Canadian Coverage

2016.09.15: Niagara This Week - Region supports comprehensive asbestos ban
Guay, a health and safety advocate who joined Niagara Regional Labour Council vice-president Chris Grawey in calling for regional politicians to support a comprehensive ban on imported products containing asbestos, said the mesothelioma her dad was diagnosed with in 2011 quickly ate away at him.

2016.08.19: Windsor Star - Essex County council backs campaign to ban asbestos
Labour councils across the country are trying to persuade the federal government to ban the use, export or import of asbestos, by seeking the support of municipal leaders.

2016-07-16: The Star - Ottawa’s shameful foot-dragging on asbestos continues: Editorial
The roots of our dangerous obstinacy are political. Successive prime ministers have defended the deadly mineral in the hopes of winning votes in rural Quebec, where asbestos mining was an important industry for more than a century. Only last summer, three years after the last of Quebec’s mines shut down amid dwindling demand, did Ottawa finally acknowledge that “asbestos, if inhaled, can cause cancer and other diseases.”

2016.07.05: Globe and Mail - Trudeau must live up to his pledge to deal with asbestos
Unless it quickly lives up to its word, this won’t be the last time the government will be embarrassed by Kathleen Ruff. She is among Canada’s most indefatigable crusaders, a woman who never hesitates to speak truth to power and won’t stop until power actually hears her and acts.

2016.07.04: Ottawa Citizen - Ruff: Time for a firm stand against asbestos, Canada
One of the key promises made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is that his government will restore Canada’s badly tarnished image on the international stage. Canada is back, says the prime minister. Canada will support global policies based on evidence and play a positive role at the United Nations. Trudeau’s pledge has been welcomed by most Canadians and by the international community.

2016.06.26: Globe and Mail - Asbestos-related cancer costs Canadians billions
A first-ever estimate of the toll of asbestos-related cancers on society pegs the cost of new cases at $1.7-billion per year in Canada, and notes that is likely an under-estimate.

2016.06.05: Montreal Gazette - How one single-minded activist helped turn the tide on asbestos
A longtime human rights activist based in Smithers, B.C., Ruff has toiled, for the most part, behind the scenes. But without Ruff’s dogged determination to rally health experts, victims and politicians to speak out and take action, Quebec might still be mining and selling the deadly fibre to developing countries for decades to come, with the active support and blessing of the federal government.

2016.05.11: CBC News - Canada 'moving forward' on asbestos ban, Justin Trudeau says
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made the federal government's first commitment to move forward with a plan to ban asbestos. 
Trudeau made the comments Tuesday while speaking at Canada's building trades union policy conference in Ottawa.

2016.04.28: CBC - Check out this national inventory of federal buildings containing asbestos
CBC has produced a national inventory of federal buildings containing asbestos by contacting 24 federal departments and agencies that provided a list of properties containing the substance.

2016.04.22: The Star - Asbestos imports on the rise, families and unions call for total ban
Trade unions and affected family members say it’s long past time to ban all asbestos products in Canada, calling them the country’s number one workplace killer.
A tearful Michelle Cote, whose boiler maker father was diagnosed with deadly, asbestos-caused mesothelioma in 2014, told an Ottawa news conference that no one deserves to die this way.

2016.04.16: iPolotics - Experts, activists baffled as to why asbestos is still not banned
“To me, the delay is completely inexplicable. Every day that passes, people are going to die from asbestos-related exposure. It’s completely irresponsible,” said David Boyd, an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University and the author of Cleaner, Greener, Healthier: A Prescription for Stronger Canadian Environmental Law and Policies.

2016.04.11: Ottawa Citizen - Asbestos banned in construction, renovations at federal sites
CBC News has learned a federal government department has banned asbestos use in new construction and renovation projects at buildings it operates — the new policy took effect on April 1.

2016.03.28: Ottawa Citizen - Time to end the use of asbestos in Canada
For years, Canada was criticized for the unconscionable practice of exporting asbestos, a deadly carcinogen, to developing countries. A decade later, Canada no longer exports asbestos, thanks to the closure of the last mine in Quebec for economic reasons in 2011. But Canada now imports increasing volumes of products made from asbestos.

2016.03.27: Globe and Mail - Pressure mounts on Ottawa to join wide ban on asbestos
A letter sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this month notes that Canada still allows the use of asbestos and lacks a comprehensive strategy to phase out the substance or to promote safe substitutes.

2016.02.14: Vancouver Sun - B.C. labour groups want jail time for alleged asbestos-removal culprits
An asbestos-removal company is in court this week to face accusations it repeatedly exposed its workers to the deadly construction material. Labour organizations in British Columbia are calling for jail time against Seattle Environmental director Mike Singh and his son Shawn Singh.

2016.02.03: CBC News - Federal labour minister says she will consider asbestos ban
The federal government is considering a ban of asbestos in construction projects in Canada, but for now it's "monitoring the situation" according to Maryann Mihychuk, the federal minister of employment, workforce development and labour.

2016.02-02: CBC News - Federal government still using asbestos in new construction
CBC News has confirmed the federal government continues to use asbestos-containing materials in the construction and renovation of federal buildings, even though asbestos is a known carcinogen and toxin.

2016.01.28: CNC News - Ottawa Taxation Centre workers astonished after asbestos found in ceiling
Government workers at the Canada Revenue Agency's Ottawa Taxation Centre tell CBC News they're astonished management didn't tell them they were exposed to asbestos in the ceiling over several years.

2016.01.21: Occupational Safety - Cases of cancer caused by asbestos on rise
Described as a "cruel'' disease, mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer that develops in the lining of the lungs as a result of inhaling asbestos dust and fibres.  Like asbestos-related lung cancer, mesothelioma can take 20 to 40 years to develop and begin causing symptoms, among them painful coughing, shortness of breath and severe weight loss. About 60 per cent of those affected die within a year of diagnosis. The five-year relative survival rate is seven per cent.

2016.01.21: CTV News - Cases of cancer caused by asbestos on the rise, StatsCan says
The numbers of cases and deaths from mesothelioma, a deadly cancer caused primarily by workplace asbestos exposure, have continued to rise and show no signs of abating, recently updated figures from Statistics Canada show.

2016.01.07: Globe and Mail - Asbestos exposure leads rise in deaths of B.C. construction workers
Deaths of B.C. construction workers jumped 40 per cent last year, an increase fuelled by the number of workers who have died after being exposed to asbestos while on their jobs decades ago.

2016.01.06: Halifax Water issues tender for asbestos removal at Lake Lamont plant
In a hazardous material assessment report issued in December 2014, ALL-TECH Environmental Services Ltd. said that in addition to the materials listed in the report, mould, asbestos debris, rodent and bird feces had been found on surfaces throughout the building. Those areas included ceilings, walls, pipes and equipment.

Herald News: 2015.12.26: Winnipeg Free Press - Crusader against asbestos loses her life to asbestos-related disease
ThunderSky had been dealing with asbestos-related lung disease and a family member said she had mesothelioma, an extremely rare form of lung cancer. ThunderSky’s half sister Rita Swain died in 2008 after an over three-year battle with mesothelioma.

2015.12.27: CBC News - Raven Thundersky, indigenous health advocate, dies at 50
Thundersky was involved in the call for an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women (MMIW), but was perhaps most vocal on health issues faced by people living in homes with asbestos-containing insulation.

2015.11.29: Montreal Gazette - Concordia prof under pressure to denounce colleague's pro-asbestos paper
Anti-asbestos activists are turning up the heat on Concordia University by demanding a high-profile faculty member at the university’s John Molson School of Business join international scientists and health experts in calling for an official retraction of a pro-asbestos report.

2015.10.01: Burnaby Now - Daughter lobbies for action on asbestos
After making some connections, the pair launched the Asbestos Related Research, Education & Advocacy (AREA) Fund in 2010.

2015.07.25: Montreal Gazette - Concordia to review asbestos report
Concordia University is reviewing a report it commissioned and published on public relations lessons that can be learned from Quebec’s asbestos industry. 
The review comes after the report was decried as “replete with inaccuracies and bias,” by a group of 10 scientists and human-rights advisers.

2015.07.14: Vancouver Sun: WorkSafeBC cracks down on home demos and renos over asbestos concerns
Work safety officials say they are stepping up enforcement of home renovations in B.C. over concerns about asbestos after a high number of contractors were caught trying to cut corners last year.

2015.07.06: Herald - Ottawa’s shameful record on asbestos
Health Canada was widely congratulated last week for recently revising its website to more accurately reflect global scientific and medical knowledge on the risks of inhaling asbestos, a known carcinogen.

2015.07.03: The Star - Ottawa should ban asbestos entirely: Editorial
The about-face was clumsy and long overdue, but welcome. The Canadian government has finally admitted there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos.

2015.07.03: Globe and Mail - Ottawa’s change of heart on asbestos welcome but late
his week, The Globe learned that the government had quietly changed its web page on the health risks of asbestos. The difference between the old web page and the new one is categoric. The old began, “Asbestos was a popular material used widely in construction and many other industries.

2015.07.02: CTV News - Asbestos update: How Health Canada's advice has changed
Health Canada has updated the online information it provides to Canadians about the risks of asbestos, conceding that exposure to the substance in any form is dangerous. The HealthyCanadians.gc.ca website now says that any amount of asbestos inhalation can lead to "cancer and other diseases."

2015.07.02: The Observer - Advocates in Sarnia calling for ban on asbestos use in Canada 
Changes Health Canada has made to how the federal department's website describes the health risks of asbestos are being welcomed in Sarnia, a community hit hard by occupational diseases, including mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.

2015.07.01: Globe and Mail - Ottawa reverses stand on health risks of asbestos in ‘landmark shift’
Health Canada has strikingly revised its position on the health risks of asbestos exposure, bringing the federal government more in line with other developed countries.  The recent changes to the department’s website are significant, with the page about asbestos replacing information that was dated from 2012. Among the shifts, the site no longer says one form of asbestos – chrysotile, the type that Canada mined and exported for years that is still most commonly used – is “less potent” and does less damage than other types. The World Health Organization and other medical bodies have long said all forms of asbestos are carcinogenic.

2015.05.16: CTV News: Russia helps block export restriction on asbestos
Four countries including Russia have blocked a bid to add chrysotile asbestos to a list of dangerous substances subject to export restrictions, participants at a UN meeting in Geneva said Saturday.

