Canada Ends Permit Program for Foreign Strippers

Canada Ends Permit Program for Foreign Strippers


OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Canadian government, under fire because one of its ministers has been accused of giving preferential treatment to a Romanian stripper, said on Wednesday it was scrapping a program that handed out temporary work permits to foreign-born exotic dancers.

Human Resources Minister Joe Volpe said it was clear that not all Canadians supported the program, which granted permits to around 660 foreign strippers to work in Canada last year.

"I didn't feel in the slightest bit comfortable with the program and I didn't think there was any justification for it," he told reporters.

Immigration Minister Judy Sgro is facing daily calls to resign over her decision to grant a temporary residency permit to Alina Balaican, a Romanian stripper who had worked on Sgro's election campaign earlier this year. She also extended Balaican's expired work permit.

Sgro denies she has done anything wrong, saying she acted on humanitarian grounds.

But opposition legislators complain that the speed with which Sgro helped Balaican contrasts with the long wait facing other applicants for temporary residency. Canada's ethics commissioner has already been asked to examine the case.