Mr. Speaker, I understand that the government wants to take sex trafficking and the exploitation of women and youth in prostitution seriously. I would seriously encourage it to start with Backpage.com.
If Backpage.com was the key location for child pornography to be advertised and sold, and it was making significant revenue from it, would the government be defending these ads as an important tool for police? I would hope not. Therefore, why does it defend it when as a tool when it comes to actual children being sold every day in every city in Canada on Backpage.com?
The minister does not need to wait for the provinces to take action. She does not need to wait for other countries to take action. I am asking the minister to take leadership on this. Will the Minister of Justice officially request, on behalf of Canada, that Backpage.com eliminate this section from its ads in Canada?