2015.05.14: Counter Currents - India Blocks Listing Of Chrysotile Asbestos In Rotterdam Convention
India along with a handful of countries including Russia, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Cuba once again blocked the listing of Chrysotile Asbestos in the Prior Informed Consent list (PIC) at a UN convention meeting currently underway in Geneva, using bogus science and advocating “controlled use”. We would like to point out that “Controlled” or “safe” use of all varieties of asbestos including Chrysotile is a “myth” and that all major independent scientific bodies including the WHO and ILO have categorically stated that Chrysotile (white) asbestos cannot be safely used.

2015.05.04: Globe and Mail: Canada urged to lobby to have asbestos added to UN hazardous list
Canada should ban asbestos inside its borders and lobby aggressively to have the chrysotile form of the carcinogenic mineral added to the hazardous substances list of a United Nations treaty, according to a commentary published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

2015.03.27: Globe and Mail - Asbestos imports rising in Canada despite health warnings
According to Statistics Canada figures, imports of asbestos-related items rose to $6-million last year from $4.9-million in 2013. The bulk of these goods consisted of asbestos brake linings and pads, which hit $3.6-million in imports in 2014, a seven-year high.

2015.03.11 CBC News - Asbestos registry demanded for federal public buildings
Tradespeople who say they were unknowingly exposed to asbestos while working in federal buildings say it’s time to develop a registry to let workers know what hazards may be in Canada's public buildings.

2015.02.27 The Star - Canada is on the sidelines when it comes to banning asbestos trade
Canada is sending a terrible message to the rest of the world. Oppose responsible trade; reject scientific evidence; obstruct international co-operation.

2014.02.14: Globe and Mail - Researcher Patricia Martens turned dry data into stories
When she was diagnosed with mesothelioma, an aggressive form of cancer usually caused by exposure to asbestos, she recognized the opportunity to speak up and support the campaign to have Canada join other developed countries in banning asbestos. 

2014.12.15: Globe and Mail - Asbestos revealed as Canada’s top cause of workplace death
Asbestos exposure is the single largest on-the-job killer in Canada, accounting for more than a third of total workplace death claims approved last year and nearly a third since 1996, new national data obtained by The Globe and Mail show. 

2014.11.24: Globe and Mail - Asbestos exposure: We’re just at the beginning of a health crisis
I spent four years of my life working with a team, based at Memorial University, designing, developing, and implementing an occupational exposure and disease registry for the 2,500 or so former employees of the asbestos mining and milling operation in Baie Verte, Newfoundland. The operation functioned from the mid-1950s until it finally closed in 1994.

2014.06.17: Globe and Mail - Federal opposition raises asbestos-policy issue
The federal Conservative government is refusing to join the rest of the developed world in declaring that there are no safe uses for asbestos, even though the material is the top workplace killer in Canada and deaths from exposure are expected to rise.

2014.06.16: Global News: Former Newfoundland asbestos mine workers fight government
Mon, Jun 16: It’s been 20 years since the mine in Baie Verte, N.L. stopped producing asbestos. But those who worked in the mine and breathed toxic dust say authorities are ignoring science and are denying them compensation. Ross Lord reports.

2014.06.16: Globe and Mail: Ottawa's sunny outlook on asbestos is out of step with the facts
Ottawa’s sunny outlook about asbestos is out of step with the facts and is sending a confusing signal to Canadians. 

2014.06.12: Globe and Mail - The Invisible Epidemic
Asbestos is the top on-the-job killer in Canada. But a Globe and Mail investigation has found that this stark fact has been obscured by the country’s longstanding economic interest in the onetime “miracle mineral.” 

2014-03-24: Under The Influence CBC - Selling Danger
Even when those products were used exactly as advertised - they created enormous hazards, physical risk, and in some cases, even death. We'll explore how we invited Asbestos and DDT into our homes as miracle products, how certain games for children ended up posing incredible risks, and how a much-heralded drug ended up being one of the most devastating products in modern history.

2014.02.23: Toronto Star - Revolutionary Toronto cancer treatment gives asbestos victims new life
The technique used by Dr. John Cho and Dr. Marc de Perrot at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre has doubled survival times in patients with mesothelioma, according to research they published last month. Their success has drawn attention from around the world and they say doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota will soon attempt to use their method.

2013.10.14: The Telegram - 
Theatre’s future hinges on funding
Concerns over the presence of asbestos in the theatre forced the university to close it in February 2012. It was cleared later that month for internal use by faculty and staff.

2013.09.30: Gazette - Some of McGill University’s harshest critics will be speaking at a full-day conference on asbestos and research ethics Tuesday.
Last year, McGill was accused of a “whitewash” when it released what some scientists and activists considered a biased report after an internal investigation into misconduct charges against retired professor John Corbett McDonald.

2013.09.10: McGill - Asbestos Conference 2013
The McGill Faculty of Medicine is pleased to announce a free full-day academic conference, open to the public, focused on the topic of asbestos. Conference attendees will be invited to engage in a baseline discussion about what asbestos is, how it has been used historically and its impact on human health, as well as participate in a dialogue for the future with respect to research policy, ethics and the broader context. 

2013.09.09: CBC News - Justice sought with new asbestos registry
The union representing people who worked at a notorious asbestos mine on Newfoundland's Baie Verte Peninsula is demanding changes to eligibility criteria that prevented most of them from receiving compensation.
The United Steelworkers union says health information gathered by the Baie Verte miners' registry shows people who were unfairly denied for compensation to exposure to asbestos.

2013.07.31: Shaw TV - GO! Island Walk for Truth - Asbestos Kills, Powell River

2013.07.23: Globe and Mail - Guatemalan mine claims against HudBay can be tried in Canada, judge says
Justice Carole Brown’s ruling, handed down Monday, means that the claims of 13 Guatemalans can proceed to trial in Canadian courts. The decision opens the door to other cases in which companies could face liability on their home turf for incidents that happen overseas.

2013.06.10: RightOnCanada - Rotterdam Convention in crisis, say civil society groups
Civil society groups attending the Rotterdam Convention conference in Geneva are expressing grave alarm that the Convention has been hijacked by the asbestos industry, which is determined to prevent the environmental and health protections of the Convention from being implemented.

2013.06.25: RightOnCanada - Asbestos lobbyists determined to sabotage UN Rotterdam Convention
Eighteen asbestos lobbyists will be attending the UN Rotterdam Convention conference in Geneva with the sole purpose of defeating  the recommendation of the Convention’s expert scientific body that chrysotile asbestos – the only form of asbestos sold in the world today – be placed on the Convention’s list of hazardous substances, which would require safety warnings and Prior Informed Consent be obtained before asbestos is exported.

2013.05.05: The Star - Russia, Zimbabwe pick up the asbestos baton from Canada
At the UN Rotterdam Convention conference in Geneva this coming week, asbestos lobbyists will be working to defeat the recommendation of the convention’s expert scientific committee to put chrysotile asbestos on the convention’s list of hazardous substances.

2013.04.28: The Record - Liberals will not finance Jeffrey mine if re-elected
A $58 million loan issued by the previous Liberal government last summer to support the restart of the Jeffrey asbestos mine will not be reissued if the Liberals regain power, according to newly-chosen Quebec Liberal Party leader Philippe Couillard.

2013-04-25: CBC News - Contractor in fight with Public Works after asbestos exposure
Job to replace sinks at B.C. prison exposed workers to carcinogen. Instead, the British Columbia contractor said he was exposed to high levels of asbestos, almost lost his business and has been fighting with federal government bureaucrats for more than three years

2013.04.18: CBC News - Reporting asbestos in public buildings now mandatory
Public buildings in Saskatchewan are now required by law to report if asbestos is present. The province has passed a bill that will make Saskatchewan the first province in Canada to require mandatory reporting of asbestos in public buildings. Under the new legislation, information about asbestos will have to be disclosed in a public registry.

2013.04.10: Yahoo.ca - Registry of workers of Baie Verte asbestos mine in Newfoundland completed
The Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission says the registry will be used to help adjudicate occupational disease claims for former workers of the shuttered mine in Baie Verte. The commission says the information in the registry will also help patients under care for asbestos-related illness.

2013.04.05: CBC News - Quebec's asbestos promotion policy may be ending
Quebec's government appears to be on the verge of officially turning its back on the asbestos industry, according to comments made by the province's natural resource minister.

2013.03.26: CBC News - Asbestos in at least 180 Quebec health care sites
Documents obtained by Radio-Canada through access to information requests reveal 180 health care sites in the province contain asbestos, and there could be more. The buildings known to contain the carcinogenic fibre, which was once used as a fire-retardant, include various hospitals, clinics, and long-term care homes.

2013.03.21: The Star - Asbestos love-in runs its course; 
The Harper’s government fondness for the cancer-causing chrysotile asbestos industry seems to have run its course. As part of Thursday’s budget, Ottawa will send $50 million over the next seven years to help the commmunities of Thetford Mines and Asbestos, Quebec diversify their economies away from exploiting the dangerous mineral. Canada has taken heat for keeping its asbestos industry alive and shipping exports to countries like India, an effort that requires federal and provincial subsidies.

2013.03.14: The Canadian Press - Saskatchewan backs mandatory asbestos registry for public buildings
The Saskatchewan government says it will back proposed legislation to make reporting of asbestos in public buildings mandatory.
Labour Minister Don Morgan said Thursday that a private member's bill will go to committee that will consider things such as what information would have to be provided on the registry.

2013.03.11: CTV News - Highest award for man who battled for asbestos registry
"This award is a great way of honouring Howard's work," Todd said. "There is one more thing we can do to help save the lives of so many more innocent victims. We can contact our MLAs and tell them that it's important to the people of Saskatchewan that they vote in favour of Bill 604."

2013.02.27: Vancouver Sun - Deadly asbestos-related disease ‘heart-wrenching’ for families
Fernie was angered by a story in The Vancouver Sun Monday that revealed Skylite Building Maintenance, and its successor company Seattle Environmental Consulting, racked up more than 250 orders for violations for exposing workers to asbestos under the Workers’ Compensation Act of B.C. and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, as well as more than $280,000 in fines dating back to 2009.

2013.02.26: McGill Tribune - Asbestos at McGill: one year later
As a large research university, McGill is one of the world’s leading institutions when it comes to scientific breakthroughs. With this title, however, comes great responsibility and a stringent public eye. 

2013.02.25: The Star - UN cancer-research agency IARC denies influence by Russian asbestos industry
World Health Organization (WHO) cancer-research agency says article in The Lancet poorly researched. Russia has replaced Canada in blocking moves against chrysotile.

2013.02.18: RightOnCanada.ca - 
The International Chrysotile Association Continues Its Deadly Work Around The World
Right now, a battle is being waged in Europe to hold the asbestos industry accountable for its criminal negligence in hiding the risks of asbestos, thus causing thousands of deaths.

2013.02.04: La Presse - Amiante: une Québécoise obtient gain de gause aux États-Unis
L'annonce à l'origine de cette surprenante manne avait été diffusée par un important cabinet d'avocats américain, Motley Rice, qui lance régulièrement des campagnes dans les médias pour identifier des victimes potentielles de l'amiante.

2013.02.04: La Presse - Un long parcours truffé d'embûches
Mme Therrien obtient un rapport indiquant que plusieurs écoles de la commission scolaire pour laquelle travaillait son mari, sur la couronne nord de Montréal, comportaient des flocages d'amiante.

2013.02.04: La Press - Vers un recours collectif de victimes de l'amiante
Le gouvernement du Québec pourrait bientôt voir se former un recours collectif regroupant les personnes de la province ayant été indûment exposées à l'amiante, a appris La Presse.

2013.02.04: Right On Canada - Quebec asbestos victims organisation soon to be formed
A Quebec environmental group, la Société pour vaincre la pollution (SVP), is hoping in the coming weeks to finalize the constitution of a Quebec asbestos victims organisation, which will assist victims obtain compensation.

2013.01.01: Caritaps - Canary in the Mine 
The documentary highlights the devastating health effects chrysotile asbestos has on unsuspecting victims and on those who loved and cared for them. It also illustrates the unwillingness of asbestos producers and our government to acknowledge scientific facts which clearly point to the deadly carcinogenic character of chrysotile asbestos.

2012.12.18: Canadian Underwriter - A.M. Best revises estimate for U.S. asbestos insurance losses to $85 billion
A.M. Best Company Inc. recently released a revised estimate of $85 billion, net of reinsurance, in losses due to asbestos claims to the United States property and casualty insurance industry.

2012.11.13: CBC News - Saskatchewan government unveils asbestos list
Despite some earlier misgivings, the Saskatchewan government has decided to publish a list of buildings containing asbestos. It's something the New Democrat Opposition was pushing for, as was Saskatoon's Howard Willems, who died last week of lung cancer.

2012.11.08: Leader Post - Man who pushed for asbestos registry for Sask. public buildings dies
A Saskatchewan man who urged the province to make lists available to everyone of public buildings that contain asbestos is dead.
The family of Howard Willems says he died peacefully Thursday after a long battle with mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that comes from inhaling asbestos fibres.

2012.11.08: CBC Radio - Asbestos
All about asbestos, the substance that was once one of Canada's major resources until it was found to be dangerous to the people who pulled it out of the earth and processed it. 

2012.11.07: Right ON - Socialist leader on manslaughter charge over asbestos deaths
Martine Aubry, the former leader of France’s governing Socialist Party, has been charged with manslaughter in a probe into whether state negligence contributed to thousands of deaths caused by asbestos exposure.

2012.11.05: :Leader Post - New Sask. labour legislation is not “an attack on unions”
Speaking at the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour’s annual convention on Saturday, Labour Minister Don Morgan got several rounds of applause — especially when he talked about essential services legislation.

2012.11.03: La Press - France: après le sang contaminé, l'amiante?
Le dossier de l'amiante débouchera-t-il en France sur l'inculpation de plusieurs hauts responsables de l'État comme l'a fait le scandale du sang contaminé?

2012.11.02: CBC - Lobby groups call for registry of buildings containing asbestos
Two health lobby groups are calling for a national public registry of buildings containing asbestos.

2012.10.25: Asian Journal - McGill University's Asbestos Report is a Whitewash
Prof. McDonald used his research to argue at a World Trade Organization tribunal that countries should not have the right to ban chrysotile asbestos (which represented 100% of the global asbestos trade), as it was virtually harmless.

2012.10.23: Montreal Gazette - Activist blasts McGill’s absolution of asbestos researcher
McGill Research Integrity Officer Abraham Fuks said McDonald acknowledged he received financial support from the asbestos industry. In his report, Fuks said McDonald’s research was replicated by other groups and that its “robustness has endured many critical analyses and legal inquiries.”

2012.10.17: Right On Canada - Last Quebec asbestos mine abandons its plan to re-open
For the past year, no asbestos mining has taken place in Quebec, but asbestos industrialists were pursuing plans to re-open both the Jeffrey mine and the LAC mine. The industrialists have now admitted defeat and at both mines, plans to re-open have now been abandoned.

2012.10.17: Montreal Gazette - Asbestos: retired McGill professor cleared of misconduct in industry-sponsored research
A Radio-Canada documentary aired this year detailed how an institute set up by the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association paid professor McDonald and other McGill researchers at least $1 million between 1966 and 1972 for research on the health impacts of chrysotile asbestos.

2012.10.16:  Thetfordactu - Relance de la mine Lac d’Amiante : Simon Dupéré jette l’éponge
Les décisions des gouvernements fédéral et provincial en matière de chrysotile auront finalement enterré la relance de la mine LAC à Saint-Joseph-de-Coleraine, Simon Dupéré ayant annoncé aujourd’hui qu’il suspendait le projet « indéfiniment ».

2012.09.29: The Observer - Asbestos victims remembered
Others in the crowd of 525 or more at the second annual walk in Sarnia carried photos of loved ones lost to asbestos-caused illness, wore T-shirts honouring victims and carried signs calling for the mineral fibre to be banned in Canada.

2012.09.27: Occupational Cancer Research Centre - Asbestos Disease Symposium 
Presentations from the September 27, 2012 Asbestos Disease Symposium held in Toronto. Asbestos Exposure and the Burden of Asbestos-related Disease in Canada Dr. Paul Demers –Director, Occupational Cancer Research Centre

2012.09.26: WSO - WSO Calls for Canadian Asbestos Ban
The World Sikh Organization of Canada has written to Industry Ministry Christian Paradis, calling on the Government of Canada to impose an immediate ban on the mining and export of asbestos and to offer assistance to the victims of asbestos-related cancer. 

2012.09.25: Simcoe - Reluctantly doing the right thing
Canada's government is backing down from its stubborn and bewildering support of the asbestos export industry. 
It's about time. 

2012.09.23: The Star - Asbestos products still being imported to Ontario
Despite recent announcements in Ottawa and Quebec that suggest asbestos will soon be a thing of the past, products made of the cancer-causing mineral are still being imported and used in Ontario today.

2012.09.20: Globe and Mail - As asbestos industry collapses, a town's fibre is torn
Asbestos has become a mineral with a dubious reputation and a doubtful future, and its namesake town faces a similar fate. 

2012.09.22: The Star - The belated demise of Canada’s asbestos industry
It could hardly have been more politically dramatic or more financially devastating for the tottering, bankrupt Quebec asbestos industry. After 130 years in operation, the last two asbestos mines in Quebec — the Jeffrey mine in the town of Asbestos and the mine run by LAB Chrysotile at Thetford Mines — shut down more than a year ago in the face of catastrophic financial and environmental problems.

2012.09.21: Asian Journal - Baljit Chadha: Why does this man want to kill poor Indians with cancer-causing asbestos?
AS reported in this newspaper last week, the federal government was forced to reverse its position on supporting export of the cancer-causing asbestos. Federal Industry Minister Christian Paradis said the government will no longer oppose the listing of chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance under the Rotterdam Convention and that Ottawa would fork out $50 million to enable asbestos mine workers to retrain in other fields of work.

2012.09.17: CBC Radio, As It Happens - Asbestos In India
Asbestos In India. Now that Canada is getting out of asbestos business, we hear from an outspoken advocate for banning asbestos in India.

2012.09.17: The National Post - It takes a Quebec separatist to close an asbestos mine
It hurts, but it has to be said: Pauline Marois hasn’t even been sworn in as premier yet and she’s already shown more leadership and judgement on Quebec’s asbestos industry than any of her predecessors, or anyone in Ottawa.

2012.09.17: The Star - Right thing to do is ban extraction of asbestos: Olive
The Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) was too generous last Friday in lauding Ottawa’s announcement that day that Canada will stop objecting to the listing of asbestos as a dangerous material under the U.N.’s Rotterdam Convention on exports of hazardous materials.

2012.09.14: The Star - Conservative government ends opposition to listing asbestos as hazardous substance
The first potential clash between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and newly elected Quebec Premier Pauline Marois has come to a swift end as the Conservatives revealed they would stop defending the controversial asbestos industry.

2012.09.14: CBC News - Asbestos: 'Magic' mineral was once Canada's gold
The needle-like fibre had many uses and inventors were tripping over each other to find more: it was woven into clothes, building insulation and coffee pots. It was even mixed with children's play dough and, at one point, had roughly 4,000 other applications.

2012.09.14: Globe and Mail - Ottawa does U-turn on asbestos mining
Canada is ending its much-maligned practice of defending asbestos mining on the world stage, a reversal of a stand that made it a pariah in some international circles.

2012.09.14: Edmonton Journal - Federal government won’t block efforts to limit asbestos exports
The Conservative government announced Friday it will no longer be a champion of asbestos on the world stage, effectively conceding the end of the asbestos industry in Quebec with a promise of up to $50 million to diversify the economy of the mining communities.

2012.09.14: CBC News - Canada to back listing asbestos as hazardous
Canada's asbestos industry is effectively and finally shut down, with Industry Minister Christian Paradis's announcement Friday that the Canadian government will no long oppose the listing of asbestos as a hazardous substance in the international Rotterdam Convention.

2012.09.14: Globe and Mail - Canada to cease defending asbestos mining
The Harper government is throwing in the towel on Quebec’s internationally-maligned asbestos industry now that the Parti Québécois is poised to take power and prohibit extraction of the cancer-causing mineral.

2012-09-10: National Post - Shattering the conventional wisdom on asbestos
If political strategists have any capacity for introspection, they should be asking themselves some serious questions about the Parti Québécois’ late-innings promise to cancel a $58-million government loan to the Jeffrey Mine in the Estrie, and to end all exports of chrysotile asbestos from Quebec.

2012.09.08: Vancouver Sun - Asbestos workers to receive free CT scans
Workers suffering from illnesses caused by on-the-job asbestos exposure will soon be eligible to receive diagnostic CT scans funded by WorkSafeBC in an effort to diagnose lung cancer sooner and reduce mortality from the disease.

2012.09.05: Montreal Gazette - PQ expected to live up to promise to end asbestos production
Anti-asbestos advocates plan to hold the newly-elected Parti Québécois government to its promise to cancel the $58-million government loan to the Jeffrey Mine and put an end to this province’s long history of production and export of the deadly fibre.

2012.09.04: CBC News - Asbestos's legacy
Hundreds of former residents of a B.C. asbestos-mining town may have a time bomb ticking in their lungs – and because no one is tracking their health as a group, many of them might not be aware of the potential danger they face, CBC News has learned.

2012.08.30: Huffington Post - The PQ is Right About One Thing -- Asbestos Needs to Go
I have not exactly kept it a secret that I disagree with many aspects of the Parti Québécois' current platform. However, when it comes to the PQ's policy on asbestos, I couldn't agree more. If elected, the PQ has stated that it would essentially abolish the asbestos industry in Quebec.

2012.08.29: CBC - Quebec parties hailed for plans to end asbestos mining
The Canadian Cancer Society has weighed in on the Quebec election campaign, hailing proposals by three of the four major parties that would effectively shut down the country's last remaining asbestos operations for good.

2012.08.29: Global News - Canada's asbestos industry could end under PQ 
The party considered the front-runner in the Quebec election is poised to shut down what's left of Canada's 

2102.08.29: Globe and Mail - Marois pledges to cancel $58-million loan to Quebec asbestos mine
A Parti Québécois government would essentially end the controversial asbestos industry in the province by cancelling a $58-million loan to Canada’s last asbestos mine and using the funds to diversify the local economy, said party leader Pauline Marois.

2012.08.22: University Affairs - “No way” to use asbestos safely, say epidemiologists
The position statement was issued in late July by the Joint Policy Committee of the Societies of Epidemiology, a consortium of international epidemiology organizations including the Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the American College of Epidemiology. More than 180 individuals and public health groups from 21 countries have endorsed the statement.

2012.08.18: Right On Canada - Jeffrey mine encounters severe financial crisis
Less than two months after the Quebec government gave Jeffrey mine a $58 million loan, the mine has encountered a severe financial crisis and has laid off about 80 if its one hundred workers.

2012.08.13: The Gazette - Quebec ‘not banana republic’ – Legault
“We can’t sign an agreement with a company and because there is a change of government just put that agreement in the trash,” he said.
“I would not have granted that loan,” Legault added. “I find it abnormal.”

2012.08.12: The Star - Sordid asbestos tale could be nearing its end
However, in April 2011 the government of Thailand approved a resolution called “Measures to Make Thai Society Free from Asbestos.” A schedule to end the import of asbestos and protect the population from asbestos harm is being developed.

2012.08.12: CBC News - 
Asbestos's future in Quebec election crosshairs
Quebec's party leaders tossed around the delicate subject of the province's still operating asbestos industry on Saturday as they outlined platforms on health and the environment.

2012.08.11: Gazette - Coalition Avenir Québec wants environmental powers, a ban on asbestos
A Coalition Avenir Québec government would try to obtain all the environmental powers and functions that the federal government now has in Quebec, party leader François Legault says.

2012.08-11: Sun News - Quebec opposition leaders take aim at Liberals over asbestos mine decision
Parti Quebecois Leader Pauline Marois also criticized the Liberal Party on Saturday for its decision to loan investors tens of millions to re-open the mine in Asbestos, QC, about 160 km east of Montreal.
2012.08.10: The Star - Sordid asbestos tale could be nearing its end
Even if Harper and Charest are indifferent to protection of health overseas, one would think they would recognize the unsound financial basis of Quebec taxpayers carrying 70 per cent of the risk of a project, shunned by private investors, except one discredited company in a country about to ban asbestos.

2012.08.05: France 24 - Top researcher snubs French honour over 'industrial crimes'
AFP - A top researcher and campaigner on industrial health issues has refused France's highest honour in protest at official inaction over what she described as "industrial crimes" in this sector.

2012.07.30: Radio Canada International - Canada's asbestos policy shameful, say epidemiologists
A joint committee of epidemiologist societies around the world is calling for a global ban on the mining, use and export of all forms of asbestos. Its statement has been endorsed by more than 150 Canadian and international public health, civil society organizations and individual scientists from twenty countries.

2012.07.30: Gazette - Charest government may have miscalculated announcement to reopen Jeffrey Asbestos Mine with a $58-million loan
If the Charest government was hoping to avoid criticism by quietly announcing the relaunch of Quebec’s controversial asbestos industry on the Friday before a holiday weekend, it might have miscalculated.

12.07.26: National Post - Thailand’s move to ban asbestos leaves Quebec looking foolish
Ever wonder what it feels like to loan $58-million to an industry whose biggest clients don’t even want your product and are actively working to ban it? If so, then look no further than Jean Charest for a prime example of an ill-advised investment. Last June, the Quebec Liberals announced a $58-million loan to Mineral Fiber, the company that owns Jeffrey Mine, in order to resuscitate the (rightfully) dead asbestos industry.

2012.07.24: CBC News - Scientists press for global asbestos ban
The statement, released Tuesday, calling for the ban on the mining, use and export of all form of asbestos has already been approved by over 150 public health organizations and scientists from at least 20 countries.

2012.07.24: The Gazette - Epidemiologists oppose reopening asbestos mine
Epidemiologists are usually a quiet, careful bunch. 
But three weeks after the Quebec government approved a $58-million loan to reopen and expand the only remaining asbestos mine in Canada, these public health experts and scientists have decided to speak out against a decision they say will create jobs in Quebec at the expense of lives in other countries.

2012.07.24: Global - International and Canadian organizations calling for global asbestos ban
MONTREAL - More than 150 international and Canadian public health organizations and individual scientists are demanding a worldwide ban on the mining, export and use of asbestos.

2012.07.23: La Presse - Mine Jeffrey: l'amiante destiné à un pays qui veut l'interdire
La mine Jeffrey, relancée à coups de millions de dollars grâce au gouvernement du Québec, servira notamment à approvisionner les usines de Thaïlande du principal partenaire du projet. Or, la Thaïlande veut interdire totalement l'amiante au cours des prochains mois.

2012.07.23: La Presse - Québec a financé la mine Jeffrey bien avant de l'annoncer
Le gouvernement du Québec a avancé des millions de dollars l'an dernier pour la relance de la mine Jeffrey, plusieurs mois avant d'en faire l'annonce officielle à la fin juin, a appris La Presse.

2012.07.23: CBC News - Asbestos opposition growing in Thailand, warns advocate
An anti-asbestos advocate warns that one of the countries that consumes the most asbestos in the world is seeing a growing resistance to the use of the mineral and that it could mean big problems for the Jeffrey Mine.

2012.07.22: La Presse - L'héritage empoisonné de l'amiante à Hochelaga
Au moment où le gouvernement du Québec appuie financièrement la relance de la mine Jeffrey, à Asbestos, l'annonce de la renaissance de l'industrie de l'amiante remue de douloureux souvenirs dans un quartier montréalais.

2012.07.20: Observer - Canadian asbestos a far-reaching killer
She said Jonckheere hopes to visit Quebec while in Canada to speak out against Quebec’s decision to provide a $58-million loan allowing the Jeffrey asbestos mine in that province’s Eastern Townships to reopen.

2012.07.13: StockWatch - Fraser Institute argues against asbestos mine bailout
Canada's mining industry is globally competitive, and has long succeeded without much in the way of government subsidies. It even thrived in the last recession by responding to market demand. Yet instead of letting markets drive mining investment in Quebec, the provincial government is bailing out the asbestos industry using taxpayer money -- and this for a product that is harmful to human health.

2012.07.13: Gazette - Quebec health minister wrote of asbestos-cancer link
A few months before Premier Jean Charest’s cabinet approved a $58-million loan to restart the asbestos industry, Quebec’s health minister wrote that asbestos, tanning salons and cigarettes are all considered in the same category of “highest cancer risk to humans.”

12.07.11: Global News - 
Timeline: The history of asbestos use in Canada
The industry clings to its last life: the last remnants of the asbestos industry are in Quebec.

2012.07.10: The Observer - Shame on politicians for asbestos mining support 
Quebec’s Liberal Premier Jean Charest chose the day before Canada Day to announce his province will lend investors $58 million so they can reopen the Jeffrey Asbestos Mine in the Eastern Townships.

2010.07.11: The Star Phoenix - Asbestos jobs come at price
However, not so safe that asbestos will be used in Quebec, or the rest of Canada. Governments and organizations have been spending millions and sending out armies of workers clad in haz-mat gear to remove asbestos from anywhere it might come into contact with Canadians.

2012.07.09: National Post - Jean Charest’s asbestos loan is electioneering at its best
So, if someone told you that the Quebec government decided to loan $58-million dollars to the company that exploits Jeffrey Mine, Canada’s largest asbestos mine, in order to resuscitate the previously defunct asbestos industry, not because it was electioneering, but because Quebec believes in the potential to exploit and utilize chrysotile asbestos safely, would you believe it?

2012.07.09: The Observer - Daughter seeking asbestos justice in dad's name
"My parents spent my entire life teaching me that when something wrong happens, you have to use your head to work past the emotions and put your energy into a positive solution,” Guill said.

2012.07.09: Glove and Mail - Kicking up some dust over Quebec’s Asbestos loan
On the line are 400 full-time jobs in a region dependent on the industry for more than a century, despite clear warnings about the persistent health and environmental danger of asbestos, a fibre that provides superior insulation but that in some forms has been linked to cancer.

2012.07: Straight - David Suzuki: How Canada is keeping the deadly asbestos industry alive
It also says a lot about the absurdity of an economic system in which creating a few jobs and boosting wealth is a higher priority than preventing cancer, protecting health, and having a clean environment. The Jeffery mine re-opening is expected to create just over 400 direct jobs, each paying about $16 an hour.

2012.07.06: National Post - Mayor of Asbestos says misunderstood town’s history is ‘a source of pride’
When a government preparing for an election has a job-creating investment to announce, it does not usually schedule it for a Friday afternoon before a long weekend. But when the announcement is in Asbestos, Que., and the funding will revive a dormant mine producing the carcinogenic fiber that gives the town its name, officials prefer not to make too big a splash.

