Organizers of the Taboo Naughty But Nice Show decided to cancel its visit to Abbotsford's Tradex on Thursday after opposition from the Christian community and restrictive liquor rules.

Dubbed Western Canada's largest adult trade show, the annual event features educational seminars, sex toy shopping, fashion shows and live demonstrations.

Former Abbotsford mayoral candidate Gerda Peachey was happily stunned when Canwest Productions called off the sex show scheduled to begin at the end of March. For months, she had been speaking out against the event because of religious reasons.

"That Taboo Naughty But Nice Sex Show is a perversion; it's a distortion of what the man-woman relationship is to be," Peachey told CTV News.

In a release, Canwest Productions partially blamed criticism from "Christian fundamentalists" for the event's cancellation.

"We have a responsibility to be a good community partner and when the community starts to speak out we listen," Canwest Productions President Peter Kiddell said.

The show's organizers say they also pulled out because they were denied a special liquor licence that would have allowed patrons to drink throughout the venue. Guests at the sex show's stops in Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary are allowed to carry liquour throughout the venues.

Dan Stefanson, who runs Tradex with Tourism Abbotsford, says the Taboo Naughty But Nice Show attracts 10,000 people a year. He estimates the facility has lost $40,000 because of the cancellation, and the community will lose out on money as well.

A total of 175 concessionaires and parking attendant shifts have been cut.

"Not only do (patrons) come to our shows, but they also stay in our hotels and shop in our other stores and go to restaurants. So all that activity is just simply not going to happen," Stefanson told CTV News.

This year would have been the sex show's fifth visit to Abbotford and Canwest Productions is considering bringing it back in 2013.

Stefanson says he welcomes the organizers if they wish to return.

"We were happy to book the event, we would have been happy to keep the event, and we'd love to see the event stay far into the future," he said.

Although Abbotsford's religious groups are being blamed for cancelling the sex show, they have not stopped the Lingerie Football League from planning to station a team in the city in August.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Nafeesa Karim



