Ford government has no price tag or timetable for provincewide consultation on sex ed

Thestar.com
July 20, 2018
Robert Benzie

Premier Doug Ford is vowing the new sex ed curriculum will be developed after the “largest consultation ever in Ontario’s history when it comes to education,” but details remain few and far between.

As Ford scrambles to keep his election promise to replace the 2015 syllabus opposed by social conservatives, he has pledged public hearings in every corner of the province.

A spokesperson for Lisa Thompson said Friday that the education minister “looks forward to sharing details ... in the near future” on the promised provincewide consultations to rewrite the sex ed curriculum.

While his newly elected government has scrapped that modern curriculum and revived the 1998 version, the Progressive Conservatives have not yet determined a price tag or a timetable for the sweeping consultation process.

“The minister is working with our team and officials and looks forward to sharing details on the consultations in the near future,” a spokesperson for Education Minister Lisa Thompson said Friday.

New Democrat MPP Peggy Sattler said the lack of a plan is stunning, given that the Tories’ main problem with the 2015 syllabus was the consultation process rather than the curriculum content.

“They did not think this through as to how they are going to manage this process,” said Sattler, who has a master’s degree in education policy.

“A Pandora’s box of problems is a good way to put it,” she said.

Sattler said things are so haphazard that, as of Friday afternoon, the Ministry of Education website still featured the 2015 curriculum for educators.

“The 1998 curriculum has not even been posted to the ministry’s website. It’s still not there. There are a lot of teachers who were hired since 2015 who don’t know the curriculum from 1998,” said the London West MPP.

“It’s not even the process of how they’re going to consult and how long that’s going to take and what it’s going to involve,” she said. “It’s what’s going to happen in six weeks when kids go back to school and teachers don’t even have the (1998) curriculum available that they’re going to be expected to teach from.”

 

On Tuesday, Ford was unequivocal that “it’s going to be a big job” to consult with Ontarians.

“We’re going to do this in a rapid fashion. We’re going to start pretty well immediately,” the premier said.

“But what we’re going to do --unlike the previous government --we’re going to go around to every single riding in the province, all 124 ridings, sit down with the parents and get their opinion,” he said.

“It’s going to be the largest consultation ever in Ontario’s history when it comes to education. Think about it. The largest ever in Ontario’s history. Then once we do that, we’ll sit down, compile the information, and then we’ll put a new curriculum together.”

It is unclear when the budget or the timeline for Ford’s road show will be released.

If the consultation continues throughout the school year, that means 124 public hearings between September and June, an average of a dozen per month.

While some Tory insiders have privately said the consultation should be done online, which is less expensive and more efficient, Ford’s public pronouncement has put pressure on the education minister to produce something more elaborate.

“We’re going to be very transparent with the media and the people, because we’re going to hit 124 ridings,” said the premier, who won the March 10 PC leadership with help from social conservatives.

Between 1998 and 2014, students were taught a 42-page curriculum that did not mention same-sex relationships, gender, consent or online safety.

Three years ago --after an extensive consultation process dating back to 2007 --an updated 239-page curriculum was released.

It was supposed to have been unveiled in 2010, but was stalled when Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty got cold feet after pressure from the religious right.

In 2015, Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne finally implemented the new curriculum, which tackles subjects such as online safety and includes societal changes such as the legalization of same-sex marriage, the enshrinement in law of LBGT protections, and the rise of social media.