A federal government appeal jeopardizes Toronto’s bawdy house plans

All the talk about where to put brothels in the city (and how to make money off them) may have been a tad premature—the federal government has made the not-very-surprising decision to appeal the Ontario court ruling to decriminalize bawdy houses, which was supposed to take effect 11 months from now. The Harper government is also appealing the decriminalization of living “off the avails of prostitution” in non-exploitative situations, which was set to take effect within days. If the the Supreme Court of Canada agrees to hear the appeal, the face off between the Harper government and the lawyers acting for the sex workers pushing to soften the province’s laws regulating prostitution likely won’t happen until late this year, or early 2013. Though some say the government’s chances of overturning the Ontario ruling are slim, we wouldn’t open a Bunny Ranch bordello VIP account just yet. [Globe and Mail]