Just briefly, I want to ask a question of Ms. Sigurdson.
Ms. Sigurdson, you took us through the material benefit provision and you mentioned proposed paragraph 286.2(5)(e)—receiving a benefit “in the context of a commercial enterprise”—and said that it is going to make a prostitute who sells her own sexual services guilty of an offence. But you didn't mention proposed section 286.5, which says:
(1) No person shall be prosecuted for (a) an offence under section 286.2
—which is the material benefit provision—
if the benefit is derived from the provision of their own sexual services; or (b) an offence under section 286.4
—which is the advertising provision—
in relation to the advertisement of their own sexual services.
Then, for further clarification, proposed subsection 286.5(2) says:
No person shall be prosecuted for aiding, abetting, conspiring or attempting to commit an offence under any of sections 286.1 to 286.4 or being an accessory after the fact or counselling a person to be a party to such an offence, if the offence relates to the offering or provision of their own sexual services.
We also have proposed paragraph 286.2(4)(d), which says that anyone can supply any service to another person who is providing sexual services in cases in which that service is proportionate or the fee paid “is proportionate to the value of the service or good” provided.
Why would proposed section 286.5 be there, in your view, if the purpose of the government were to make the selling of sexual services by an individual prostitute illegal?