From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

‘I do not believe it is the right thing to do to support any kind of procedure that would sterilize a child.’

British Columbia Conservative leader John Rustad has told Dr. Jordan Peterson that he believes provincial governments should protect children from puberty blockers. 

During a September 2 interview of the Jordan Peterson podcast, Rustad, who is running for premier of British Columbia, discussed protecting Canadians against the LGBT agenda, including safeguarding women’s sports and banning puberty blockers for children.

“I do not believe it is the right thing to do to support any kind of procedure that would sterilize a child, they are not old enough to make those kinds of decisions,” Rustad stated.   

“Who knows where they’ll want to be in their future and I just think as a as a province we need to do everything we can to be able to protect children,” he continued.  

Rustad also discussed the “Fairness in Women’s and Girls’ Sports Act,” which aimed to ban gender-confused males from competing in women’s sports.  

“The intent is not to exclude anybody but not to take the rights of one people to give to the rights of other people,” Rustad explained.  

“I think quite frankly it’s important that the rights of everybody should be able to be protected and particularly for you know women and girls if they want to you know for example go after scholarships or whatever it is and they want to be able to compete at high levels you know they should be able to compete fairly,” he continued.  

Introduced in April, the private member bill would have mandated that all publicly-funded sports and athletic teams, events and tournaments be classified by sex. However, it was quickly shut down by the New Democratic Party (NDP), the left-wing party which currently runs the province.

“The interesting part was the left wouldn’t even allow it on the floor,” Rustad recalled. “They voted against it. They wouldn’t even let it pass first reading and first reading is usually just a formality before and then it gets called for further debate.” 

In addition to this bill, Rustad has continuously worked to promote parental rights.

As LifeSiteNews previously reported, in October 2023, Rustad condemned SOGI 123, a nation-wide program pushing LGBT values in schools under the label of inclusivity.    

Rustad also condemned school libraries for offering pornographic literature to children, citing a recent case where a library book deemed too offensive to be read in the legislature was available for children in school libraries.   

Rustad is far from alone in his fight to protect Canadians from the LGBT agenda. In fact, Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick have all introduced legislation to uphold parental rights.  

In February, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced new legislation that would ban doctors from pharmaceutically “transitioning” children, require parental consent for pronoun changes in school, and bar men claiming to be women from women’s sports.    

Similarly, last September, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe announced that he will invoke his government’s notwithstanding clause to protect legislation stating that parents must be told if their child changes “genders” at school; a judge had ruled against the enforcement of the law earlier that day.     

Even prior to Saskatchewan’s move, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs came under-fire by LGBT activists for reviewing the province’s “gender identity” policy, as it allowed schools to hide students’ “transgender” status from parents.