August 8, 2017
Today, August 8th, is a significant date for me. One year ago today, I was having my first meeting with Tanya Granic Allen, President of PAFE, after I had agreed to become the independent candidate in the Scarborough-Rouge River byelection. I was running on the single issue platform of repealing Kathleen Wynne’s sex-ed curriculum. My purpose in running wasn’t to win the byelection but to put pressure on Patrick Brown, leader of the PC Party of Ontario, so that he would be clear about his stance towards Wynne’s sex-ed curriculum.
There are many reasons why I’m against Wynne’s curriculum. I’d like to share two stories with you – 2 true stories – about the impact that this curriculum has had on children.
Story Number 1 – Two 6 year-old girls, let’s call them Sophia and Lisa, were at school one day playing together. To Sophia’s surprise, Lisa suddenly took off her pants and underwear, and asked Sophia to touch her in between her legs. Sophia was extremely disturbed and when she got home she told her mother. This is a true story and unfortunately there are others like it because Kathleen Wynne’s sex-ed curriculum sexualizes children. The sexualization of children – that’s one reason why you and I are here today protesting against Wynne’s curriculum.
Story Number 2 – A 16-year-old was telling her mother that she was going to a friend’s party. When the mother asked what kind of party it was, the girl responded that her classmate, let’s call her Sarah, was celebrating the removal of her breasts. Sarah, had been thinking for a while that she was a boy trapped in a girl’s body, and she was encouraged by some “friends” to have surgery and testosterone injections so that she could become a man. No one told Sarah that research shows that up to 80% of young people who experience gender dysphoria settle into their biological sex in adulthood. Sarah, a vulnerable teen looking for her identity, is now permanently disfigured and will not be able to have her own biological children. Kathleen Wynne’s sex-ed curriculum introduces gender ideology in grade 3.
My question is: How many more kids need to be mutilated and sterilized before Kathleen Wynne admits that her curriculum is state-funded child abuse?
Do you know what else is atrocious? Patrick Brown, leader of the PC Party, leader of the Opposition in Ontario, says he fully supports this curriculum! Since when was it the role of the Official Opposition to back the corrupt Liberal government? When Wynne’s approval rating plunged to 12% in March, Patrick Brown was there to support her anti-family policies. The question is why? So let’s review what happened in last summer’s Scarborough-Rouge River byelection.
Raymond Cho was the PC Party’s candidate in Scarborough-Rouge River, a riding where there are many Chinese like me. The Chinese are traditional in our values so the majority of us are against Wynne’s sex-ed curriculum. For most of the byelection, Raymond Cho – like me – was against the sex-ed.
On August 25, Patrick Brown’s office sent Parents As First Educators, Campaign Life Coalition and me a letter signed by Patrick Brown on PC Party letterhead saying he would scrap the curriculum in 2018 if he becomes Premier. The PC Party had the letter translated into Chinese and they distributed copies of it to voters in the riding. Patrick Brown wrote this letter because I was running in the byelection solely against the sex-ed curriculum, and he wanted the Chinese and everyone else who was against the sex-ed to vote for his candidate. Let me read you some excerpts from the letter.
Here’s Patrick Brown:
I believe parents are the primary educators of their children. When it comes to sexual health education, parents should have a say on how much their children are taught, and at what age.
I remain committed to principles I articulated during the leadership: Parents should be given advance notice of subjects taught and have access to materials used, so they can decide if their child is ready; and every parent has the right to withdraw their child from the classroom, at their discretion, without penalty or repercussion.
Upon being elected, a PC Government would scrap the controversial changes to sex-ed introduced by Premier Wynne and develop a new curriculum after thoughtful and full consultation with parents.
I believe sex-ed is important, but it cannot be significantly changed without extensively consulting the primary educators of children, who have always been parents.
As you can imagine, I was excited when I received Patrick Brown’s letter. The media immediately reported it. The next day, Patrick Brown was interviewed, so was Kathleen Wynne and me.
Two days later, however, Patrick Brown said this to the media:
“It was a mistake for a letter to go out to Scarborough-Rouge River voters saying that I would ‘scrap’ the updated curriculum. This is not my view. This is not what I will do. In fact, the opposite is true.”
“I strongly support an updated curriculum …”
“It is important to have sex education to combat homophobia, and raise important issues like consent, mental health, bullying, and gender identity. …”
That was Patrick Brown on August 29, 2016.
He also denied that he wrote the letter and that he knew anything about it. Many people were angry at Patrick Brown for this sex-ed flip flop. His response was: “If you’re not happy, vote for someone else.”
On September 19, Patrick Brown wrote about his sex-ed flip flop on Facebook. Here’s an excerpt:
“I opposed the changes to the curriculum when they were first announced. They were undeniably controversial and Kathleen Wynne failed to explain it adequately to parents. Even Dalton McGuinty backed away from implementing them.”
“I have since come to the conclusion that significant opposition to the curriculum was rooted in a refusal to accept LGBT elements into the curriculum.”
That was Patrick Brown writing on his Facebook page on September 19, 2016.
Since then, Patrick Brown has declared war on his base of supporters who believe in parental rights and family values.
Last November I was at a conference and someone came up to me saying, “You’re Queenie Yu from the Scarborough – Rouge River byelection, right? I don’t share the same views as you, but I wanted to tell you that you and your group aren’t the only ones who were betrayed by Patrick Brown. We went door knocking for him during his leadership campaign, delivered flyers for him, and after he became leader he threw us under the bus.”
My question is: How many more groups have been betrayed by Patrick Brown?
It is disappointing that he openly supports Kathleen Wynne’s sex-ed agenda and all her anti-family policies. But something good came out of Patrick Brown’s sex-ed flip flop. We exposed his true colours. If I hadn’t run in that byelection last summer, many of you – myself included – we would be door knocking for him now, handing out flyers for him and donating to him only to find out after the 2018 provincial election that he wouldn’t repeal the sex-ed curriculum. What we did in Scarborough-Rouge River saved all of us much more future disappointment than what we are experiencing now.
I don’t know about you but I am not discouraged. My campaign in Scarborough – Rouge River had a fraction of the resources that the three big political parties had but the impact we made went beyond Ontario. During the Conservative Party of Canada’s Leadership Race, someone in the interior of British Columbia said that they wouldn’t vote for a candidate who would do a Patrick Brown flip flop. Can you believe it? What we did last summer reached the West Coast!
If we accomplished so much during the Scarborough – Rouge River byelection with a fraction of the money and volunteers that the Liberals, PCs and NDP had, how much more could we do if all of you were to get more involved?
We’re fighting this battle against Wynne’s sex-ed curriculum because of our children. During my campaign last year, I constantly thought about my four young nephews. One day, one of them asked my sister, “Mommy, why don’t people have more kids?” She answered: “Well, people want a bigger house, another car, they want to travel… kids are expensive, you know.” My nephew thought for a moment and then said: “No we’re not. We’re priceless!”
Children can have such wisdom! Yes, all children are priceless. That’s why I will continue speaking out against Kathleen Wynne’s sex-ed agenda, and I will continue holding Patrick Brown accountable for his sex-ed flip flop and his support for the Liberal government’s anti-family policies. Thank you.