Warning to readers: Imagine my mortification when I tuned in to a recent episode of 100 Huntley Street, which began with the host talking dirty — directly into the camera:

“If there are any children in the room, this conversation may not be suitable for your children,” she began.

Once a paragon of evangelical television, is 100 Huntley Street now a purveyor of language unfit for a child’s ears? This is a family newspaper, and you’ve been warned.

The host introduced the topic of sex education, specifically a stillborn attempt by the Liberals in 2010 to expose kids — school kids! — to talk of “sexual orientation in Grade 3, masturbation in Grade 6 and oral sex and anal sex in Grades 7 and 8.”

There. I said it. You read it. Blame 100 Huntley Street for airing such delicate matters, lest our kids ever be exposed — heaven forbid — to such unfathomable and ungodly earthly chatter.

The damage done, our host turned it over to a wholesome-looking provincial politician, Monte McNaughton, who is running for the leadership of the opposition Progressive Conservatives. McNaughton told tall tales about a “huge backlash in 2010” that, admittedly, made the jittery Liberals cry uncle on the eve of an election campaign.

Now, McNaughton is hoping to ride sex ed all the way to the premier’s office.

“Parents should be first educators in serious matters like sex education,” intoned the London-area MPP. You know, like Sarah Palin and her daughter Bristol?

Today, McNaughton’s target is Kathleen Wynne, who was education minister when the original sex ed curriculum was first devised. Now, as premier, she intends to pick up where former premier Dalton McGuinty left off before dropping the ball.

Almost five years after the Liberals sidelined sex ed, the government will soon be reissuing an updated curriculum. The new proposal will likely coincide with the homestretch of the PC leadership campaign (culminating in a May convention), when McNaughton will lead the charge for family values.

Beyond the hyperbole and hypocrisy, brace yourself for a bigger smear campaign. Opponents of the reforms, including members of the PC caucus in the legislature, and various religious groups online, keep raising the name of Ben Levin, a former deputy minister of education who was arrested last year and charged with seven counts of child exploitation. These critics cite Levin’s shocking public downfall as proof that the entire sex-ed curriculum — he served under Wynne at the education ministry before retiring — is damaged goods.

Last week, Levin’s lawyer, Clayton Ruby, confirmed in court that Levin “will be making a guilty plea,” though he didn’t specify to which offences — accessing, possessing, writing and distributing child pornography, counselling someone to commit sexual assault, and making an arrangement with a police officer to commit sexual assault.

But the confirmation of an impending guilty plea in some form — Levin next appears in court Aug. 8 — has emboldened critics who have latched on to his case. Their theory is that as deputy, Levin single-handedly slipped perverted materials into the updated curriculum — duping Wynne, scores of religious figures who were onside, hundreds of curriculum experts, thousands of parent advisers, and tens of thousands of teachers who support it.

Despite Wynne’s assertion that Levin was only tangentially involved as deputy — the issue was handled primarily by her then-parliamentary assistant, Liz Sandals, who is now spearheading the update as education minister — the anti-sex-ed brigade persists with the theory that Levin’s influence lives on.

For all the fulminations from critics about child sex predators, the reality is that most educators and law enforcement authorities strongly support a modern sex-ed curriculum that teaches students about their body parts and proper terminology, believing it would help empower and inoculate children against improper behaviour, or at least help with police investigations.

As for the idea that Levin’s downfall has poisoned the chalice, religious activists should be careful not to take the notion of guilt by association too far. There is no shortage of priests, pastors, rabbis and imams who have been accused and convicted of inappropriate sexual relations.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

We now rescind our warning to readers, in hopes that regular religious programming will resume on 100 Huntley Street.

Martin Regg Cohn’s Ontario politics column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. mcohn@thestar.ca , Twitter: @reggcohn

Read more about: