OTTAWA—A nationwide poll kept under wraps by the Conservative government shows Canadians are deeply divided over how Ottawa should deal with prostitution and contradicts Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s claim the proposed new bill has the backing of most Canadians.

The poll was obtained by the Toronto Star hours after the Department of Justice refused to release it Tuesday as hearings into the controversial anti-prostitution Bill C-36 ended.

The Star also obtained the results of in-depth focus-group research carried out in conjunction with the survey that shows Canadians are worried about driving prostitution further underground — risking sex workers’ safety — should the Conservatives move forward with criminalizing the purchasing of sex.

The Ipsos-Reid poll of 3,000 Canadians, commissioned by the Department of Justice, shows Canadians are almost evenly split on how the government should approach the complex issue of adult prostitution. Among the findings:

A slim majority, 51.2 per cent, thought buying sexual services should be illegal, while 44.1 per cent were opposed.

Nearly half of Canadians, or 49.8 per cent, believed selling sex should also be illegal, with 45.4 per cent opposed.

On June 9, when asked why his government has clung to the so-called Nordic model — criminalizing pimps and johns — and not entertained the idea of decriminalizing or going further and legalizing prostitution, Harper said, “We have consulted very widely on the legislation that is before Parliament.”

“The evidence is it’s very widely supported by Canadians,” he said. In French, Harper went further, saying, “I think that our consultations certainly indicate majority support for the actions we are taking.”

Most Canadians — 75.6 per cent — agreed somewhat or strongly with the statement “prostitution is harmful for women” whether it is legal or not, while 20.3 per cent somewhat or strongly disagreed. Another 4.1 per cent didn’t know.

However, the country is clearly split on how to tackle the buying and selling of sexual services, with a strong divide between men and women on how to approach the issue.

Asked which prostitution-related activities should be legal or illegal, 57.2 per cent of women said buying sexual services should be illegal, while only 44.9 per cent of men said buying sex should be illegal.

More men (50.4 per cent) than women (38.1 per cent) believed buying sexual services should be legal.

More women (55.1 per cent) than men (44.2 per cent) supported making the selling of sexual services illegal.

The gender gap finding is consistent with at least two other public opinion polls published recently by the Angus Reid group and, separately, by Forum Research.

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The telephone poll, between Jan. 30 and Feb. 7, tried to gauge Canadians’ overall attitude to prostitution. The poll had a margin of error of 1.8 percentage points.

However, a more revealing picture emerged in a series of 14 in-depth focus groups in seven locations across the country that the research firm also did for the federal justice department.

It shows Canadians were concerned that laws governing the sex trade should not further endanger women who practice prostitution.

Most were unaware of current laws or the gap left by December’s Supreme Court of Canada ruling that struck down three specific provisions against prostitution-related activities.

(The high court said in a context where prostitution was legal, laws that prohibited communications, “living on the avails” of prostitutes, and brothels are an unconstitutional violation of prostitutes’ rights to liberty and security of the person. The Supreme Court ruled the Criminal Code offences barred women from hiring bodyguards or drivers, working in safer indoor locations, and forced rushed and furtive negotiations between clients and street-based sex workers who were less able to screen for drunk or violent “johns.” It gave Ottawa 12 months to either rewrite or drop the offences.)

When provided with that background, participants had trouble choosing what approach the government should adopt, though most expected the Nordic model — criminalizing the clients and pimps — would be the route Ottawa would take.

According to Ipsos-Reid, those who supported the Nordic model “liked that prostitutes would be viewed as exploited parties rather than criminals. They also liked the idea of directing prostitutes toward social services, instead of to criminal courts. This type of approach was seen as allowing government to focus on . . . addressing the exploitation of children and women (some with addiction problems) who may not be consenting participants in the sex trade.”

“However, many (especially men) did not understand why the Nordic model would make it a crime for one party to the transaction and not the other. Furthermore, some feared that criminalizing the clients/pimps would simply push prostitution activities further underground, making it even more unsafe for prostitutes,” the firm’s analysis stated.

In focus groups, there was “limited support” for criminalizing everyone including the prostitutes, Ipsos-Reid said.

“While some said this approach would be more fair or consistent than the Nordic model, there was still a concern that this approach would push prostitution further underground and do little to improve safety for prostitutes.”

In the end, the Conservative government adopted an approach inspired by the Nordic model, but also one that continues to criminalize prostitutes found selling sex in a place that is or is next to a school ground, playground or daycare centre, subject to a $2,000 fine or six months in jail.

The Conservatives call it a “made-in-Canada” model that balances the need to protect children and communities and the need to protect “exploited persons” or prostitutes who the government says are victims, but practicing an “inherently dangerous” activity.

Critics of the approach say it is even worse than the laws that were struck down.

Lawyer Kyle Kirkup, a Trudeau scholar at the University of Toronto law faculty, called the Conservatives’ approach the “Nordic model’s bigger, deadlier cousin.”

Last week, Justice Minister Peter MacKay, and his officials denied opposition requests for the polling research as the Commons standing justice committee studied Bill C-36, pushing its release to the end of July, the latest date possible under a policy that requires polls to be made public within six months.

Senior assistant deputy minister Donald Piragoff downplayed the survey saying “there were only a couple of questions on prostitution” and that it was merely “useful information” in formulating the bill.