which raises an important question: Is there a disconnect between the online media ecosystem and most Americans? The answer would seem to be yes. The online media ecosystem, with its incentivization toward clickbait and wave-riding, is not an accurate gauge of what Americans think of the world. And Americans — particularly those of us who spend an inordinate amount of time consuming information online — ought to keep that disconnect in mind. Otherwise, the ouroboros of demoralization will continue to grow stronger and stronger. And a demoralized conservative movement is bad for America and bad for the world. Ben Shapiro is host of The Ben Shapiro Show and co-founder of Daily Wire+ Article content Share this article in your social network Read Next
Calgary Herald
3 hours ago
- Calgary Herald
How one clause sparked Exxon-Chevron feud that turned personal
Article content (Bloomberg) — The 20-month feud between the Western Hemisphere's two most powerful oil companies over the biggest offshore discovery in a generation hinged on a single clause of a contract few people have ever seen. Article content The passage in a confidential agreement signed more than a decade ago that governs how producers work together in Guyana's booming oil field was the basis for Exxon Mobil Corp.'s arbitration case that threatened to undo Chevron Corp.'s $53 billion takeover of Hess Corp. Article content Article content Article content The ensuing dispute upended Chevron's and Hess's strategies for nearly two years and threatened to mar the legacies of both companies' CEOs. The story behind how it unfolded shows how American oil executives' usual cordial relationships were pushed to the breaking point when a $1 trillion discovery was at stake. Article content Article content 'It should have been resolved much quicker,' Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said in an interview Friday. 'This was a straightforward, plain reading of a contract.' Article content 'We had a clear duty to our investors to consider our preemption rights to protect the value we created,' the company said in a statement. 'We welcome Chevron to the venture.' The following account is based on Bloomberg reporting over nearly two years, including on- and off-the-record conversations with more than two dozen analysts, fund managers, traders and current and former company employees. Article content Article content It began toward the end of 2023, when the US oil industry was basking in the aftermath of the price surge caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In a blow to the clean-energy transition, the war had underscored the continued importance of fossil fuels and furnished producers with record profits. Article content Keen to take advantage, US executives embarked on a corporate takeover spree that would reach nearly $500 billion over just three years. Exxon scored the biggest of them, buying Pioneer Natural Resources Co. for $60 billion in October 2023. Article content Not to be outdone, Chevron announced an agreement to buy Hess for $53 billion less than two weeks later. Hess's minority stake in Guyana's massive Stabroek Block was 'the industry's most attractive, long-lived growth asset' Wirth said on the day of the announcement. It was high praise for a project discovered and operated by its arch-rival, Exxon.
