"There's a picture of a threesome. There's a picture of oral sex."

TORONTO — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is defending her government's directive to remove sexually explicit materials from school libraries, saying the policy is about protecting children from graphic imagery, not banning literature or censoring ideas.

In an exclusive, wide-ranging interview airing Wednesday on Can't Be Censored, Smith addresses the national backlash to what critics have called the "Alberta book ban." She says the intent of the policy has been twisted and misrepresented, and that the outrage is rooted in misinformation rather than fact.

Smith explains that the directive was prompted by complaints from parents who were shocked to discover explicit images in K–12 school libraries. "There's a picture of a threesome, a picture of a threesome. There's a picture of oral sex. Both, male oral sex and female oral sex. There's a picture of an adult pulling down the pants of a child. These are images that are in books that are in libraries for K to 12," she says.

The premier says the first version of the directive "was written in a way that was probably not as clear as it should have been," but that her government quickly revised it. "It wasn't just supposed to be an incidental passage in an adult book that may have made reference to sex," she explains. "That's not what it was about. It was about the images that I was talking about. So we redrafted the ministerial order, made it super clear which books we were concerned about. It made it super clear which school boards were the ones that were allowing it in their elementary schools. And I think we got to a good place."

The original order sparked controversy when Edmonton Public Schools released a list of more than 200 titles for removal, including The Handmaid's Tale and 1984.

The move drew widespread criticism from authors, educators, and civil-liberties advocates who said the government was veering toward censorship.

During the interview, Travis Dhanraj asked Smith specifically about author Margaret Atwood's criticism of the policy and whether she had a response. Smith dismissed the comparison as misplaced. "Well, you know, if Handmaid's Tale

was a picture book, yeah, then maybe we'd be having some conversations about whether or not it should be available to grade three student story time. But it isn't," she said. "If you go online and you ask what level Handmaid's Tale

is designed for, it's for 17 and 18-year-olds. There's no harm in 17 and 18-year-olds being challenged with challenging ideas. Our issue is trying to preserve the innocence of children as long as possible. Images have a way of just sticking in a child's head, and we want to make sure that we're protecting them."

Smith also accuses some school divisions of deliberately overreacting to the directive in protest. "I heard that the books that were on Edmonton Public list, remember it was Edmonton Public, there's something called vicious compliance," she says. "I think what they did is they ran their book list through AI, and any incidental mention of a penis or a vagina probably ended up prompting a book to be added that was not what the intention was. But that was Edmonton Public's book list basically."

Although the government has since paused the directive to clarify that it targets images

rather than text, the debate has spread far beyond Alberta. Critics accuse Smith of importing U.S.-style culture wars into Canada, while supporters say the province is restoring common sense and parental oversight.

Asked whether the controversy is part of a broader ideological battle, Smith rejects the framing. "Most people want to be left alone," she says. "Most adults want to live their life free of government intervention. But when activists started going after kids, that's when parents said, hold on."

For Smith, the issue is clear: Alberta is drawing a boundary between protecting children and preserving free expression. "We're trying to preserve the innocence of children as long as possible," she says. "It's about protecting kids, not censoring ideas."

The full Can't Be Censored

interview with Premier Danielle Smith, covering the book policy, Alberta's standoff with Ottawa over carbon pricing, and her views on federal censorship laws, drops Wednesday on YouTube and at CantBeCensored.com.