Starting June 13th, 2016, the Ontario Liberal government began issuing medical identification cards differently.

As you may know, every Ontario resident receives a government-issued "OHIP" (Ontario Health Insurance Plan) card, bearing the holder's name, photo, date of birth, and sex. This card allow the holder to receive healthcare services upon presentation of the card at a doctor's office or similar healthcare facility.

Now, instead of "M" or "F", no sex is listed AT ALL on the cards—in order to be "inclusive" for those very few Ontarians who believe themselves to be transgendered.

The actual number of residents of Ontario who do not "identify" as female or male has not been detailed for the public: what percentage of Ontario's population of close to 14 million is actually "helped" by this change? By trying to be "inclusive," the Liberal government is now excluding the majority, who do know what our sex is and forcing us to accept "sexless" health cards. It means our government demands that the entire Ontario population subscribe to a sexless vision of humanity, in which there are no biological differences between men and women.

In fact, a person's sex is relevant to providing appropriate medical care. Due to biological differences between men and women, there are different symptoms, conditions, and treatment regimens for health conditions, such as stroke and heart disease, based on one's sex. This policy creates obvious and unnecessary patient safety risks.

Healthcare providers may not know the best treatment plan for a patient if an individual arrives at a hospital emergency room and staff cannot easily identify the patient's sex (particularly if the patient has undergone sex-change surgery). This will surely endanger Ontarians' lives by misdirecting emergency healthcare efforts.

This is deeply disturbing. Ontario's Liberal government is putting an ideological agenda above the health and safety of Canadian citizens.

It's even more troubling that this change was introduced unilaterally and undemocratically, rather than through the legislative process. There's no doubt that this policy should have been introduced and debated in the legislature, where contrary views could be expressed.

If you are concerned about this policy, please sign the petition to Onatario's governing officials, asking them to rescind the policy and retract the "sexless" cards issued since June 2016. Your signature will be automatically sent by email to the recipients, so they will hear your voice immediately.

Even if you don't live in Ontario, please sign the petition anyway—if they adopt this policy without complaint, it's likely that other provinces will do the same. We need to take immediate action to stop that from happening!