Liberals to release sex-ed ad blitz as school year begins

CTV Toronto: Ont. Libs to release sex-ed ad blitz Ont. Liberals are launching a major TV ad blitz to promote the newly updated sex-education curriculum. Paul Bliss reports.

Ontario’s Liberal government is launching a major television ad blitz to promote the controversial, newly updated sex-education curriculum.

The ads -- which will be released to coincide with the start of the school year -- depict images of teenagers in situations where they feel uncomfortable or confused.

The 30-second spot will be released province-wide Monday and depicts a series of real-life scenarios that young people face.

The ad begins with a young boy looking at a wedding cake that has two grooms on top. From there, it shows a boy being bullied online, and a girl taking a “selfie” with her shirt pulled up.

The Liberals announced the details of the revised sex-ed curriculum last February, saying the old curriculum was “dangerously out of date” due to changes in technology.

In a statement about the new ads, Education Minister Liz Sandals says the 1992 version of the curriculum was made “long before Facebook and Snapchat became part of everyday life.”

Under the new curriculum, Grade 1 students will learn the proper names for body parts, while Grade 2 students will learn about both online and face-to-face name-calling. By Grade 4, students will learn about the risks of “sexting.”

While the new teaching plan has been praised by some, it has been protested by others.

In past months, protesters have gathered on the lawn of Queen’s Park to oppose the curriculum and some parents have pulled their children from the classroom. Protestors believe sex-education should be left to parents to teach and not teachers.

The Ontario Conservatives have said that if they were elected, they would review the Liberals' sex-ed curriculum.

Despite the protests and criticism, the curriculum will be rolled out at Ontario schools starting in September.

With files from CTV’s Queens Park reporter Paul Bliss.