Conservative government hypocritical on prostitutionSo the Harper Conservatives want to protect women by being harder on johns and pimps. Since when did making something illegal protect people? Murder is already illegal but it still happens. Drunk driving was illegal for a long time before we actually did something serious about it.
The Harper Conservatives merely want to feel good about illegalizing something they don’t like – prostitution in this case. The Supreme Court decided that such laws contravene a higher law of the land – the charter of rights and freedoms. So Harper uses the thin veil of political spin by calling his values by another name – protecting the victims. Human trafficking and assault are already illegal, but Harper plays to his base by focusing on johns and pimps.
Like so many “tough on crime” intentions of the Conservatives, it is all about feeling good by turning a value statement into law, and not about actually doing anything of substance.
Tom Manley – Berwick Ontario
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Tom, you could well say: Hypocrisy thy name is Harper—beginning with the broken pledge of Accountability and Transparency and ever since.
Prime Minister Harper is a senior member of the fundamentalist evangelical East Gate Alliance Church.
That explains a lot.
http://thelapine.ca/harper-takes-pandas-church-supper/
So Tom what is your solution? What action would you advise?
When you think that you have heard it all you haven’t and I am shocked and stunned and with laughter coming out of me that is a rare occasion these days until I hit Jamie’s paper. Thank you Jamie for the laugh and shock at the same time. Harper is out of his mind and anyone who comes to Ottawa as a politician goes home or somewhere their is a mental institution who will accept them. Bringing animals to church and for healing is incredible. If I didn’t laugh at this I think that I would have to check into the mental hospital on Carling Avenue. The situation that Canada is really in would shock everyone because what you read in the paper is all sanitized and they don’t want you to hear the real truth. You wonder what kind of a mind is running our country – well the country is run by insane people and they do not want anyone to know just how bad things are and where it is going.
@ Jules. I posted that link to the panda story as a joke. It comes from a phony (satirical) news site. Harper did not take the panda bears to church. He is, however, a member of that looney-tunes church, and is a devout fundamentalist Christian, which explains his disdain for science and evidence based decisions. The guy might be a clever political tactician, but he’s as crazy as Stockwell Day.
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Furtz you sure pulled a fast one on me this time. LOL LOL ROLF! You are funny indeed. I took you seriously. Well Furtz nowadays who knows what these zany politicians will do next. Anything is possible with that bunch. I am wondering if Harpo belongs to the same ideology as Pastor Hagee of Austin Texas. Hagee is nuts indeed but I have nothing against his faith but only against his warped ways. Furtz you sure had me for sure on that one. You gave me a laugh for the evening and thank you for that laugh. I took you for real and maybe I should check myself in the loonie bin on Carling Avenue. Have a good evening.
Leave the escorts alone. They make a good living pleasing the carnal needs of a businessman that needs a little more than the average housewife can provide. I don’t hurt them. They go at it hard for about 6 years and have a million in the bank. And it keeps guys like me from straying from the family. Jesus fathered children with Mary Magdalen, why not the rest of us?
What diiference does it make to the government if I can have a {MODERATED} after having a few cocktails and 420, whilst enduring a bit of consensual C and B torture in a giant diaper with pair of firm and free-willed 22 year olds in an upscale hotel. I’m providing for their future and in some cases paying their tuition.
Go after the chicks on the streets, ick, but leave the johns alone.
There was a very successful “high class” prostitute in Montreal back in the sixties. She “serviced” business leaders and visiting heads of state, and made a pile of money over the course of twenty-some years. She lived in a very nice penthouse apartment, and retired in comfort. After she retired, she was asked in an interview: “How did an obviously intelligent and beautiful woman like you get involved in prostitution?” She answered “Just lucky, I guess.”
Why anyone would pay for a little pleasure is beyond comprehension and a sign of desperation especially in this day and age where it is so accessible to begin with.
If you can’t get what you want at home…….tough. Deal with it.
“They make a good living pleasing the carnal needs of a businessman that needs a little more than the average housewife can provide ‘. – what a wicked statement!!
What an incredible judgement!!
I’m curious Tom, to whom do you as the leader of your own church go to confess and be forgiven? And if you say to your lord gawd himself, exactly how do you know the penance or punishment being served by this dead guy?
As usual people people like Tom Manley are using the wrong examples of crimes. Murder does not compare to protestation, not even close. It’s illegal to speed but you don’t compare it to rape do you? Why should anyone care if a woman wants to have sex for money? Why is it anyone’s business? You think it’s legal for a woman to have sex for pornography and get paid for it but illegal if there is no camera involved? There is no difference. It’s funny i don’t see anyone trying to make pornography illegal.
I don’t agree with much the Harper government does but in this case it is the right decision. I used to live in the Le village area and on a regular basis i would see prostitutes being picked up and dropped off by johns, sometimes one of the women would have a black eye standing on the corner. I thought it’s too bad she can’t report the creeps that beat her up. Keep it legal, let them pay taxes and this way the creeps who get off on beating up and/or raping women aren’t able to feel shielded because they know the prostitute will not report it to the police for fear of being arrested themselves.
Stop thinking that sex is okay just as long as the woman doesn’t collect money for it. If some guy wants to pay for it then that is his business. Also, i seen others comment that he should “stay at home” for sex. So by this logic the only men who pay for sex are married? Then ask yourself this, why would a married man feel the need to have to pay for sex if he had it at home or are you okay with a man paying for sex just as long as he is single?
Tom Manley seems to suggest that valuing human life and enacting laws to enforce that value is an act void of substance. I am having great difficulty finding any logic whatsoever in his concepts on the topic. He comes across as smart as a bag of hammers.
Patrick…we agree on some points. Would you gravitate towards decriminalization or legalization considering the failure of the Nordic model.
To answer Patrick and Pastor Tom, my letter was not a pro or con about prostitution. It is about having an honest and transparent discussion about the issue at stake. Let’s have an open national discussion about prostitution, how to manage and regulate it, the pros and cons, consider the evidence in other countries, and face the Supreme Court’s ruling squarely. But instead of doing that, the Harper Conservatives sidestep the issue, avoid the discussion, and now want to concentrate on pimps and johns to disguise their values, supposedly in the interest of protecting the victims.
An open national discussion is needed on many subjects / issues, but saying the Harper Conservatives “merely want to feel good about illegalizing something” is not helpful. Each party at every level does more than enough grandstanding along party lines and allowing Courts to make policy.
If taxes and costs get much higher, there will be no disposable income for prostitution.
I’m not familiar with then Nordic model but it’s been successful in Nevada so maybe Canada could look to them as an example. Brothels might be a better option, other than individual doing it alone.
You all know my opinion on prostitution and yes I am against the whole thing but these street walkers is what leads to AIDS and other venereal diseases. If this kind of an ill moraled house of repute is to be legalized then it would be best to get the girls off the street and have them forced into medical exams like is done in Europe and other places and not put out on the streets to be abused. There is no perfect solution and all of you know that I am against any of this no matter if it is legal or not. Drugs are legal in the Netherlands and so is prostitution and yes they still have a mighty big problem with the whole thing. Good morals are no longer taught by parents nor the schools. There is no really good solution except ladies keep your legs closed and have good morals and then you have more respect for yourselves.