Canada High Court Strikes Down Laws Against Prostitution

LATimes.com:

The Supreme Court of Canada unanimously struck down three laws against prostitution in a landmark ruling Friday, deeming the bans on visiting brothels, living off a prostitute's proceeds and public solicitation "overly broad" and potentially dangerous for sex workers.

While prostitution is legal in Canada, the laws aimed at preventing its practice went far beyond protecting communities from public nuisances associated with the sex trade, the nine justices decided.

"Parliament has the power to regulate against nuisances, but not at the cost of the health, safety and lives of prostitutes," wrote Chief Justice Beverley McLaughlin.

Laws that made it a crime to be found in a brothel, to live off of a prostitute's income and to solicit sex for pay in public were all deemed "grossly disproportionate" to the social ills they were meant to address, McLaughlin's opinion said.

While the measure against profiting from a prostitute's income was aimed at criminalizing pimping, it also made it illegal for prostitutes to hire those who can increase the safety of their trade, such as drivers, managers and bodyguards, the decision noted.

The court gave the Canadian federal government a year to amend the laws so that they conform with the protections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms or let them expire in December 2014.

Three sex workers who brought the lawsuit alleging discrimination that exposes them to danger were jubilant over the court's ruling.

"Great day for Canada, Canadian women from coast to coast," said Terri Jean Bedford, the lead plaintiff who challenged the prostitution laws in Ontario Superior Court in 2009, according to the Calgary Herald. Bedford appeared on the snowy steps of the high court in Ottawa bedecked in dominatrix black leather and carrying a whip.

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Canadian Liberals Post Picture Of Conservative Prime Minister Getting Shot

HuffPo.com:

The Liberal Party of Canada has been forced to apologize after showing a fake picture of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper being assassinated on the party's official website.

The Liberal Party website had been hosting a picture contest where readers could create images of Harper in fictional situations. The contest had been designed to criticize the prime minister's perceived reluctance to attend climate change talks in Copenhagen by showing locations that he would rather be in.

However, one shocking photo had the Prime Minister's head digitally replacing the head of Lee Harvey Oswald in a picture that showed Oswald as he is shot and killed by Jack Ruby.

Liberal Party spokesperson Daniel Lauzon apologized in an e-mail to Canwest.

Sad, just sad. Can't imagine where they got the idea to do something so cowardly like that....oops, my bad.