Sgro says she won't quit over stripper scandal
CTV.ca News Staff
Embattled Immigration Minister Judy Sgro says she won't resign over the brewing stripper scandal, but she is changing the controversial program that lets foreign exotic dancers get special Canadian work visas.
When asked on CTV's Canada AM if she would resign, Sgro flatly rejected the idea.
"Absolutely not," she said. "I'm preparing to move on to develop a new framework."
That framework, she said, will include a major overhaul of the stripper visa program.
"As of Dec. 15, the program will be changed completely. If there is a need, it will have to be done on a case-by-case basis."
Sgro has faced intense questions for days now over both the exotic-dance program -- and why her office agreed to extend a residence permit to Romanian stripper Alina Balaican who worked as a volunteer on the minister's election campaign.
Balaican received the ministerial permit three days before the June 28 vote, which returned the Liberals to power with a minority government.
Sgro has, up to now, refused to comment on the Balaican case, which has been referred to the ethics commissioner, Bernard Shapiro.
But she did tell Canada AM she didn't know the woman had ever worked with her election team in any capacity.
"I wasn't even aware of the fact that she had worked on the campaign," Sgro explained.
"I had vertigo -- very bad -- for most of the summer. For the last two weeks of the campaign I was not in the campaign office."
Sgro said people need to understand that requests to remain in Canada, when work visas have run out, are "routine."
"These kinds of issues of someone falling out of status in Canada are kind of routine things," she said.
"Not exotic dancers," she allowed, "but it's a routine thing."
Still, the Opposition in the House of Commons feels otherwise.
It says the government can't be condemning sexual exploitation at home and abroad, while still admitting strippers who are performing services that border on prostitution.
"Can the minister explain this breathtaking hypocrisy to Canadians?" Stephen Harper demanded during question period on Thursday.
Sgro has insisted strip clubs have a right to find workers.
"They have a right to have their labour needs approved, whether I like it or not, and that's exactly what they're doing."
Does Not Like It
She did, however, admit on Canada AM that she does not care much for the line of business.
"Personally, you don't really agree with it?," CTV's Beverly Thomson asked.
"No," she said.
Last year, 601 foreign dancers got temporary work permits; 582 of them from Romania.
Sgro she the exotic dance industry has the right to bring in dancers from other countries if the market demands it. She said there is a certain amount of women in Canada prepared to work in the industry.
"It ties in with a labour market need" she said, especially in border areas such as Fort Erie, Ont. and Windsor, Ont.
She said exotic dancing is a thriving, legitimate business.
"Whether it's an industry I like or dislike is not the issue."
On Thursday, Mary Taylor, a former stripper herself, told CTV News she doesn't believe there's a stripper shortage in Canada. What there is a shortage of dancers willing to "go the extra mile" for customers.
"It's not exotic dancing anymore, it's foreplay in public," she says referring to the lap dances in so-called VIP rooms or private booths. "What there's a shortage of are women who are willing to tolerate the kind of abuse that happens in strip clubs."
Sgro is also under fire over a meeting in a Toronto strip club at which her chief advisor, Ihor Wons, discussed visa requests with the owner.
That owner donated $5,500 to Liberal coffers.
"My staff went and met with the owners of one of these strip clubs," Sgro told Canada AM.
"He paid a courtesy call at the request of a friend, met with him, told him that they couldn't do anything for them," she said.
"That was the end of the issue."
CTV.ca News Staff
Embattled Immigration Minister Judy Sgro says she won't resign over the brewing stripper scandal, but she is changing the controversial program that lets foreign exotic dancers get special Canadian work visas.
When asked on CTV's Canada AM if she would resign, Sgro flatly rejected the idea.
"Absolutely not," she said. "I'm preparing to move on to develop a new framework."
That framework, she said, will include a major overhaul of the stripper visa program.
"As of Dec. 15, the program will be changed completely. If there is a need, it will have to be done on a case-by-case basis."
Sgro has faced intense questions for days now over both the exotic-dance program -- and why her office agreed to extend a residence permit to Romanian stripper Alina Balaican who worked as a volunteer on the minister's election campaign.
Balaican received the ministerial permit three days before the June 28 vote, which returned the Liberals to power with a minority government.
Sgro has, up to now, refused to comment on the Balaican case, which has been referred to the ethics commissioner, Bernard Shapiro.
But she did tell Canada AM she didn't know the woman had ever worked with her election team in any capacity.
"I wasn't even aware of the fact that she had worked on the campaign," Sgro explained.
"I had vertigo -- very bad -- for most of the summer. For the last two weeks of the campaign I was not in the campaign office."
Sgro said people need to understand that requests to remain in Canada, when work visas have run out, are "routine."
"These kinds of issues of someone falling out of status in Canada are kind of routine things," she said.
"Not exotic dancers," she allowed, "but it's a routine thing."
Still, the Opposition in the House of Commons feels otherwise.
It says the government can't be condemning sexual exploitation at home and abroad, while still admitting strippers who are performing services that border on prostitution.
"Can the minister explain this breathtaking hypocrisy to Canadians?" Stephen Harper demanded during question period on Thursday.
Sgro has insisted strip clubs have a right to find workers.
"They have a right to have their labour needs approved, whether I like it or not, and that's exactly what they're doing."
Does Not Like It
She did, however, admit on Canada AM that she does not care much for the line of business.
"Personally, you don't really agree with it?," CTV's Beverly Thomson asked.
"No," she said.
Last year, 601 foreign dancers got temporary work permits; 582 of them from Romania.
Sgro she the exotic dance industry has the right to bring in dancers from other countries if the market demands it. She said there is a certain amount of women in Canada prepared to work in the industry.
"It ties in with a labour market need" she said, especially in border areas such as Fort Erie, Ont. and Windsor, Ont.
She said exotic dancing is a thriving, legitimate business.
"Whether it's an industry I like or dislike is not the issue."
On Thursday, Mary Taylor, a former stripper herself, told CTV News she doesn't believe there's a stripper shortage in Canada. What there is a shortage of dancers willing to "go the extra mile" for customers.
"It's not exotic dancing anymore, it's foreplay in public," she says referring to the lap dances in so-called VIP rooms or private booths. "What there's a shortage of are women who are willing to tolerate the kind of abuse that happens in strip clubs."
Sgro is also under fire over a meeting in a Toronto strip club at which her chief advisor, Ihor Wons, discussed visa requests with the owner.
That owner donated $5,500 to Liberal coffers.
"My staff went and met with the owners of one of these strip clubs," Sgro told Canada AM.
"He paid a courtesy call at the request of a friend, met with him, told him that they couldn't do anything for them," she said.
"That was the end of the issue."