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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2013-12-30, Page 44 Lucknow Sentinel • Monday, December 30, 2013 www.lucknowsentinel.com e m Lucknow Sentinel VOLUME 137 - ISSUE 19 PUBLISHED WEEKLY P.O. Box 400, 619 Campbell Street Lucknow Ontario NOG 2H0 phone: 519-528-2822 fax: 519-528-3529 www.lucknowsentinel.com SUN MEDIA A Quebecor Media Company MARIE DAVID Publisher marie.david@sunmedia.ca JILLIAN UNDERWOOD Sales representative j i Ilian. underwood@sunmedia.ca MARILYN MILTENBURG office administrator I ucknow.sentinel@sun media.ca Publications Mail Agreement No. 40064683 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO SENTINEL CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT P.O. Box 400 Lucknow ON NOG 2H0 For any non -deliveries or delivery concerns: phone: 519-528-2822 e-mail: I ucknow. sentinel@sunm edia. ca Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. All advertising and editorial deadlines: Friday 2 p.m. Changes of address, orders for subscriptions, and undeliverable copies (return postage guaranteed) are to be sent to The Lucknow Sentinel at the address indicated here. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, the portion of the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid at the applicable rates. The Sentinel is available on microfilm at: GODERICH LIBRARY, (from 1875) 52 Montreal Street Goderich ON N7A 1 M3 Goderichlibrary@huroncounty.ca KINCARDINE LIBRARY, (from 1875 to 1900 & 1935 to 1959) 727 Queen Street Kincardine ON N2Z 1Z9 We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. Canada pocna Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and the Ontario Community NewspapersAssociation Prostitution and liberty... odd bed fellows Anthony Furey QM Agency Consenting adults should be able to do whatever they damn well please so long as they're not violating any- one else's liberty. Sadly, people on all points of the political spectrum don't always agree with this. They mistakenly think the point of govern- ment is to direct people away from doing things that they'd personally rather not do. But if you're one of the increasingly few left in Canada who think we need less gov- ernment and more liberty, you should applaud the Supreme Court of Canada's prostitution ruling. Even if prostitution is not your cup of tea. Even if you utterly despise it. Prostitution was not illegal. But pretty much everything surrounding it was. Now the court has ruled three bans unconstitutional: Against keeping a brothel, soliciting prostitution and livings off of its profits. Many say their problem isn't with other- wise safe and consensual prostitution where nothing goes awry. They just want restrictive laws because they're seriously concerned about child prostitution, human trafficking, sex slavery, etc. As they should be. But guess what? All of those are already illegal and of course should be. So let's go after these crimes more aggressively than ever. Target them. Per- haps tinker with the laws to better empower police and prosecutors to deal swiftly and firmly with them. The court decision actually makes it clear that the bans weren't simply targeting these heinous crimes, but going after the otherwise law-abiding elements of sex commerce. From the decision: "This case concerns the basic values against arbitrariness (where there is no connection between the effect and the object of the law), over - breadth (where the law goes too far and interferes with some conduct that bears no connection to its objective), and gross disproportionality (where the effect of the law is grossly disproportionate to the state's objective)." Overreach and disproportion are the key here. Sure, there's a startlingly large amount of human trafficking that brings women to Canada as sex slaves from abroad. So presumably if you go after eve- ryone soliciting a prostitute you're going to catch some people engaged in this criminal underworld. But you're also going to ensnare the people who choose to engage in otherwise lawful sex commerce with consenting adult sex workers. It's not worth ruining the lives of the latter in the hopes of catching some of the former. Nor is it worth the administrative burden. Although on that last note, the SCC decision could result in a whole bunch of costly regulations and bureaucracy (municipal brothel inspectors, anyone?). This will have to be fought, too. Sorry but nobody said the path to liberty was an easy one. Ultimately, most Canadians likely feel the same way about prostitution as they do about marijuana. They're fine with — or at least will- ing to tolerate — regular people occasionally doing it safely, even if they don't personally care for it. They just don't like the spin-off crimes and excess that it can result in. Sounds reasonable enough. So why harass the moderate, cautious users? Kelly Block, Conservative MP for Saskatoon — Rosetown — Biggar, has a private member's bill working its way through Parliament right now that amends the Criminal Code to provide a mandatory minimum of four years in prison for anyone con- victed of human trafficking. Surprisingly, there isn't one already. This is simple and specific. It directly relates to the problem. We need more of these smart tweaks. Not broad laws that unduly impact everyone involved in the world's oldest profession.