I must admit it is a bit difficult to get a start on my column this week. I write my articles on Thursdays so I, along with most other Canadians, find myself distracted and anxious about the news out of Moncton. I am sad about the loss of our brave police officers. The American networks were quick to say that, "it doesn't happen there." Of course it does happen here although much less frequently - but happening less frequently does not make it less horrific - in fact it might make it more horrific.
There is also a kind of unmistakable sadness about the fact that life goes on. There have been times when I have thought: Perhaps I will just write a few words at the beginning of my column this week and then I will leave the rest blank in the hope that the emptiness suggests that we need to take a collective moment of silence in which we stop and consider the gravity of what has befallen us. I've never done that, of course, but I have considered it.
So please excuse me if my topic of choice seems insignificant against our nation's loss.
This week Peter McKay announced that the federal government will pass a law that makes prostitution illegal. The government had an alternate option: they could have chosen to legalize and regulate prostitution but they took the other route instead.
I wrote about this topic last year when the Supreme Court overturned Canada's solicitation law. When the court overturns a law, legislators are left to redraft the legislation to make sure that it is constitutional. At that time I wrote, "Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin said that, "Parliament has the power to regulate against nuisances, but not at the cost of the health, safety and lives of prostitutes." [...The ruling] suggests that legislation that simply forces prostitutes to hide and thus risk their safety is not sufficient to meet the Charter requirements for security of the person." This new legislation, that makes prostitution illegal, is even more likely to push the activity off the streets and to make prostitutes less likely to seek safer working environments. In light of McLachlin's argument one wonders if this law will survive a Charter challenge.
So why is it that the government is choosing to make prostitution illegal? Well first, I would suggest that this is a consistent approach for the Conservative Party who tends to punish behaviour rather than looking for root causes. Second, criminalizing prostitution sends a strong message that Conservatives think that this way of life is wrong.
Sometime ago, I drew your attention to a TED talk called, "The moral roots of liberals and conservatives," by Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist who studies morality. At that time I wrote in a concise description of his talk in which I said that Haidt identifies five principles that frame human morality. The harm /care principle that says that we believe that it is important to bond with and care for others. The principle of fairness and reciprocity that assumes we will "do unto others. The ingroup / loyalty principle that says we tend to create groups or teams and we feel a sense of attachment to our own group. The "authority principle" allows us to be deferential to others. The principle of purity or sanctity that assumes we will treat our bodies with respect and a kind of sacredness. Haidt argues that conservatives tend to use all five of the moral principles in their judgments of ideas and policies but that they give most importance to loyalty, authority and sanctity. Traditionally, conservatives see the role of civil society as laying out the framework for acceptable behaviours and mores and that they see the state's role as being the adjudicator of disputes. But, as George Will, a well-known American conservative, wrote his book, Statecraft as Soulcraft, the conservative tradition has also included an important role for the state in framing moral choices particularly those that help to ensure social order.
Canadian politics and society have tended to a more liberal view of morality and so the Conservative choice to criminalize prostitution is likely to feel inconsistent with the contemporary trend to liberality. Yet the choice to criminalize prostitution is fully consistent with the conservative view of social order.
