Ontario’s new Education Minister Lisa Thompson says her ministry will ensure that every Ontarian has an opportunity to provide feedback as the province rewrites a revised sex education curriculum for students.

“The previous government when you take a look at the number of people that they actually consulted with, it represents roughly one person per school in the province. And to my way of thinking, that’s not good enough,” the Huron-Bruce Progressive Conservative MPP said Wednesday in an interview.

“We need to ensure that we facilitate a forum whereby anyone who wants to share their perspective has a chance to do so.”

Thompson, sworn in Friday as education minister in Premier Doug Ford’s cabinet, said the PC government will be keeping its campaign promise to restore Ontario’s previous sex-ed curriculum until it can install a new one that is “age-appropriate and based on real consultation with parents.”

She said her ministry is now discussing the timelines to fulfil that pledge.

She couldn’t say during the interview whether or not the previous sex-ed curriculum will be in place when students return to classrooms in September.

While noting she has been in her new role for only three days, Thompson said her ministry will “be addressing this in a very assertive” manner.

“As a jumping-off point, we’re returning to the previous sex-ed component and from there we’re kicking off our consultation. We recognize it needs to be done in a time-efficient manner so that the realities of 2018 can be shared in the classroom with our students,” she said.

The Liberal government implemented the new sex-ed curriculum in 2015 to replace a version that had last been renewed in 1998.

The updated content sparked protests by upset parents, some of whom vowed to pull their children from public schools.

Opponents have said parents weren’t adequately consulted on the new lesson plan and that it is not age-appropriate. Groups like Ontario’s Campaign Life Coalition, for example, have called it a “radical” curriculum that sexualizes children.

Supporters disagree and say the sex-ed curriculum has brought Ontario in line with the rest of Canada. Groups like People for Education say it is long overdue and will equip students with the knowledge and understanding to make wise decisions, understand themselves and keep themselves safe.

The Liberal government said there was wide consultation, with parents, educators, students and organizations, before it rolled out.

The curriculum remained a hot-button issue during the provincial election campaign.

Thompson said her main beef is the lack of consultation that happened while the curriculum was being developed.

“We need to ensure that in order to put our students on the best path forward, we need to have all people in Ontario having a chance to share their perspective so that we can land on an opportunity to support our students in the best possible way,” she said.

Thompson, elected to a third term as Huron-Bruce MPP on June 7, said her first job as education minister is to ramp up staff so it can “hit the ground running” to address the priorities set out during the election campaign, including the one to scrap and replace the Liberal’s sex-ed curriculum.

Other priorities include improving the math curriculum and fixing the EQAO (Education Quality and Accountability Office) testing regime.

Thompson said her ministry will also live up to the PC promise to uphold the current moratorium on school closures until the closure review process is reformed.

“We are going to be taking a look, line by line, on how we move forward in terms of education priorities,” she said.