MONTREAL - Denis Coderre is on a mission to crack down on erotic massage parlours in Montreal.

The new mayor said Monday the proliferation of the parlours, which often act as fronts for brothels, must be better controlled.

This summer, Villeray-Saint-Michel-Park-Extension Borough Mayor Anie Samson announced that after a noticeable increase in massage parlours in her borough, they would be stop granting them licences. Samson joined team Denis Coderre early in the election campaign, Monday being named vice-president of his executive committee.

Coderre is now seeking to take Samson’s measures further after meeting for Montreal police Chief Marc Parent.

“Clearly there's the issue of prostitution – juvenile prostitution. There's also the issue of exploitation of women, so there's tolerance on that,” he said.

Coderre said job one is to ensure the boroughs come to an agreement on the issuing of permits, which currently fall under the same heading as hair and nail salons.

He also wants to ensure the over 260 existing parlours are inspected and policed.

“(We’ll be) working with the SPVM to make sure they comply with what the permit was saying and pull the plug and put some fines attached to it,” he said.

Some argue that massage parlours blatantly advertising more than a massage take sex work off the streets and offer sex workers a safer environment, but Diane Matte of the Coalition battling against sexual exploitation said they're still fronts for sexual exploitation.

“If you open these doors, you have to look at who's buying who's being bought and what is being bought,” she said.

The announcement also came as welcome news to the Federation of Quebec Massage Therapists.

“We are very pleased at the federation because it's exactly what we wanted,” said spokeswoman Sonia Zennaf.

Certified massage therapist Chantale Houle also said she wants recognition for her work, not solicitation for sex acts.

“I worked before in a hotel and it's happened before that somebody ask me, ‘Do you do extras?,’” she said.

The federation says there are now 34 different associations for massage therapists in Quebec, which also leads to confusion and potential insurance fraud, leading the group to launch a campaign Monday to create one order that would oversee all of the province's estimated 20,000 registered therapists.

“So that we have one specific training and education level in Quebec, which is not the case, actually,” said Zennaf.