TORONTO - The New Democrats accused Premier Dalton McGuinty on Thursday of being afraid to talk about sex, at least before the Oct. 6 Ontario election.

The Liberal government withdrew proposed changes to Ontario's sex education curriculum last year after some religious and conservative groups said they were uncomfortable with kids in Grade 3 being taught about same-sex families and sexual orientation.

The government promised public consultations on a new sex ed curriculum, but nothing has happened in the interim, complained NDP education critic Rosario Marchese.

"Nothing has been done. There are no consultations," Marchese complained in the legislature.

"It appears that this is the education premier for everything except sex education. Why is the premier afraid to talk about sex?"

McGuinty punted the question to Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky, who said the government is still looking for a better way to get feedback on the curriculum from parents.

"We have a process in Ontario where we review our curriculum on a regular basis, and ... people -- parents especially -- made it very clear that the process, the way that they were engaged around changes to curriculum did not meet their needs," said Dombrowsky.

"Our premier made a commitment that we were going to consider how we could do a better job of that. My ministry is taking a very careful look at how we've done it in the past, and what some of the most effective ways are, going forward."

Ontario children and youth need accurate information about sexually transmitted diseases, sexuality and early pregnancy to develop into healthy adults, but Ontario's sex education curriculum is outdated, said Marchese.

"A lot of education and health groups say it's time to redevelop the curriculum around sex education, and we've got a government that's stalling and afraid, and it's a shame," he said.

The government actually had the right sex ed curriculum a year ago before it backed down in the face of some stiff opposition, added Marchese.

"What they developed in consultation with so many people is a good curriculum based on a variety of different issues connected to health and sex education," he said.

"I supported that and clearly the premier and other (Liberals) supported that initially and then they decided, under duress, not to go ahead."

Last week, when asked if the next sex ed curriculum would be made public before the Oct. 6 election, McGuinty said no decision had yet been made.

"I don't think we've made any final determination as to timing at this point in time," he said. "It's more important for us to get it right."

Under the curriculum that was withdrawn last year, Grade 1 children would have been taught to identify genitalia using the anatomically correct words.

Grade 3 students would have learned about same-sex families, while Grade 5 kids were to be taught to identify parts of the reproductive system and describe how the body changes during puberty.

In Grade 7, the plan was to teach kids how to prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

There's still no word on when the consultations will begin on a proposed new sex ed curriculum.