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The federal government is poised to introduce legislation in the coming weeks that will overhaul Canada’s prostitution laws — possibly targeting the pimps and johns as criminals while leaving the prostitutes themselves free from criminal prosecution.

Justice Minister Peter MacKay has been exploring various options since the Supreme Court of Canada struck down Canada’s prostitution laws last December, giving the government a year to come up with a new law.

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Among the alternatives being examined is a Canadian version of the “Nordic model” — an approach first used in Sweden which then spread to Norway and Iceland — in which police target prostitutes’ customers, pimps and sex-trade traffickers.

Earlier this month, MacKay said his bill will be drafted to find the “right balance” to a “complex” issue.

Two things have become apparent: the government will not decriminalize or legalize prostitution, as some other countries such as New Zealand and the Netherlands have done; and the governing Tories appear to be contemplating the Nordic model.