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OTTAWA, January 21, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Canada’s Justice Minister, Peter MacKay, has promised to table a new law that would see prostitution continue to be dealt with under the Criminal Code after the Supreme Court threw out the nation’s prostitution laws last month.

In an interview with the Prince Arthur Herald, a conservative student newspaper run at McGill University, MacKay said it would not be enough to let local communities regulate prostitution through by-laws.

“It really is in the federal area of criminal legislation in my view to address this broadly across the country,” he said.

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“We’re going to be receiving a lot of input and there will be extensive consultation on this issue,” he continued. “But it’s going to take a much more concerted effort than what any local government or jurisdiction could do.”

“So for that reason I think you will find that there is a necessity within that twelve month period that the Supreme Court has granted that we will bring forward legislation, and amendments that will address what we think are significant harms that flow from prostitution,” he added.

On December 20th, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously threw out the country’s prostitution laws. The Court ruled that the prohibition on brothels, living off the avails of prostitution and street soliciting imposes dangerous conditions on prostitutes and therefore violates their rights. It gave Parliament one year to craft a new law.

In his interview, MacKay took a swipe at Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, who has so far failed to come out strongly for or against legalizing prostitution. At the Liberal convention in Montreal next month, the party will debate a resolution put forward by the youth wing to accommodate the sex trade.

“[Justin Trudeau’s] party, and particularly the youth wing, appears to be very publicly musing, if not advocating, [the legalization of prostitution],” said MacKay. “So while we’ve been focused on making our justice system more accountable, Mr. Trudeau and certainly his party seem to be focusing on legalizing marijuana and prostitution.”

“I don’t believe that any government of any political stripe should be facilitating the increase of access to… the sex trade,” he added.