Well, we all acknowledge, and we've heard from many here, that we have significant exploitation happening. In fact, the multiple studies tell us that those with agency in this business are between 2% and 10%. The rest have no agency. Then is the answer to that to throw out the law and have no law at all? What would happen if we were to do that?
We don't have to look very far to see what would happen. Overnight, Canada would become the brothel of North America—there is no question about that—and we would be the best sex tourism destination for the world. We know right now that Kelowna, in our province, is very much seen as a great sex tourism destination.
Yes, there are pros and cons about Sweden, but if we compare Sweden, which brought in the Nordic model at the same time that Germany decriminalized, wow, there's no comparison in the exploitation of women. Germany now has more than 400,000 women being prostituted, and the harms are out of sight. The stories are unimaginable in terms of the ways in which these women are treated.
Sweden hasn't eliminated sex work, and that's really not the intent. The intent is to make it safe. When you decriminalize the exploiters, how do you really think that will make it safe or safer?
This is—