2012.07.06: The Gazette - Asbestos gets a new lease on death
If students want to fight injustice why haven’t they taken to the streets over the government’s latest decision?

2012.07.06: Globe and Mail - Is Canada ready to take the asbestos test?
Who knows what finally convinced the Premier to go ahead? Over the years, despite all the evidence, a tiny band of Canadians has spoken up for Quebec’s moribund asbestos industry. 

2012.07.04: Globe and Mail - Quebec should let the asbestos industry die
Instead of letting the industry wither away, Quebec’s government is propping it up, helping out private investors who have signed on to relaunch the Jeffrey Mine. 

3012.07.04: Sun News - 'Asbestos orphan' vows to fight moves to revive Canadian industry
Palleske ­ a self-described "asbestos orphan" and the co-founder of Canadian Voices of Asbestos Victims, says she watched both her mother and father die from ghastly illnesses related to chrysotile asbestos exposure.

2012.07.03: Yahoo.ca - Critics slam Jean Charest for jump-starting asbestos industry
It seems Quebec 's government sheepishly chose the latter when announcing a massive initiative to jump-start the controversial asbestos industry.

2012.07.03: The Star - Quebec shouldn’t depend on asbestos exports for jobs
Could Quebec Premier Jean Charest have come up with a more obtuse way to mark the Canada Day long weekend? As people from coast to coast were breaking out Maple Leaf flags and fireworks to celebrate the nation’s many proud achievements, his government seized the occasion to throw a $58 million lifeline to the struggling asbestos industry, one of our most notorious exports.

2012.07.03: Gazette - Quebec’s moral obligation: toughen asbestos controls
Given the carcinogenic nature of asbestos, last Friday’s decision by the government of Quebec to issue a loan to enable the reopening of an asbestos mine in the Eastern Townships is troubling.

2012.07.03: Rabble .ca - Quebec government to finance reopening of killer asbestos mining
ast week, in an elaborate public relations ceremony in the town of Asbestos attended by hundreds of residents, the Quebec government of Premier Jean Charest announced it was providing $58 million in loans to enable the re-opening of the Jeffrey Asbestos Mine.

2012.06.30: Montreal Gazzette - Doctors condemn move, but miners and residents applaud it
Quebec’s decision to reopen an asbestos mine will kill thousands of people in Third World countries where the product is sold, according to the Canadian and Quebec Medical associations.
2012.07.23: La Presse - Mine Jeffrey: le Québec va «financer le cancer»
Le Québec va «financer le cancer» et il prépare un «scénario à la Gaspésia» avec son prêt de 58 millions à la société Balcorp en vue de la réouverture de la mine d'amiante Jeffrey, a affirmé la Société pour vaincre la pollution (SVP) suite à l'annonce de Québec vendredi.

2012.06.29: Metro News - $58 million to revive asbestos mining in Canada
Canada’s beleaguered asbestos industry, which has been a target of activists who link its product to cancer, has been given a $58 million lease on life by the Quebec government.

2012.06.29: Reuters - Quebec government lends C$58 million to asbestos mine
The Canadian province of Quebec said on Friday it will lend investors C$58 million ($56.89 million) to extend the life of one of Canada's last remaining asbestos mines, boosting production in an industry that has drawn heavy criticism.

2012.06.29: CBC News - Quebec loans $58M to asbestos industry
The Jeffrey Mine in Quebec's Eastern Townships has received a $58-million boost from the province to help revive the asbestos industry, a move the Canadian Cancer Society is urging the government to reconsider

2012.06.29: Montreal Gazette - Quebec’s Jeffrey asbestos mine to get $58-million loan guarantee
ASBESTOS – Canada’s beleaguered asbestos industry, which has been a target of activists who link its product to cancer, has been given a $58-million lease on life by the Quebec government.

2012.06.29: Winnipeg Free Press - Canada's troubled asbestos industry gets a $58 million lifeline
Canada's beleaguered asbestos industry, which has been a target of activists who link its product to cancer, has been given a $58 million lease on life by the Quebec government.

2012.06.26: Yahoo.ca - Tories knew of asbestos dangers: records
The federal government acknowledged years ago that the dangers of chrysotile asbestos warranted limits on its export - but still fought against international restrictions over the past decade - internal records show.

2012.06.26: National Post - Asbestos isn’t the lightning rod the Tories seem to think it is
Documents obtained by Postmedia News through the Access to Information Act suggest the federal government knows full well that chrysotile asbestos belongs on a list of substances that face import and export restrictions — but nevertheless opposes adding it to the list.

2012.06.26: Calgary Herald - Ottawa ignored known asbestos risks
The revelation of Canada's sustained effort to block the listing of chrysotile asbestos despite its acceptance of the evidence behind the proposal comes as the struggling Quebec industry tries to revive itself with government support.

2012.06.20: The Star - Challenge for Canada at Rio 20 conference
Key commitments on right-to-know and prior-informed-consent regimes have also been weakened. Canada has blocked the listing of chrysotile asbestos to the Rotterdam Convention since 2006, most recently in 2011. The listing of chrysotile asbestos is widely considered important to protect human health.

2012.06.07: EMC - International coverage for asbestos protest
May 30, saw an international aspect develop as a reporter and photographer from Der Spiegel, a German weekly news magazine which has a circulation of over one million, visited the group, interviewing Rev. Dubord as the magazine is working on a story about Canada's export of asbestos.

2012.06.06: Lung.ca - New Public Service Announcement from Canadian Lung Asssocitaion
Don't mess with Asbestos Public Service Announcement hosted by Canada most trusted contractor - Mike Holmes!  Get the facts about asbestos before you start your next home renovation project. You could save your lungs. 

2012.05.30: Leader Post - MANDRYK: What we can't see might be a big worry
What if it was something as disturbing as asbestos cement particles in our drinking water resulting from aging and crumbling water pipes buried under half of Regina?
2012.05.23: RightOn Canada - Plans to re-open 2nd Quebec asbestos mine
Mr Dupéré has now put forward a plan to re-start asbestos mining. Laurent Lessard, the deputy who represents the region in the Quebec National Assembly and who is Minister of Municipal Affairs, states that he believes the plan has credibility.

2O12.05.21: CBC News - Overdue Baie Verte asbestos miner registry coming soon
A project to set up a registry of workers exposed to asbestos at a Baie Verte Peninsula mine — which some miners and their union hope will ultimately lead to more former workers receiving compensation — is long overdue.

2012.05.21: Canada.com - Government not tracking removal of cancer-causing asbestos from federal buildings
The federal government says it doesn't actively keep track of projects to remove asbestos from infrastructure, despite owning 318 buildings that contain the cancer-causing substance, according to a recently compiled list from Public Works and Government Services Canada.

2012.05.11: Tandem News - A public inquiry on asbestos is needed
The two sisters are asking for a ban on the extraction and utilization of asbestos and chrysotile (white asbestos) in Canada. And they’re not seeking justice for their families and Canadian victims only.

2012.05.03: EMC - Protest vigils at Village Square Park
Rev. Michel Dubord of Richmond, who has just completed a series of protest vigils at Memorial Park in Richmond, has now brought the campaign to Stittsville. Every Wednesday in May between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., Rev. Dubord will be at the park with his giant sign urging the end of the export by Canada of cancer-causing asbestos. 

2012.05.02: Canadian Labour Congress - CLC pleased that pro-asbestos lobby group will fold
The Canadian Labour Congress welcomes news that the Chrysotile Institute, a pro-asbestos lobby group, that has received funding from the federal and Quebec governments, will dissolve and cease operation. The Institute, which was created in 1984, insisted on behalf of the industry that the use of chrysotile asbestos poses little risk to workers if handled safely.

2012.05.01: Global Maritimes - Ill, ex-shipyard workers taking on Newfoundland gov't over asbestos
A group of ailing, former shipyard workers in Marystown, Newfoundland and Labrador is taking on the provincial government over asbestos. The town has a proud history of fishing and shipbuilding, but nearly 60 people there have already died or are dying from asbestos-related cancer.

2012.04.30: Ottawa Citizen - Pro-asbestos advocacy group shuts its doors
A decades-old pro-asbestos lobby group, currently funded by the Quebec government, will be shutting its doors after notifying the federal government of its plan to dissolve. The Montreal-based Chrysotile Institute issued the notice in the Canada Gazette — the government's official publication for announcing new laws and other public information. The institute, first formed in 1984, promotes the safe use of chrysotile asbestos on behalf of Canada's asbestos mining industry.

2012.04.29: The Gazette - Pro-asbestos advocacy group shuts its doors
The Montreal-based Chrysotile Institute issued the notice in the Canada Gazette — the government’s official publication for announcing new laws and other public information. The institute, first formed in 1984, promotes the safe use of chrysotile asbestos on behalf of Canada’s asbestos mining industry.  
NDP MP Pat Martin — a longtime critic of the asbestos industry and former miner himself — said the closing of the institute signals the “death knell” of asbestos mining in Canada.

2012.04.25: The Observer - Asbestos Walk to return this fall
Stacy Cattran and Leah Nielsen are organizing a second annual Walk to Remember Victims of Asbestos in Sarnia, and calling for a public inquiry into asbestos-related deaths in Canada.

2012.04.23: Occupational Safety - WorkSafeBC exec says asbestos disease still top concern for B.C. workers
The effects of long years of exposure to asbestos is still one of the biggest challenges faced by British Columbia’s workers today, and it is expected to continue to be a problem in this decade.

2012.04.05: The Gazette - Preliminary review of retired prof McDonald's ties to asbestos industry inconclusive
McGill University’s preliminary review of the work of retired professor John Corbett McDonald has not found evidence of research misconduct - but enough information is missing that the university is going to continue to study the case with additional guidance from the Research Integrity Officer.

2012.04.06: The Gazette - Critic fears McGill University's review of asbestos industry ties will be 'whitewash'
McGill University has completed its preliminary review of whether the work of retired professor John Corbett McDonald was improperly influenced by his ties to the asbestos industry, and the administration will soon announce whether a formal investigation will be launched.

2012.04.04: McGill Daily - Asbestos review lacks “required records”
McGill announced the conclusion of its review into alleged asbestos research misconduct Wednesday morning, and will seek further guidance as to whether an official investigation should be launched.

2012.04.04: The Record - Jeffrey mine lays off 50 workers temporarily
The head of Jeffrey mine is denying rumours that the layoff of 50 workers for the month of April is being caused by potential investors backing out. “We have not lost any of our financial partners,” Bernard Coulombe told the Record Wednesday morning.

