Prime Time Crime
(Published in the Similkameen Spotlight week of Nov. 29, 2004)
Liberals Pimp For More Than Votes
By
John Martin
It’s interesting to keep coming across commentary contending that Canadians would have voted three to one against George W. Bush and that somehow Canadian values are more humane and caring than the values of those who supported the President.
Well there’s one piece of information these people might want to familiarize themselves with.
In his 2003 address to the United Nations, President Bush declared that the fight against the global sex trade must be a priority second to none. He documented the international trafficking and forced prostitution of women and correctly noted that the situation is a “humanitarian crisis” and a “special evil”. He challenged world leaders to respond accordingly and declared that countries tolerating the sex industry “are tolerating a form of slavery.” He then backed up his tough talk by pledging $50-million to organizations dedicated to rescuing women from such reprehensible exploitation.
Naturally, the Canadian Government nodded in agreement.
Their actions speak otherwise, though. Because now it has become abundantly clear that one of the priorities of the Paul Martin Government is to further the exploitation and recruitment of foreign women into the Canadian sex trade.
Recent revelations make clear that the Government of Canada, through the Immigration Ministry, has been working in cahoots with the sex trade industry to get around Canada’s immigration and work visa requirements to supply fresh meat for the business.
There’s a shortage of young, Canadian women willing to strip, lap dance, work for escort agencies and prostitute themselves. And now sex club owners have discovered that for as little as a five thousand dollar donation to the Liberal Party of Canada they can get officials from Immigration Canada to grease the wheels.
As usual, the women targeted by the sex trade industry typically hail from Central and South America, Eastern Europe and Asia. The sex trade is worth $10-billion annually in this country and is ruthlessly controlled by organized crime. Human Rights observers and law enforcement officials have noted that the issue is particularly problematic in Canada where outlaw motorcycle gangs, and the Chinese and Vietnamese Mafias typically run the sex clubs and brothels.
Women, who assume they’re coming to Canada for a short while in order to dance and make enough money to help their families back home soon discover otherwise. There are numerous reports of girls who came to Canada being threatened, abused, beaten and burned with hot irons for refusing to prostitute themselves.
Even the NDP is disgusted with the actions of Immigration Canada. NDP leader, Jack Layton, correctly pointed out in the House of Commons that the Government is “essentially pimping for the sex trade”. This is particularly significant because usually the only thing that disgusts the NDP is the sight of someone working for a living instead of waiting for a handout.
Not only does the Government of Canada obviously condone the sex trade, but they’re also willing to bend their own rules to satisfy the demand. The revelation that the Ministry of Immigration Chief of Staff actually visited a strip club to discuss fast tracking the applications of foreign sex trade workers should be considered among the most scandalous moments for any Government. But apparently it’s not even an issue to these guys and their supporters.
It wasn’t always that way.
Recall that not quite twenty years ago the Conservative Minister of National Defence, Robert Coates, resigned after allegations he stopped in at a strip club while on government business in Germany. Allow me to stress this fact; he resigned for visiting a strip club. And he did not grandstand and stubbornly hold onto his post until he clearly could not survive. He resigned as a matter of integrity and honour.
Meanwhile, high-ranking Liberals not only discuss official business in strip clubs, they do so with the very people working to squeeze favourable treatment from the Government. And nothing happens.
But then again, Tony Soprano regularly conducted his business in the Bada Bing Club where silicone injected strippers and hookers plied their trade.
Why should we expect anything more from the Liberal syndicate?
John Martin is a Criminologist at the University College of the Fraser Valley and can be contacted at John.Martin@ucfv.ca