Off the Record: Pipelines and prostitutes

If you want to pay for sex or build a pipeline, Canada can make it happen.

If you want to pay for sex or build a pipeline, Canada can make it happen.

Last week, the National Energy Board’s joint review panel gave the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline conditional approval for construction. The next day, the Supreme Court of Canada tossed out major Canadian laws pertaining to prostitution, leaving lawmakers with a year to write a new set of rules which conform to the constitution.

Those two rulings left the feds with mixed reactions. To sum it up: pipelines = good, prostitution = bad. The Conservative Party of Canada seems to cherry pick its right-wing values.

Just like Enbridge employees, sex-trade workers can be optimistic about emerging  job opportunities. And with the pending legalization of their trade, the Harper Government should be happy to see crime rates drop as an industry is freed from regulation.

We can count on these stories to further unfold, as the feds have 12 months both to draft new legislation for night walkers, and choose to approve the pipeline or not.

Dan Walton is a reporter for The Valley Echo and can be reached at dan@invermerevalleyecho.com .