A British Columbia private member's bill that would have given parents the right to sue doctors up to 25 years after they provided care for transgender children has been voted down in the legislature even before making it to first reading.
A summary of the proposed bill provided by the One BC Party says it would have also stopped doctors from providing puberty blockers to minors, prevented the use of "wrong pronouns" in schools and banned the use of public funds for gender transitions.
"(The bill would) give children and their parents a course of action for up to 25 years after gender transition treatments to sue for compensation, including for the loss of the right to have children of their own," the description said.
It was defeated 48 to 40 before it reached first reading, a rare occurrence for proposed legislation.
One BC is made up of former B.C. Conservative members of the legislature Tara Armstrong and Dallas Brodie.
Armstrong told the legislature that B.C. was "sleepwalking through the greatest medical scandal in modern history" and the bill would "restore sanity."
Conservative Leader John Rustad, who voted in favour of the bill moving to first reading, said after the vote that he didn't know what was in it but his party has been talking for years about "the need to protect women and girls."
He said he voted yes to allow the party to see what was in the bill and decide whether it was worth supporting.
During question period, Attorney General Niki Sharma apologized to children and families who support them who might be listening to what was going on in the legislature.
"I have to say this is another sad day in the B.C. legislature when conservative politicians are trying to dictate what parents should be doing and decisions they should be making with love and support for their children, and we're picking on vulnerable children," she said.
"Let me be clear about something, health decisions, individual health decisions for kids, are a protected right of parents to make with their doctor in the best interest of their children, not by governments and not by politicians."
Brodie was kicked out of the Conservative caucus earlier this year over comments she made about residential schools, and Armstrong followed not long after, saying Rustad had abandoned his "moral compass in a quest for power."
After the bill was voted down, Brodie told reporters it was "exciting" that the Conservatives were following her party's lead.
Armstrong said she believed the Conservatives would experience backlash from their constituents if they did not support the bill.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
