Liberal leader Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne take part in a joint news conference in Ottawa Thursday January 29, 2015 ahead of a meeting of Canadian premiers.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Justin Trudeau does not have to worry about sex-ed
An internal poll for the Ontario Liberals has big implications for Justin Trudeau and his team of federal Liberals. It shows that Kathleen Wynne's controversial updating of the sex-education curriculum is popular among Ontarians.
Some Ontario federal Liberal candidates and MPs feared opposition to the new provincial curriculum was affecting their brand – and votes – in the upcoming election. They believe that voters would not discriminate between Ontario and federal Liberals, and that casting a vote against a Liberal in the election would be a vote against the sex-ed curriculum.
But the poll of 1,124 Ontarians has 56 per cent of respondents saying they "strongly support" the change and 23 per cent "somewhat support" it compared to 20 per cent who were either "somewhat opposed" or "strongly opposed."
The poll was conducted by The Gandalf Group's David Herle, who is the Liberal pollster of choice these days, having served as co-chair of Ms. Wynne's election campaign last year, and was the pollster for the Liberals in the recent Nova Scotia and New Brunswick elections. Both provinces elected the Liberals.
His findings seem to run contrary to the perception that the new curriculum is hugely unpopular. In April, several thousand people demonstrated on the lawn at Queen's Park. In May, thousands of parents kept their children out of school to protest against the curriculum, which is to be taught in Ontario's schools in the fall. And the opposition Progressive Conservatives have been doing what they can to whip up controversy over the new program, claiming parents were not consulted enough on the changes. The curriculum – this is the first update since 1998 – includes discussions of sexting, will introduce the topic of same-sex relationships in Grade 3, and, with Grade 7 and 8 students, it will talk about gender identity.
The poll – conducted between May 13 and 25 – was unveiled recently at the Ontario Liberals' annual meeting. It has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Mr. Herle asked respondents, who were interviewed by real people on the telephone, whether they "strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose or strongly oppose the government of Ontario doing the following … updating the sexual education curriculum in public schools to include healthy relationships, consent, online safety and the risks of 'sexting.'" He broke down the numbers to reflect regional and generational biases. For example, 58 per cent of urban Ontarians strongly support the change compared to 38 per cent for rural Ontarians; 47 per cent of respondents who identified as "first generation Canadians" say they are in strong support of the new curriculum, while 16 per cent say they strongly oppose it. When "third generation Canadians" were asked, 58 per cent said they strongly supported it.
Hot and Not
Not: Sale of Hydro One
Mr. Herle's survey showed that the partial sale of Hydro One is not popular, according to a senior official who is familiar with the polling. It becomes more popular when it is linked to funding transit, which is how Premier Wynne and her government are framing it. The NDP's Andrea Horwath is conducting town halls across the province criticizing the sale and suggesting rates will increase as a result.
Hot: Patrick Brown's outreach includes Austria
Patrick Brown, the new leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, sold out his fundraising dinner this week – 1,040 people attended at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. More importantly, it raised $1.5-million for the party's campaign war chest. Ms. Wynne raised nearly $3-million at her fundraising dinner in March. However, the PC dinner was put together in the five weeks since Mr. Brown was elected leader, winning on the strength of reaching into Ontario's ethic communities, especially Indo-Canadians. But his reach extends to Europe, too. One of the biggest sponsors at the dinner was Red Bull; Mr. Brown is a big consumer of the Austrian energy drink and has a fridge-full in his office. The company was a "silver sponsor" of the dinner, donating $10,000.
Not: Ed Clark's pricey consultants
The Ontario NDP has found another $700,000 in contracts paid to consultants to help Ed Clark figure out the partial sale of Hydro One and the changes to beer sales. This brings to nearly $7.5-million the government has spent on the former Toronto-Dominion Bank president's year-long project. In April, the NDP revealed that Ms. Wynne's government paid $6.8-million for consultants for the Clark privatization panel. As with this latest sum, it found out about the contracts through a freedom of information request. But the government will not reveal what expertise the consultants provided. Mr. Clark, meanwhile, is continuing his relationship with the government and is now advising the Premier on business issues. He will be looking for new ways of raising revenue for the cash-starved province. Asked about his new role, NDP finance critic Catherine Fife said: "We now have an embedded banker in the Premier's office. We don't see Mr. Clark making the recommendations that are in the best interests of this province."