CALGARY – Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says it’s something that should have been done a long time ago.

He said on Wednesday that the federal government is no longer allowing employers in the sex trade to hire strippers, escorts and massage parlour workers from outside Canada.

Kenney says the change is being made because temporary workers in the sex trade business are being exploited.

He says those at highest risk of being exploited are young women with poor language skills expecting they will make their fortune when they come to Canada.

Kenney says Canada issued about 180-thousand permits for foreign workers last year and estimates a “very small percentage” of those ended up working in the sex trade.

He said that’s a far cry from the hundreds of exotic dancers that were allowed in during the previous Liberal administration — many of whom ended up in the sex trade being controlled by organized crime.