Two education professors at the University of New Brunswick have asserted that Premier Blaine Higgs’ recent prohibition of a sexual health presentation in high schools is largely politically motivated. Casey Burkholder and Ken Brien believe that Higgs intends to use this issue to his advantage in the upcoming provincial election, where he is expected to prioritize “parental rights” in his platform. Burkholder suggests that Higgs is attempting to instigate a “culture war” to distract from more urgent matters, particularly healthcare and housing.
On May 24, Higgs publicly shared a slide from the presentation that posed questions like “Do girls masturbate?” and “Is it good or bad to do anal?”, expressing that the organization responsible for the presentation would be barred from future presentations. This decision followed his government’s implementation of a policy last year mandating teachers to obtain parental consent before using students’ preferred names and pronouns for those under the age of 16.
However, Steve Outhouse, a spokesperson for Higgs, emphasizes that the primary concern is the lack of parental notification and involvement in the presentation’s content.
