National Post

Ford vows sex-ed, math changes

- Allison Jones liam casey and

TORONTO • Doug Ford vowed Tuesday to scrap and replace Ontario’s sex-ed curriculum and Discovery Math program if he wins the election, saying the province’s Liberal premier has turned schools into “social laboratori­es.”

The Progressiv­e Conservati­ve leader announced three education promises ahead of Wednesday’s official start to the provincial election campaign, including tying postsecond­ary funding to free speech.

He did not provide details of how that process would work, but said universiti­es are supposed to be a place where people exchange ideas and have respectful and responsibl­e debates, but too many schools are putting limits on that.

The sex-ed curriculum sparked controvers­y, particular­ly among social conservati­ves, when the Liberal government introduced it in 2015. It was the first time the curriculum had been updated since 1998 and included warnings about online bullying and sexting, but protesters zeroed in on discussion­s of same-sex marriage, masturbati­on and gender identity.

“For too long the Liberals have ignored Ontario parents,” Ford said Tuesday. “They have introduced the sex curriculum based on ideology — a curriculum that teaches sensitive topics starting at an early age.”

Ford said in a news release that under Premier Kathleen Wynne “our schools have been turned into social laboratori­es and our kids into test subjects for whatever special interests and so-called experts that have captured Kathleen Wynne’s ear.”

He wouldn’t say at a news conference Tuesday what parts of the sex-ed curriculum he takes issue with, only that parents were not consulted enough.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath criticized Ford’s pledge on sex-ed, saying the curriculum the Tory leader is vowing to bring back was in place when her now 25-yearold son was in school.

“There’s no doubt that curriculum needed to be upgraded, New Democrats supported that,” she said. “I think Mr. Ford may be considerin­g dragging our province backwards on this front and on many other fronts.”

Ford also said that with half of Ontario’s Grade 6 students not meeting a provincial math standard, schools need to get back to the basics.

“Kids used to learn math by doing things like memorizing a multiplica­tion table and it worked,” Ford said. “Instead, our kids are left with experiment­al discovery math. That hardly teaches math at all. Instead, everyone gets a participat­ion ribbon and our kids are left to fend for themselves.”

In April 2016, Ontario announced a three-year, $60-million math strategy.

The following year, only half of students in Grade 6, and 62 per cent in Grade 3 met the standard.

 ?? CHRIS YOUNG / THE CANADIAN PRESS ?? Doug Ford holds a rally Tuesday in Toronto to kick-start his Ontario provincial election campaign.
CHRIS YOUNG / THE CANADIAN PRESS Doug Ford holds a rally Tuesday in Toronto to kick-start his Ontario provincial election campaign.

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