Liberation in the Streets, Kettleballs in the Sheets

Is this about rights or strategy?

This week on Balance of Power, Annalise Klingbeil, Leah Ward and Shannon Phillips talk kettlebells (kettleballs?) before digging into the politics behind the latest waves of anti-trans policy in Canada and what it reveals about how governments choose to fight.

First: the framing. How “parental rights” moved from the margins to the centre of the debate and who it is actually for. Is this persuasion? Base mobilization? Or something else entirely?

Then: the shift from clinical care to political conflict. What happens when decisions that used to sit with doctors, patients, and families get pulled into legislatures, and why that shift matters.

Plus: the limits of the Charter. If governments are willing to test or override legal protections, what does that mean for how these fights play out going forward?

And finally: if the courts are not enough, what options are left and what does an effective political response actually look like?

Strategy, framing, legal limits, and what happens when politics moves faster than institutions.

Welcome to Balance of Power.

Have a comment or idea? email us: [email protected]

Correction: Around 51:55 where Leah mentions the Alberta case before the courts, it is actualy the Saskatchewan challenge before the Supreme Court. Alberta had applied as an intervenor. As of recording Alberta's challenge is currently at the appeal stage. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.