Ontario PC Party in need of sex education

Ontario PC Party in need of sex education

During the recent leadership contest of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, the sex-education curriculum hysteria raised its ugly head yet again.  In one debate the then leadership contestant Tanya Granic Allen notoriously claimed that children are being taught about "anal sex" in school.  (Apparently none of those actually teaching the curriculum noticed this.)  And since election as PC Leader, Doug Ford has reaffirmed his commitment to repealing the new curriculum introduced in 2015.

Enough ink has already been spilled attempting to cool the hot air of this conservative culture war.  What is a new observation, however, is the irony of this rebirth of the sex ed excitement in the wake of the scandals surrounding former PC Leader Patrick Brown.  Brown was pressured to resign under pressure from his caucus (including MPP John Yakabuski) after news stories revealed Brown's domineering sexual posture towards younger female staffers.  His behaviour towards his female employees was so systemic that his own advisers discussed their fears of a potential public scandal as long ago as 2015.

Suffice to say that the PC Party was recently forced into chaos by the scandal of a leader encroaching upon women without clear consent, and now this same party is protesting a curriculum that teaches children about the need for respecting bodily autonomy and consent-based behaviour.

Speaking of respect for women, it is sad that two reputable women, more especially the eminently-qualified Christine Elliot who had patiently made her third leadership run, both lost to a macho-male patriarch for the PC leadership.  (Elliot lost the leadership even after winning more members' votes and seats than Doug Ford!)  Does anyone expect an educated understanding of consent-based behaviour from a man known for personal attacks on rivals?

Speaking of Ford, in his leadership campaign he expressed off-the-cuff support for granting parents a veto over potential abortions by their adolsecent daughters.  One might imagine that the parents most likely to use such a veto would tend to be the same parents least comfortable with educating their children about safe sexuality.  And those not educated about safe sexuality are the most likely to conceive at too young an age...

Apparently the "Progressive" Conservatives have not learned the right lessons from the longstanding lack of sex education that has afflicted their leadership.  So long as that remains the case, they cannot be trusted with having the power to limit the sex education available to the rest of Ontario.  The rest of Ontario has had enough of mixing sexual mis-education with politics.

Stefan Klietsch

Renfrew