trans | (no subject)

So I have a question that maybe Canadian, especially Albertan, trans members might know? Or anyone who knows anyone whose said anything or experienced anything about this haha.

So, last Friday I had my second appointment with my psychologist. I had sent an e-mail a week before hand asking about HRT etc, and I basically explained to him in my last session that he's a complete waste of money and both of our time because I know what I want and I don't need to be evaluated, because frankly I ran out of things to tell him in my first session. Once I covered all the basics that was pretty much it, because I wasn't questioning anything and I wasn't traumatized by anything. I told him my anxiety and need to transition increases with every passing day and everything from my work performance and relationships are being affected as a result. So he checked the two references I gave him and once he was satisfied he gave me a list of a total three GP's in my area that he knows are trans friendly and he just wanted me to find one so he could write my official referral letter.

Anyway, I was talking to a friend of a friend on MSN who went through the HRT process in Alberta and she said that I apparently need to go through Dr. Warneke (the only psychiatrist in Alberta with the authority to approve people for SRS) in order to start HRT, which is a 10+ month waiting period. I'm curious to know if this is true, or if my psychologist and the GP are fine enough? Because I have another trans friend who just went to her GP for a regular check up sort of deal and her GP decided to start her on HRT right then and there. And it seemed a little extreme to make a person wait on a waiting list for so long and it just seems like someone with that much of a bottleneck to deal with had far better things to do than approve every little thing. Especially since I read that the only important difference between the two (a psychologist and a psychiatrist) is that one can physically prescribe medication and the other one can't.