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MacKay made it clear the Conservatives see the vast majority of those who sell their bodies as victims forced into the trade due to violence, addiction, extortion, intimidation, poverty or human trafficking.

The government is devoting $20 million to helping them leave the business, and pledges to work with provinces and territories toward that goal.

“We’re attempting to thread the needle on a very complex social issue. If there was a black-and-white simple answer after thousands of years, I think it would have been discovered,” MacKay told a news conference.

“We’re attempting this in good faith. And we believe that this will be effective.”

The legislation is the government’s response to a Supreme Court of Canada decision in December that struck down key provisions of the country’s prostitution laws. The court was concerned the provisions unduly increased the risk to sex workers, violating their constitutional rights.

While the court ruled the laws were unconstitutional, it gave the government a year to replace them.

Under the old laws, prostitution itself was legal but almost all related activities — including communicating in a public place for the purposes of prostitution, pimping and running a brothel — were criminal offences.

“It is important to note that the purchase and sale of sex has never been illegal in Canada. That changes today,” MacKay said.

“We are targeting johns and pimps, those that treat sex services as a commodity.”