Premier defends banning sex ed group despite not seeing presentation

Premier Blaine Higgs is defending his decision to ban a sex education group from provincial schools despite acknowledging not having seen the entire presentation that provoked criticism from some parents.

Higgs told reporters Tuesday that he made the decision, announced in a message posted to the social media site X last Friday night, after being sent a screenshot from the presentation given in several schools last week.

"I was sent the presentation, the screen shot," he said, before correcting himself: "I was never sent the entire presentation."

Asked if his ban was based solely on the screenshot, Higgs said, "Next question?"

Higgs also would not say why his social media post directed readers to a survey on the issue on the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick website.

"Do you have another question?" Higgs said.

That survey asked respondents for their email addresses and promised them "updates on this topic" from the PC Party "as they happen." 

Opposition Liberal Leader Susan Holt and Green Leader David Coon both said Higgs was trying to stir up anger to collect contact information from voters his party can use in the campaign leading to the Oct. 21 provincial election.

"It's really unpleasant to see him trying to manufacture rage and link it to fishing for email addresses from folks," Holt said. 

Coon said it was "ridiculous" for Higgs to make a decision based on a single screenshot and, like Holt, suggested the Friday post was the work of PC campaign manager Steve Outhouse.

"He's all about preparing for the next election campaign so he saw a beautiful opportunity to use this to anger some people and raise money from them for the election campaign," said Coon.

Friday's post by Higgs said he was "furious" about the presentation and included a slide that included questions like "do girls masturbate" and "is it good or bad to do anal?"

Teresa Norris, the head of a charity called HPV Global Action, which operates a youth sexual education resource called Thirsty for the Talk, told CBC News on the weekend that schools receive an outline of the content in advance and must consent before the presentation.

She said the questions in the slide are actual questions the group gets from students.

Higgs said he wants consistent standards applied across the province on such presentations and the department did not vet the content.

"Is this part of the curriculum? I'm told it's not. Was it vetted? I'm told it's not," said Higgs on Tuesday.

Norris told CBC that the presentation, Healthy Relationships 101, does not promote the sexual behaviours in the screenshot.

"We talk about abstinence in the presentation, we empower students to help them make decisions about their relationships," she said.

The premier also compared the issue to the debate over Policy 713, which his government changed a year ago to require parental consent when children under 16 want to adopt new names and pronouns at school to reflect their gender identity.

The sex ed presentation is "another illustration that parents are not involved in what's going on in the schools, and we've heard that loud and clear on the other issue. So here's one more."

Nadine Thornhill, a Toronto-based sexuality educator, told CBC's Information Morning Fredericton that parents can be anxious about what their children are learning but it's important to help them have difficult conversations with their children. 

She said it was disappointing to see Higgs "simply feel that discomfort, and instead of working with Thirsty for the Talk, working with parents, trying to find a way to have more effective communication, he simply tweeted based on an emotional reaction."

Higgs said Tuesday he hasn't spoken to Norris's group about the presentation and didn't answer a question about why he wouldn't involve them in discussions with parents about the issue.

"We'll let the education department decide the next steps," he said.