Sask. government under fire over escort ad
The Saskatchewan government is being criticized after its jobs website ran an advertisement for a female escort.
For a time, possibly less than a day, the government-run saskjobs.ca website was displaying an ad from an employer listed as Fine Canada Dating Agency Corp.
The ad said the company was looking for an escort in Regina: "We are an extremely busy agency curently looking to add new females to our exclusive lineup."
Applicants were to reply to "Dave" with an email and a picture.
A government official said the ad had been pulled early Tuesday morning, but Opposition NDP MLA Kevin Yates raised the case in the legislature during Question Period that afternoon.
"Why is the government allowing a website to be used to draw young Saskatchewan women into the sex trade?" Yates asked.
"We are sickened by this...it's unacceptable," Employment Minister Rob Norris replied.
Norris added that the government took immediate steps to remove the ad and delink the employer. He said he's now trying to find out how it got on the site and will tighten protocols to prevent similar postings in the future.
Norris also said similar things occurred while the NDP was in government.
Yates reminded Norris that last fall, the Saskatchewan government was expressing concerns about young people being drawn into the sex trade with particular attention being paid to sex ads on the online classified advertising service Craigslist.
At the time, Justice Minister Don Morgan said he would join with some of his provincial counterparts and ask Craigslist to pull its "erotic services" section down.