2012.03.22: EMC - Vigils to protest export of asbestos
Rev. Michel Dubord, rector at St. John the Baptist Anglican Church in Richmond, has undertaken on his own to hold a series of silent vigils protesting Canada's policy to export asbestos. 

2012.03.21: Wheels - Asbestos brake pad ban to be tabled by Ontario MPP
A ban on imported asbestos brake pads would make Ontario the first province in Canada to protect auto mechanics from the deadly fibre.

2012.03.20: CBC New - Asbestos brake pad ban proposed
Asbestos brake pads that can release deadly fibres during repairs will soon be banned in Ontario, if one member of the provincial parliament has her way.

2012.03.20: CBC News - Asbestos in brakes: One community's struggle
Rick Garant can vividly recall the asbestos-filled dust that swirled around the old brake factory where he worked in Tilbury, Ont., near Windsor, in the 1980s.

2012.03.16: The McGill Daily - Case vows “consequences” for CBC
McGill professor Bruce Case has vowed that the CBC will face “consequences” for how he was depicted in a documentary on the University’s ties to the asbestos industry broadcast last month.

2012.03.15:  Calgary Herald - Asbestos issue sparks fear from U of C students
Students at the University of Calgary expressed fears about the state of their classrooms after the school said it received complaints related to asbestos removal.

2012.03.15: Fair Warning - While Protecting Its Own Citizens from Asbestos, Canada Aims to Keep Selling to Other Countries
Stacy Cattran is the first to admit why she is furious that Canadian officials continue their long, shameful tradition of propping up the nation’s asbestos industry. Her father, after years of unknowingly inhaling microscopic asbestos fibers while working as an electrician, died in 2008 from mesothelioma, a particularly lethal cancer caused by the toxic mineral.

2012.03.11: Vancouber Sun - Quebec: Heart of asbestos country reinvents itself
It’s an unlikely match, but a green chemistry institute is thriving in the old headquarters of a Canadian mine in a sign that the former world capital of asbestos is diversifying.

2012.03.11: Tandem Home - More than 107,000 people die each year from illnesses related to the highly carcinogenic fibrous substance
According to one study, taken into consideration by the Canadian Cancer Society, about 152,000 Canadians are exposed to asbestos through work. The data was collected by Carex Canada, a team of researchers from the School of Environmental Health, at University of British Columbia.

2012.03.09: Globe and Mail - Seems even Harper and Charest can't save Canada’s deadly asbestos exports
Despite Stephen Harper and Jean Charest, it appears increasingly likely Canada will export no more Quebec-mined asbestos to countries like India and Indonesia, where it could bring misery and death to those who come in contact with it. Almost all those affected would be very poor workers and their families. But to the bitter end, the two leaders have been determined to preserve Canada’s shameful record of knowingly exporting a carcinogen.

2012.03.05: La Press - Les écologistes veulent en finir avec l'amiante au Québec
Ils promettent de faire pression sur le gouvernement pour qu'il annule tout appui financier à la mine Jeffrey et investisse dans la diversification économique des régions affectées. Québec devrait aussi mettre sur pied un registre officiel des bâtiments «contaminés» par le minéral fibreux.

2012.03.05: CTV News - Asbestos mine's revival doomed: Quebec politician
The quest to revive one of Canada's last asbestos mines -- and possibly save the embattled industry -- is destined for failure, says a Quebec politician who hopes the sector will be shuttered for good.

2012.03.03: La Press - Amiante dans les écoles: la fille d'une victime réclame un meilleur dépistage
Le mésothéliome est un cancer incurable qui attaque la plèvre, l'enveloppe des poumons, et parfois le péritoine, qui enveloppe des viscères. On ne lui connaît qu'une seule cause prouvée: l'exposition à l'amiante.

2012.03.02: La Tribune - Le projet de relance de la mine Jeffrey est condamné, selon Khadir
2012.03.02: Canadian Press - Asbestos mine's revival doomed as investors stay away: Quebec politician
MONTREAL _ The quest to revive one of Canada's last asbestos mines _ and possibly save the embattled industry _ is destined for failure, says a Quebec politician who hopes the sector will be shuttered for good.

2012.03.02: Gazette - Balcorp. has failed to convince institutions in bid to get financing for Jeffrey mine project
Balcorp., a group of investors trying to drum up private-sector financial backing for reopening the Jeffrey asbestos mine in Asbestos, Que., has failed to convince institutions, including the Desjardins Group, that the project is viable, said Québec Solidaire MNA Amir Khadir Friday.

2012.03.02: CBC News - Canadian asbestos poses a health risk in Vietnam
WikiLeaks cable says health and safety standards inadequate to protect Vietnamese workers

2012.02.01: La Press - Amiante dans les immeubles publics: la liste sera dévoilée
(Québec) Après près de neuf ans d'attente, le gouvernement Charest a soudainement annoncé hier qu'il rendra publique d'ici à la fin de 2012 une liste des immeubles publics et parapublics qui contiennent de l'amiante. «Le travail est en cours, les études sont en cours, et ça serait prêt éventuellement, d'ici quelques mois», a affirmé en Chambre la présidente du Conseil du Trésor, Michelle Courchesne.

2012.02.29: Globe and Mail - Asbestos sector calls on Ottawa to help refute WHO death-toll estimate
The Canadian asbestos sector wants Ottawa's help to challenge a death-toll estimate from the World Health Organization that says asbestos-related diseases kill more than 100,000 people every year.

2012.02.29: CTV News - Asbestos sector challenges WHO death-toll estimate
The Canadian asbestos sector wants Ottawa's help to challenge a death-toll estimate from the World Health Organization that says asbestos-related diseases kill more than 100,000 people every year.

2012.02.28: CBC The National - Asbestos registry needed, says cancer patient
Willems began lobbying for a registry in his home province, which he hopes will eventually spread across the country, shortly after being diagnosed.

2012.02.23: The Manitoban - McGill under fire for corporate-funded asbestos research
McDonald retired from McGill in September 1988, after more than two decades as a McGill epidemiology professor. According to a recent episode of CBC’s The National, McDonald received at least $1 million between 1966 and 1972 for research into the health effects of chrysotile asbestos from the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association, which received a large portion of its funding from the asbestos mining giant Johns-Manville.

2012.02.23: The Gazette - Anti-asbestos motion blocked in Quebec National Assembly
“What disappoints us very much, to see that here the Liberal Party, the Parti québécois, they don’t say a word today,” Lapointe, accompanied by the fellow Collectif members, said. 
“They refused to support our motion.”

2012.02.22: Canada.com - Internal dispatches from UN meeting show how Canada derailed asbestos listing
Even wonder how Canada goes from a silent observer at a United Nations meeting to lone opponent to label chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous material under the UN’s Rotterdam Convention? Well, look no further.

2012.02.18: McGill Daily - McGill asbestos review criticized
The research work of Professor John Corbett McDonald, an emeritus professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at McGill, is now under review after allegations of research misconduct.

2012.02.17: Global News - New calls for feds to stop supporting asbestos industry
There are new calls for Ottawa to stop supporting the asbestos industry. Mike Le Couteur reports.

2012.02.16: Toronto Sun - Widow urges Que. to keep asbestos mines closed 2
Canada's last asbestos mine closed recently in Quebec due to financial and environmental issues - marking the end of a 130-year-old industry - but a Montreal asbestos trader is trying to reopen a mine in Asbestos, Que.

2012.02.15: The Charlatan - McGill asbestos researchers accepted industry money, docs allege
The CBC released industry documents Feb. 2 that suggest the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association (QAMA) paid John Corbett McDonald and other researchers at McGill University’s School of Occupational Health nearly $1 million between 1966 and 1972.

2012.02.15: McGill Reporter - Debate on asbestos marks Senate session
The Senate’s Feb. 15 meeting was marked by a vigorous debate over a motion urging University officials to issue a public statement clarifying McGill’s position on asbestos research.

2012.02.14: CBC Radio - McGill asbestos controversy
Opponents to asbestos say McGill research is being used  to dispel legitimate concerns about asbestos around the world. Last week the university announced it would be reviewing that research/ But some think that review will not go far enough. We spoke to Dr. Fernand Turcotte, Professor Emeritus of Public Health and Preventative Medicine with the Universite de Laval's faculty of medicine. 

2012.02.14: CBC New - Pat Martin condemns asbestos backers to face justice in hell
House of Commons statement denounces Harper government-backed 'Asbestos Institute'

2012.02.13: McGill Tribune - McGill announces internal investigation on asbestos
In a letter sent to McGill University on Feb. 10, a group of 32 individuals called on McGill University to perform an independent and transparent investigation into the influence of the Quebec asbestos industry over Professor J. Corbett McDonald's epidemiological research on the health effects of chrysotile asbestos.

2012.02.13: Winnipeg Free Press - Canadian asbestos industry reacts to criminal conviction of two European execs
Canada's asbestos industry said it had nothing to fear Monday after two men were criminally convicted in more than 2,000 asbestos-related deaths in Italy.

2012.02.11: Montreal Gazette - Asbestos industry under microscope, Call for government to stop financial aid
Quebec's asbestos industry has been taking a heavy pounding of late, with two damning documentaries airing on CBC and Radio-Canada, renewed calls from politicians in Quebec City and Ottawa to outlaw the cancer-causing mineral, and a review launched into some industry-funded research at McGill this week.

2012.02.10: CBC News - McGill asbestos study review criticized
In their letter to Eidelman, the activists and scientists said that Prof. Rebecca Fuhrer, the school's chair of the department of epidemiology, biostatistics and occupational health, and the person chosen to do the internal review, is in a conflict of interest because McDonald is still a professor emeritus of the department of epidemiology.

2012.02.10: Montreal Gazette - McGill to conduct preliminary review of asbestos studies
A week after a group of scientists and researchers from across Canada and abroad publicly questioned the relationship between McGill University researchers and the asbestos industry, McGill has announced it will launch a preliminary review into the work of one of its retired professors.

2012.02.10: CBC News - McGill révisera une étude sur l'amiante après les révélations de Radio-Canada
David Eidelman, le doyen de la faculté de médecine de l'Université, a mentionné que les allégations mises de l'avant dans un documentaire diffusé dans l'émission Enquête, à Radio-Canada, et au National, à CBC, indiquant que « les quelques décennies de travaux de recherche menés par le Pr J. Corbett McDonald aient pu être influencées par l'industrie de l'amiante sont très sérieuses et doivent être abordées ».

