From an official press release:
Educating our children is the most important job in the world. The next generations will inform how our country develops and contributes to issues facing society. Ontario needs to be a leader in the quality of education we give our children. This means that we need to arm our teachers with comprehensive and intuitive curricular documents. The way that the sex-ed curriculum was rolled out was completely unacceptable. Consultations with parents were insufficient.
Unlike the Liberals, I know that parents, not government, are our children’s first educators. The sex-ed curriculum should be about facts, not teaching Liberal ideology. Parents should have the first and final say on what they want to teach their kids past this point. The Liberals have refused their insight, feedback, and expertise by not consulting with families on changes to Ontario's sex-ed curriculum. But the Liberals have not been the only ones who have turned a blind eye to the concerns of parents. Our own PC Party, under Patrick Brown, refused to even consult its own members on what we thought of this curriculum and stonewalled debate of the issue by forbidding discussion of this policy from reaching the membership during our policy development process. This is unacceptable. We cannot expect Ontarians to trust us to consult parents on curriculum when we do not even consult with our own members.
If I am elected leader, I will take this issue to the party, to parents, and to the voters. I will remain firm on this issue. I have always respected the taxpayer. I have always opposed the carbon tax. And I will always stand for parents having the first say in what their children learn.
I will revisit curricular documents in all core subject areas and make changes that ensure that our kids are being provided with the building blocks they need in order to succeed in the workforce, post-secondary levels, and life. When only half of our grade 6 students are meeting the provincial standard in math, it is clear that there is an issue. The Wynne government has thrown $60 million at this issue and is already backtracking on their initial plan and grasping at other changes. Why? The changes they have recommended are simply not working. I will review the curriculum in all core subject areas thoroughly and ensure changes are put in place that will boost the success levels of our kids. Ontario's education system is setting up our children for failure when we should be a force to be reckoned with. I want to see children from hard working Ontario families ranking in the top percentiles of international education rankings.
Let's get students there together.