Edmonton

Moratorium on body rub parlours ends

A seven-month moratorium on licenses for new body rub parlours in Edmonton has ended.

The moratorium was put in place last June to address concerns that the number of businesses was increasing.

"We were under the impression that all of a sudden more and more body rub centres are opening up, right? But that is not the case," Coun. Amarjeet Sohi said.

Gary Dziwenka, the city's director of licensing, says the numbers haven't changed in several years.

"For the number of years that we've been licensing body shops we've had 39 licenses out there," he said.

"We have not seen any increase or decrease or mass applications come in."

Although the moratorium is over, Dziwenka isn't expecting a flood of new applications.

Council is still waiting for recommendations from a committee set look at working conditions, how sex workers are recruited and what services exist to help them leave the industry.