12.02.09: Radio Canada - Les Combines de l'industrie de l'amiante pour cacher les risques

12.02.06: CBC News - Asbestos Reaction
Asbestos opponents are disappointed to learn McGill University was being paid to manipulate critical statistics about the dangers of asbestos.

2012.02.04: Montreal Gazette - McGill response to asbestos charges 'cowardly': doctor, University issues statement after CBC doc reveals school given $1M by mining group
McGill University issued a terse response Friday to allegations some of its researchers have, over several decades, colluded with the asbestos industry to play down or cloud the fibrous mineral's devastating health impacts.

2012.02.04: McGill Daily - McGill Board member takes leave of absence
Roshi Chadha, member-at-large on McGill’s Board of Governors (BoG), took a leave of absence last Thursday as media scrutiny mounts over her and McGill’s role in the Quebec asbestos industry.

2012.02.03: Montreal Gazette - Scientists censure McGill University over ties to asbestos industry
Dozens of prominent medical researchers and scientists from across Canada and around the world have signed a letter demanding that McGill University sever its ties with the asbestos industry.

2010.02.03: LeDevoir - L'Université McGill doit cesser d'utiliser et de promouvoir l'utilisation de l'amiante
En 1965, l’Association des mines d'amiante du Québec (AMAQ) a commencé à «rechercher une alliance avec une université, telle que McGill [...] pour donner une apparence d’autorité à sa publicité».  

2012.02.02: Right On - Medical doctors and health researchers ask McGill University to stop supporting the export and use of asbestos
In light of this questionable background, we believe that McGill has a particular obligation to show intellectual and ethical integrity and to sever all ties with the asbestos industry. In particular, we request that McGill carry out the following:

2012.02.02: CBC News - McGill asbestos study flawed, epidemiologist says
A major 40-year study on asbestos safety completed by a group of scientists at McGill University is flawed, lacks transparency and contains manipulated data says Dr. David Egilman, a professor at Brown University, health activist and longtime industry critic.

2012.02.02: CBC The National - Fatal Deception
Is the federal government relying on junk science to justify its support for re-opening asbestos mines in Quebec?

2012.02.02: Montreal Gazette - Asbestos exporter Roshi Chadha takes leave from McGill, St. Mary’s Hospital
The move follows Chadha’s resignation from the governing body of the Canadian Red Cross just over two weeks ago.

2012.01.29: Guelph Mercury - Canada’s asbestos stance demands criticism
We wish Stacy Cattran well in her advocacy. 
The Guelph woman is part of a noteworthy and determined battle to oppose Canada’s production and export of asbestos.

2012.01.28: Peterborough Examiner - Teachers union wants school board to cleanup of vermiculite containing asbestos in area schools!
When a plow truck struck a water tap on an outside wall of Keith Wightman Public School last winter, it opened a floodgate of health, safety and labour issues with the discovery of insulation material containing asbestos.

2012.01.23: Montreal Gazette - Quebec's anti asbestos movement continues to grow
A descendant of one of the earliest pioneers of Quebec’s storied asbestos industry has publicly joined the movement to stop Canadian production and export of the deadly mineral.
2012.01.21: CBC News - Asbestos opponent targets Montreal merchant, volunteer
Until last week Chadha served on the governing body of the Canadian Red Cross — but resigned after Cattran's letter-writing campaign lobbied the humanitarian organization.

12.01.16: Ottawa Citizen - Asbestos-linked board member resigns from Red Cross
A Montrealer with ties to the asbestos industry has resigned abruptly from the governing body of the Canadian Red Cross after the humanitarian group rallied behind her as a "valued member" of its team.

12.01.13: CTV News - Call for Red Cross President to Resign over Asbestos Ties
Interview with Stacy Cattran about Roshi Chadha, Canadian Red Cross Board member, Asbestos Exporter

12.01.13: Canada.com - Red Cross sticking by board member with ties to asbestos industry
Anti-asbestos campaigners reacted by calling for the resignation of board president Ted Tanaka "for betraying asbestos victims and the very mission of the Red Cross."

12.01.12: Infos Réseau des Appalaches - Mine Jeffrey : la relance serait imminente (Jeffrey mine: the recovery is imminent)
Tout indique que la relance de Mine Jeffrey d’Asbestos sera confirmée d’ici les prochaines semaines. L’entrepreneur CMAC-Tyssen serait à la recherche de personnel pour les travaux préparatoires, en vue d’une relance de la compagnie. Le mandat de la firme serait en vigueur dès le mois de février. 

12.01.07: The Gazette - The use of asbestos
 Public-health authorities and trade unions in Quebec have criticized the failure of the Quebec government to set up a registry of the location of asbestos in buildings and infrastructure, making it impossible to protect construction workers from asbestos harm.

12.01.07: Winnipeg Free Press - Let asbestos industry die, MP Martin demands
Financial woes have left the industry on life-support and neither of the last two operations is mining any of the fibre at the moment. It is the first time in 130 years no asbestos is being produced in Canada, and Martin wants to keep it that way.

12.01.05: Montreal Gazette - LAB Chrysotile seeks bankruptcy protection
LAB Chrysotile Inc., one of the Quebec asbestos mining industry’s two potential survivors, said Wednesday it has filed for bankruptcy because of high fixed costs and sharply declining revenues.

11.01.05: Vancouver Sun - Quebec asbestos miner files for bankruptcy
LAB Chrysotile aims to restart; Company admits big changes ahead at Lac d'Amiante operation 
"This is a straight bankruptcy and the company is no longer financially viable in its present form," CEO Simon Dupéré said. "I can't discuss the financial details, but our ultimate goal is to restart operations under a new structure at the former production rate of 125,000 tonnes a year."

12.01.05: CTV News - Cash-strapped asbestos mine declares bankruptcy
Simon Dupere, president and CEO of Quebec-based LAB Chrysotile, said in a telephone interview with The Canadian Press that he's confident many of the 350 jobs at the mine will be saved.

12.01.05: Yahoo News - Asbestos industry can’t survive without government props, critics argue
Critics are saying the federal and Quebec governments should finally pull the plug on the province's asbestos industry, which possibly rivals the seal hunt as an international black mark against Canada.

12.01.04: Canadian Occupational Safety - OHS practitioners urged to take greater role in anti-asbestos lobby
So what can you do? Wilson and others say it’s time to write letters to members of Parliament, and it’s time to publicize the fact that, for many, Canada’s position on asbestos isn’t supportable.

12.01.04: Globe and Mail - Canada’s asbestos industry on its last legs
The mineral’s growing pariah status – it’s been singled out by medical and health authorities around the world as a major carcinogen and contributor to lung disease, and has been banned in dozens of countries – doesn’t phase Mr. Dupéré.

12.01.04: Globe and Mail - Assurances regarding Canada's asbestos cannot be trusted
According to the asbestos industry, asbestos exported from Quebec has been handled under rigorous safety conditions overseas since 1997, when the Canadian government and Quebec's last two asbestos mines signed a memorandum of understanding promising this. The evidence shows that these assurances have no credibility.

11.12.30: Macleans - This year’s most outrageous attacks on science
It would be really great to find Dimitri Soudas, the former PMO communications director, and ask him why he said: “All scientific reviews clearly confirm that chrysotile [white asbestos] can be used safely under controlled conditions” when all those who care about evidence—from the World Health Organization to the Quebec-based Robert-Sauvé Occupational Health and Safety Research Institute—agree that all types of asbestos are carcinogenic for people and the “so-called controlled use of asbestos is a fallacy.”

11-12.30: Montreal Gazette - MUHC superhospital risks green status over asbestos
“There will be fibre cement in a very precise use: disposal of stormwater. The fibre cement is a material that is very rigid. It contains only 13 per cent of fibres that are sealed and encapsulated in a cement matrix. The fibres are not brittle and therefore pose no risk of emission of particles in the air.”
11.12.28: Edmonton Journal - Critics brand asbestos as Canada's latest global sin
Canada's reputation took a hit earlier this year, when the government blocked international efforts to label the chrysotile asbestos — the kind mined in Canada — as a hazardous material under the UN Rotterdam Convention.

11.12.25: AsiaPacific.ca - Asbestos regulations: Who is responsible?
India alone has purchased more than half of Canada’s output in recent years. Although chrysotile’s disease-causing properties are well-known, Canada, which strictly regulates asbestos use at home, has repeatedly blocked its listing as a hazardous substance under the UN’s Rotterdam Convention. 

11.12.18: The Star - Tim Harper: Three women who fought back against the Conservatives
She is third person to pass through this column in recent months who feels she has been spied on, smacked down or targeted by a mean-spirited, micromanaging government or Conservative party always on the lookout for enemies of the state.

11.12.15: The Star - Last stand for asbestos?
The Harper government is negotiating a free-trade agreement (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) with India, which would advantage our asbestos industry by removing the 10 per cent tariff on exports to its biggest customer, India.

11.12.14: CBC - Asbestos and the Red Cross
Families of people who have died from mesothelioma are calling for the wife of a man who works in asbestos exports to step down from the board of the Red Cross. Board member Roshi Chadha is married to Baljit Chadha, president of Balcorp, the company at the centre of a deal to re-launch the Jeffrey asbestos mine.

11.12.13: Asbestos.com - Canadian Red Cross May Remove Board Member Roshi Chadha Because Of Asbestos Ties
Amid mounting pressure, the Canadian Red Cross likely will ask for the resignation of executive board member Roshi Chadha next month because of her strong link to the asbestos industry.

11.12.13: The National Post - Red Cross to review status of board member tied to asbestos industry
The Canadian Red Cross will review the status of one of its board members after critics called for the Montrealer to be dumped from the humanitarian organization because of her connection to the asbestos industry.

11.12.08: The Hook - National law organization joins call to ban asbestos
The Canadian Environmental Law Association is calling for broad support for banning asbestos across the US and Canada. The CELA endorsed a statement, The North American Declaration -- issued in Washington DC by the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization and the Canadian Voices of Asbestos Victims -- which calls on Canadian Prime Minister Harper and US President Obama to take immediate steps to prevent further production or export of asbestos.

11.12.07: The Goderich Signal Star - Feds should pay for asbestos cleanup
I know your commitment to human health extends to the residents of Goderich. I would ask you to please let the residents of the town know when the Federal Government will be announcing funding for the cleanup of the asbestos.

