Statement made on 10 June 2010 by Senator Jim Munson
Hon. Jim Munson:
Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. I will talk about something even more serious — the asbestos issue in the province of Quebec. The Public Health Association of Canada has recently commented on the Conservative government's ongoing support of this dying industry, the asbestos industry in this country, as "wrong, unethical and indecent" and rightfully calls it "exporting death."
This is all happening at the same time that asbestos is being removed from the Prime Minister's residence and from our workplace on Parliament Hill. According to Kathleen Ruff of the Rideau Institute, the Prime Minister has given the industry his commitment that as long as he is Prime Minister of Canada, he will support the exportation of asbestos and will block a United Nations environmental agreement to the Rotterdam Convention so as to prevent asbestos from being put on a list of hazardous substances.
Why are the Prime Minister and his government propping up this dying industry by providing international protection to stop the industry from being regulated?
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