Asbestos industry giving Canada ‘black eye’ on world stage, say Martin and McGuinty

The asbestos industry is using Canada’s “Boy Scout image” to promote its product, but is turning the country into an “international pariah” and giving it a “black eye” on the world stage, says NDP MP Pat Martin, who has been fighting to ban asbestos globally ever since he was elected in 1997. “The asbestos industry dines out on Canada’s boy scout image because the other producers are like Iran and Kyrgyzstan and all these other shit bag countries so they tell customers look, if a nice country like Canada says asbestos is okay, it must be,” Mr. Martin (Winnipeg Centre, Man.) told The Hill Times in an interview Monday. “Without Canada, the asbestos cartel will probably collapse because they’re just a bunch of reprobates. They’re charlatans and frauds and international criminals. Having Canada there gives them legitimacy on the world stage. That’s why it’s so important that we show leadership in getting out of it.” Last month, the Canadian federal government refused to list chrysotile asbestos on the United Nations’ Rotterdam Convention list of hazardous exports, which has drawn international criticism. Mr. Martin, who calls the asbestos industry players and its boosters “international pariahs,” went to Rome in 2008 during the last round of the Rotterdam Convention talks, and said he tried to encourage Canada to list asbestos as a hazardous material. “I paid my own way and went to Rome and attended there to try and encourage Canada to stop sabotaging the convention. But instead, I witnessed them doing it,” he said. “The head of the Chrysotile Institute was part of the Canadian delegation but I wasn’t allowed to sit with them or be given any information about what their position was going to be.” At the most recent round, in Geneva, Switzerland, Canada continued to block the listing, prompting the Green Party to launch a Facebook campaign, called “We’re Sorry!” to apologize to the rest of the world for inaction on exporting asbestos. “I’m ashamed of our government’s action on asbestos. I think most Canadians are ashamed. Our government behaved disgracefully in Geneva, and we owe the world an apology,” said Green Leader Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.) in a press release. “There’s no logic to our government’s position on this. A hazardous listing would not impact the industry, but Canada still shot it down. … We won’t have asbestos in our own homes and offices. We’re spending millions to remove it from our Parliament buildings. Yet our government won’t even admit to the rest of the world that the substance is dangerous.” Health Canada states that “asbestos poses health risks only when fibres are present in the air that people breathe. If asbestos fibres are enclosed or tightly bound in a product, for example in asbestos siding or asbestos floor tiles, there are no significant health risks,” according to its website. In addition, it states, “When inhaled in significant quantities, asbestos fibres can cause asbestosis , mesothelioma and lung cancer. The link between exposure to asbestos and other types of cancers is less clear.” The asbestos industry says certain levels of asbestos are safe and if handled properly. Bernard Coulombe, owner of the Jeffrey Mine in Quebec, told The Globe and Mail recently: “They say we are exporting death, but that is not true. … They treat it like it was anthrax. If it was really as dangerous as they say it is, we’d all be lying dead in the streets. Why is the world against us?” Before the House broke for the summer recess, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver (Eglinton-Lawrence, Ont.) responded to a flurry of questions on the issue. He told the House: “Our position at Rotterdam is the same as it is in Canada. All scientific reviews clearly confirm that chrysotile fibres can be used safely under controlled situations.” Mr. Martin said that successive Canadian governments have “artificially supported asbestos more than any other commodity in the country” and is promoted widely when Canadians don’t want it. He noted that on the Chrysotile Institute’s website, it states that it takes “part in international conferences by offering relevant documentation, advice, or technical, medical and scientific training to chrysotile producers and users of chrysotile in other countries as well as to industrial health specialists. To date, the Chrysotile Institute has organized more than 100 missions of this nature to some 60 countries.” “No other commodity enjoys that level of . Not softwood lumber, not wheat, nothing. We’re just pulling out all the stops when it comes to pushing asbestos,” he said, noting the international lobbying is being done through Canadian embassies and foreign missions, which creates a “black eye” for Canada. Liberal MP David McGuinty (Ottawa South, Ont.) said today that Canada’s international reputation has already been so badly scarred from the Harper government that this issue just makes a further dent. “Our international reputation right now as players in the UN system has been seriously compromised and has been for the past five years because deep down, basically, primarily because Mr. Harper doesn’t believe in the UN. He doesn’t believe it’s a proper forum,” he said. “He doesn’t believe in its views on the environment, on the Middle East and Israel, he has constantly bad mouthed the UN, he’s stood it up, he’s not participated, et cetera, et c cetera, et cetera, so with respect to our international reputation this is probably just more of the same.” bvongdou@hilltimes.com The Hill Times -30-

Asbestos industry giving Canada ‘black eye’ on world stage, say Martin and McGuinty

The asbestos industry is using Canada’s 'Boy Scout image' to promote its product, but is turning the country into an 'international pariah' and giving it a 'black eye' on the world stage, says NDP MP Pat Martin, who has been fighting to ban asbestos globally ever since he was elected in 1997.

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Asbestos industry giving Canada ‘black eye’ on world stage, say Martin and McGuinty

The asbestos industry is using Canada’s 'Boy Scout image' to promote its product, but is turning the country into an 'international pariah' and giving it a 'black eye' on the world stage, says NDP MP Pat Martin, who has been fighting to ban asbestos globally ever since he was elected in 1997.

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