The newest candidate in the PC leadership race came out forcefully at her better-known opponents in a debate Thursday, knocking their political pedigrees and blaming low student test scores on sex ed.

“I don’t have a famous last name,” parent activist Tanya Granic Allen said in a dig at rivals Caroline Mulroney, one-time Toronto city councillor Doug Ford and former MPP Christine Elliott.

Best known as a vocal opponent of Premier Kathleen Wynne’s sex education curriculum as updated for the social media era, Granic Allen, described as a single-issue or fringe candidate by some, tried to broaden her appeal in the hour-long event broadcast on TVO.

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The mother of four joined the other contenders in opposing the carbon tax in the June 7 election platform from ousted Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown, agreed the minimum wage should stay at $14, and would not commit to keeping the Liberal government’s OHIP+ pharmacare program if elected PC leader March 10.

All four candidates went into the debate hoping to speak directly to potential supporters given Friday’s deadline for signing up new members to the party before voting begins March 2.

Ballots will be ranked, with voters picking second and subsequent choices, making it important for candidates to build bridges with other camps.

Both Ford, brother of late Toronto mayor Rob Ford, and Granic Allen repeatedly stressed the need to listen to the party’s “grassroots,” with Ford taking aim at “the Liberal ideology that’s trying to be shoved down our throats with the sex education curriculum.”

“I believe in educating your kids at home first when it comes to this.”

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He pledged to re-evaluate all lesson guidelines, specifically citing a problem with low math test scores that leaves many students struggling to keep up or parents paying for private tutors.

“Maybe they could focus a little bit more on math if they weren’t talking about anal sex in the classroom,” said Granic Allen, a mother of four and president of a lobby group called Parents As First Educators who has spent several years opposing the new sex ed curriculum.

“We are no longer producing top international students who can compete on an international stage,” she added, claiming ground as the only candidate truly representing social conservatives in the contest.

Elliott, whose late husband was former federal and Ontario finance minister Jim Flaherty, said she is “not in favour” of the current sex ed curriculum.

“Parents were not consulted adequately . . . . They know the age at which children should be learning things,” Elliott told debate host Steve Paikin of TVO’s flagship public affairs program The Agenda.

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“One of the things I’ve heard from many, many parents . . . is to the age appropriateness of certain measures. So, maybe something that children are learning in Grade 2 now they should learn in Grade 8 or 9 or 10.”

Mulroney, the daughter of former PC prime minister Brian Mulroney, agreed parents were not “adequately consulted” on the sex ed curriculum but said she would stick with it.

“Going forward I commit to consulting parents on all things that affect family and children, but I am not going to re-open the curriculum.”

Although this makes her the lone leadership hopeful backing the Liberal sex education lessons, Mulroney said after the debate that it has nothing to do with any strategy to secure support from moderates.

“My position on sex ed is what I believe.”

Education Minister Indira Naidoo-Harris defended the curriculum earlier this week as did a group of PC activists called LGBTory.

“In the age of social media, we have a responsibility to make sure students have the information they need to keep them safe. Through the updated curriculum, students learn consent, healthy relationships and how to stand up for themselves,” said Naidoo-Harris.

“Contrary to inflammatory statements by some fringe activists, there is no mention of ‘six genders’ or anal intercourse anywhere in the document,” LGBTory said in a statement.

“Much of the rhetoric about the sex ed curriculum is overwrought.”

Brown, who won the party leadership in 2015 with heavy support from social conservatives, later came to support the sex ed curriculum as he pushed the party toward the political centre after four election defeats by the Liberals.

He quit Jan. 25 following accusations of sexual misconduct with two young women reported by CTV report. He has threatened to sue the network, calling the allegations “false.”

Elliott and Mulroney said he should be allowed to run as a PC candidate in the June 7 provincial election if he can clear his name, although they were not clear what their criteria would be.

Ford said he will weigh the facts if elected leader March 10. Granic Allen said she would prevent Brown from running, blaming him for “corruption” in the party, including questionable nomination races the results of which have been overturned in two ridings.

About Tanya Granic Allen

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