New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs

From LifeSiteNews

By Jonathon Van Maren

Sharing slides of a presentation given by a third-party group to New Brunswick school children that contained questions about pornography, masturbation and ‘anal’ sex, Premier Blaine Higgs said he is ‘furious’ and that the group has been banned, ‘effective immediately.’

Once again, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs is showing Canadian politicians how to effectively advocate for common sense socially conservative policies. On May 24, he tweeted out a photograph of a slide from a sex education presentation given in a New Brunswick school. The slide featured red lips closing on a lollipop, the title “Thirsty For The Talk,” and the questions: “Is it normal to watch porn like people watch TV series?”; “Do girls masturbate?” and: “Is it good or bad to do anal?” 

Premier Higgs posted his response: 

A number of concerned parents have shared with me photos and screenshots of clearly inappropriate material that was presented recently in at least four New Brunswick high schools. 

To say I am furious would be a gross understatement. 

This presentation was not part of the New Brunswick curriculum and the content was not flagged for parents in advance. My office has been told by Department of Education officials that this was supposed to be a presentation on HPV.  

However, the group shared materials well beyond the scope of an HPV presentation. The fact that this was shared shows either improper vetting was done, the group misrepresented the content they would share … or both. 

This group will not be allowed to present again at New Brunswick schools, effective immediately. 

Our government will have further discussions about whether additional rules about third-party presentations need to be updated.  

Children should be protected, and parents should be respected. 

I want parents to know that we are with you. We will continue to make decisions based on the principle that parents need to be aware of what is happening at schools, so they can make informed parenting decisions. 

Do you think we need stronger rules about third-party presentations in our schools? I want to hear directly from you. Take our survey by clicking here: 

https://newbrunswickpc.ca/school 

Presentations like this – and indeed, presentations containing far more graphic material – are common in Canadian public schools. Plenty of schools actually feature in-house content that is substantially worse than this. But every time a debate about explicit, how-to sexual content in schools erupts, progressive activists and politicians dodge the issue by retreating to vagueness. Instead of defending the idea of an activist group like Planned Parenthood coming in to talk to students about why anal sex is just fine, they insist that this content is essential for “inclusion” and “tolerance” while scrupulously avoiding the specifics. Inevitably, most of the press coverage of the debate fails to include the specifics of what actually upset parents in the first place, and instead presents objectors as opposed to common sense progressive educational policies. 

When the explicit content in question is described, however, progressives are denied the opportunity to defend their policy of encouraging and introducing fringe sex acts to children in vague, friendly, liberal-sounding buzzwords. Last year, for example, Planned Parenthood got caught handing out graphic “ABC” sex cards to students as young as 14 that explained, for example, how they could engage in “yellow and brown showers” (urinating and defecating on their partners). Plenty of other dangerous and immoral sex acts are encouraged, with Planned Parenthood’s presentation stating that each sexual urge must be “affirmed” – the amorality, in short, was up front. 

But when the sex cards were covered in a handful of press outlets, parents were outraged the Saskatchewan government got involved. Planned Parenthood is now banned from presenting in Saskatchewan schools (although it was never explained why they were invited to do so in the first place). Planned Parenthood was reportedly confused by this decision, as they didn’t see the problem with the content they had distributed – but the only reason they were denied access to Canadian kids is because the graphic sexual information they were distributing was exposed publicly. 

Premier Blaine Higgs appears to have realized that to implement common sense policies, exposing what is actually being taught in public schools is the only way forward. Progressives cannot be allowed to hide behind buzzwords like “toleration” and “inclusion.” Politicians and activists – including the prime minister – who wish to defend this content should be made to defend specifics, and the only way to force them to do that is to show the public what the kids are being taught in schools.  

Jonathon Van Maren is a public speaker, writer, and pro-life activist. His commentary has been translated into more than eight languages and published widely online as well as print newspapers such as the Jewish Independent, the National Post, the Hamilton Spectator and others. He has received an award for combating anti-Semitism in print from the Jewish organization B’nai Brith. His commentary has been featured on CTV Primetime, Global News, EWTN, and the CBC as well as dozens of radio stations and news outlets in Canada and the United States.

He speaks on a wide variety of cultural topics across North America at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions. Some of these topics include abortion, pornography, the Sexual Revolution, and euthanasia. Jonathon holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in history from Simon Fraser University, and is the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

Jonathon’s first book, The Culture War, was released in 2016.