Crippling setback for Conservatives

Looks like Stephen Harper isn't gonna get the much coveted "stripper vote" after all.

Toronto-area exotic dancers came out swinging against Ottawa yesterday for clamping down on the visas that foreign strippers need to bump and grind in Canada.

The Adult Entertainment Association of Canada called on its members, employees and clubgoers to vote against the Conservatives over the issue in the federal election expected on Oct. 14.

Of course... the strip joints might just have a bit of a logistical issue... shifting their beer-soaked clientele in "sniffer's row"... up off their butts and into the voting booths.

Association executive director Tim Lambrinos also wants supporters to dump Immigration Minister Diane Finley in her riding of Haldimand-Norfolk.

Lambrinos accused Finley of driving out the striptease business, with many clubs losing money. The association represents 53 of 140 strip clubs in Ontario.

"There has been a 30% reduction in revenue in the industry since Finley took over," Lambrinos said yesterday at Treasures Nightclub, on Atlantic Dr., in Mississauga. "There is only a trickle of girls being allowed in now."

Under Finley's tenure, the number of visas issued to foreign dancers fell from 430 in 2004 to 17 in 2006, he said.

And never let it be said that the McGuinty Liberals aren't doing their part...

Negotiations are underway with the Ontario government to provide student visas so women abroad can travel here to study and strip for up to 20 hours a week, he said.

Yeah... I was wondering where all that OHIP tax revenue was going.

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RELATED: Say, there was another campaign...

...about this issue recently, wasn't there?

Security has been tightened around Immigration Minister Diane Finley following threats related to Conservative efforts to keep foreign strippers out of Canada.

The exact nature of the threats was not revealed, but sources say they are directly linked to Bill C-17, the government's anti-stripper legislation, and hinted at an organized crime connection.

Another source close to the minister said security "started increasing about six to eight weeks ago and it hasn't gone down."

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"If the Liberals could recruit as many good Doctors from other countries like they could with strippers, then it wouldn't have mattered when Bob Rae clawed back the number of medical graduates."

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