Sigma -- Please explain yourself on that.
I would expect that any government would try to stay away from such a contentious issue. Let's remember that within the electorate, there are probably more johns (who presumably support the court ruling), including among conservative supporters, than moralists who want a tightening of the rules.
For ex., just read the public comments left on both the English and French CBC websites. The morality brigades are out denouncing this court's ruling. It is being denounced by the right wing as another blow to Canadian society's morality and it is being denounced on the left because "sex work is degrading to women"...
Whether the issue will have enough political juice to be used by the government, I do not really know. But never count the bluenoses out. They always come back it seems...(abortion is apparently a big issue in some western provinces)
You are right that there are johns even among conservative supporters. But there is also a lot of hypocrisy in politics, throughout the political spectrum. The list of politicians who have done things they voted to ban is endless: sex (straight or gay), drugs, financial fraud, tax evasion, etc...
Re: contentiousness of the issue. If you compare the "bawdy house" issue to, say, the gay marriage issue (which the government IS avoiding, until it gets its majority, presumably), you will find that gay marriage rights have fairly broad support in society, and very strong support in some segments of society. Most people will not mind at all having gays neighbors, but will object to having a "bawdy house" next door...property values!! I think the whole "prostitution" issue has much less public support in general that we would like.
In the typical Montreal workplace, the vast majority of gays are comfortably "out"... most "johns" or sex workers are not.