11.12.06: Le Devoir - Amiante: le Canada et l'Inde feront tomber les barrières tarifaires
Les négociations en cours entre le Canada et l'Inde pour parvenir à un accord de libre-échange entre les deux pays d'ici 2013 auront peut-être un effet insoupçonné: celui d'augmenter les ventes d'amiante.

11.12.05: Vancouver Sun - Asbestos contractor faces jail
An asbestos-removal contractor who ignored orders from both WorkSafeBC and the B.C. Supreme Court to stop exposing "vulnerable" workers to asbestos will be sentenced Jan. 23 for contempt of court.

11.12.05: The Hill Times - Quebec’s asbestos industry seeks government assistance to continue operations
Most of the asbestos that would be produced by the reopened Jeffrey Mine would be going to India and at any given time only two dozen companies will buy it, said Mr. Versailles.

11.12.02: Prevent Cancer Now - Staggering Duplicity: PCN responds to asbestos exporter
On the contrary, reputable medical and public health authorities in Quebec and across Canada have condemned Mr Chadha’s claims as misinformation that will lead to loss of life. 

11.12.02: EMC Ottawa -  Anglican Diocese of Ottawa passed a motion to advocate against our government's current policy of exporting asbestos. 
Given the information we have at our disposal regarding the potential dangers of asbestos if not handled properly, the decision to send it to countries that don't have the means or the resources to do so is unconscionable. Citizens in those countries are at risk, children's lives are at stake. The irony is that as a country we are spending millions and millions of dollars having asbestos removed from Parliament Buildings, the Prime Minister's residence, hospitals and schools. 

11.12.01: The Tyee - Asia Pacific Fdn Pressured to Disavow Former Fellow's Pro-Asbestos Stance
A group of scientists and anti-asbestos campaigners are demanding the prestigious Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada disavow pro-asbestos statements made by a former foundation fellow, Baljit Chadha.

11.11.28: The Mark - 1,000 Tonnes of Asbestos Removed from Parliament
erhaps the latest renovations of Parliament Hill will get the government to reconsider its support for Quebec's asbestos industry – about 1,000 metric tonnes of the harmful mineral have been removed from the West Block and Wellington Building since August. 

11.11.27: The Canadian Charger - Health Canada unhealthy for Canadians
Despite years of warnings from doctors, environmentalists, unions, even Health Canada, about the deadly impact of asbestos, Ottawa recently opposed listing chrysotile asbestos on the United Nations’ list of dangerous materials.

11.11.25: Edmonton Journal - Child pleads with Harper to drop support for asbestos industry
Little Cavanagh Matmor has a message for Prime Minister Stephen Harper: The sixth-grader didn't appreciate Harper's "cut-and-paste re-ply" to her emotional letter pleading with him to end the government's support for the asbestos industry.

11.11.25: The Globe and Mail - Where asbestos is just a fact of life
Photographer Louie Palu chronicles Canada's trade in a notorious mineral

11.11.25: The Province - Campaigning family blast Harper over gov't support for asbestos
Cavanagh Matmor has a message for Prime Minister Stephen Harper: The sixth-grader didn't appreciate Harper's "cut-and-paste reply" to her emotion-al letter pleading with him to end the government's support for the asbestos industry.

11.11.24: Vancouver Sun - Anti-asbestos campaign aims to end government support for controversial industry
Little Cavanagh Matmor has a message for Prime Minister Stephen Harper: The sixth-grader didn't appreciate Harper's "cut-and-paste reply" to her emotional letter pleading with him to end the government's support for the asbestos industry.

11.11.24: CBC - Asbestos mining stops for first time in 130 years
A shutdown at Quebec's Lac d'amiante du Canada operation earlier this month marked a historic moment for Canada's once-mighty asbestos sector, which has come under increasing scrutiny as science has linked the mineral to serious health issues such as lung disease and cancer.

11.11.24: The Star - Canada’s asbestos industry suspends work for first time in 130 years
Canada’s once-mighty asbestos sector has ground to a halt for the first time in 130 years, as production of the controversial fibre has stalled in both of the country’s mines.

11.11.24: BC News - Canada exporting death to millions of unsuspecting victims
We have been repeatedly condemned by the EU, Australia and many other First World countries for our exportation of chrysotile asbestos to developing nations.

11.11.24: The Globe and Mail - Growing number of Tories question Harper’s position on asbestos
A growing number of Conservative MPs are questioning their government's position on the export of asbestos, with a group of them independently summoning industry experts to a meeting on Parliament Hill last week.

11.11.24: News Canada - 'Asbestos orphan' calls for outright ban
A woman who lost her parents to painful asbestos-related illnesses took her mother's dying wish to Parliament Hill on Thursday.

11.11.23: The Huffington Post - Bloc Quebecois Leadership: Candidates Battle Over Support For Asbestos Industry During Debate
They agree on the need for Quebec’s independence and they are convinced of the staying power of their own party, but Bloc Quebecois leadership candidates are at odds about the party’s long-standing support for the asbestos industry.

11.11.23: Embassy Magazine - India deal won't study asbestos: Analysts
Canadian exports of asbestos to India won't be examined as part of an environmental assessment recently launched in connection with the Canada-India free trade talks, say experts—and that has some calling on the government to widen its scope.

11.11.22: Cape Breton Post - More question asbestos industry
So it was notable indeed that a group consisting of about a dozen Conservatives independently summoned asbestos industry experts to Parliament Hill last week for a meeting, reportedly to discuss how Canadian asbestos is handled by workers in the poorer countries that import it.

11.11.21: Globe and Mail - Canada's chronic asbestos problem
Most of the world, including the medical community, agrees that asbestos is desperately dangerous. The World Health Organization reports that more than 100,000 people die every year from lung cancer and other respiratory diseases due to asbestos exposure.

11.11.21: CBC News - Asbestos debate creates rare divide among Tories
That was followed last Monday with a private Parliament Hill meeting that saw about a dozen Conservative parliamentarians ask some pointed questions of the Chrysotile Institute and industry scientists over several hours.
11.11.20: Global News - Growing number of Tories uneasy with federal position on asbestos
A growing number of Conservative MPs are questioning their government's position on the export of asbestos, with a group of them independently summoning industry experts to a meeting on Parliament Hill last week.

2011.11.12: LeSoleil - Amiante: fermeture indéterminée de la mine LAC
Alors que la relance de la mine Jeffrey d'Asbestos n'est pas encore confirmée, la fermeture samedi de la mine Lac d'amiante du Canada (LAC) de Thetford Mines pour une période indéterminée marque la première fois depuis plus de 130 ans où le Canada ne fait plus partie des pays producteurs d'amiante chrysotile.

2011.11.10: Lambton Shield - Why does Canada insist on exporting death?
In a vote of 152-123, the Conservative government defeated an NDP private members bill to ban the use and export of asbestos.  The NDP and Liberals voted to end the exportation, the Conservative and Bloq voted to keep exporting.

2011.11.08: The Concordian - Chadha gambling with Concordia’s reputation
Baljit Singh Chadha sits on Concordia’s Board of Governors, but he is also the president of a company called Balcorp Limited, which has been the exclusive agent of Jeffrey Mines – which owned the asbestos mine until it went bankrupt in 2010 – for 15 years and raked in enormous profits ($100 million) from the sale of asbestos primarily to India.

2011.11.04: Global News - Workers' families call for government to stop supporting asbestos industry
Read it on Global News: Global News | Workers' families call for government to stop supporting asbestos industry 
Families of Ontario workers who died of asbestos-related diseases are making a last-ditch plea to stop a project that would revive one of Canada's only remaining asbestos mines.

2011.11.01: Link Newspaper - Contaminating the Board
Reducing the number of undergraduate students on the Board of Governors from four to one is a slap in the face to the student body.  What makes this decision worse is to keep Baljit Chadha on the board. Not because he sells asbestos—which is responsible for more than 100,000 deaths worldwide each year—but because of the tactics he uses to sell this deadly product.

2011.11.04 - The Windsor Star - Asbestos a national shame
It went almost unnoticed this week. But I'm not letting it slip by. It's reprehensible, unconscionable, immoral and indefensible. It's a national disgrace. If you think the riots in Vancouver made Canada look bad, well, this is immeasurably worse.

2011.11.04: CBC.ca - Asbestos victims object to Quebec mine plans
The families invited the lead investor, Baljit Chadha, to visit Sarnia, Ont. to meet with asbestos disease victims and their relatives.  Families of asbestos victims spoke out against an investor's imminent plan to re-open a Quebec asbestos mine.

2011.11.03: The Observer - Families of asbestos victims speak out
Families of asbestos victims are holding a press conference in Toronto Friday to invite the lead investor behind a plan to reopen a Quebec asbestos mine to visit Sarnia.

2011.11.03: CyberPresse - 
Relance de la mine Jeffrey: Hamad veut régler le dossier avant les Fêtes
Le consortium d'investisseurs représenté par la société montréalaise Balcorp a rencontré vendredi les fonctionnaires du ministère du Développement économique une journée avant la date butoir qui avait été fixée pour dénicher 25 millions $ de financement privé.

2011.10.28: CBC.ca - 
The return of the asbestos debate
The NDP are using next week's opposition day to bring back the debate over asbestos. 
It's an issue the Conservatives faced last June, when the Canadian delegation at a UN meeting helped block the addition of chrysotile asbestos to a list of hazardous products. 
In August, a group of doctors and public health professionals called on doctor-turned- Conservative MP Kellie Leitch to work against Canada's asbestos industry. The Conservatives continue to support the industry, which still has a working mine in the Quebec riding of Industry Minister Christian Paradis.

2011.10.22: The Observer - ‘Trivial’ cosmetic contact lenses vs deadly asbestos
Sir: I am absolutely in shock that Sarnia-Lambton MP Pat Davidson's private member bill was something as trivial as cosmetic contact lens protection, considering the fact that her constituents are living in the county with the highest rate of mesothelioma cases in the province, and quite possibly the continent.

2011.10.20: Prevent Cancer Now - Canada at heart of global asbestos lobby
Canada was in the world spotlight earlier this year, when our government refused to allow chrysotile asbestos to be put on a UN list of hazardous substances. Both in the House of Commons and at the UN, Prime Minister Harper and his ministers refused to answer increasingly exasperated questions as to its reason for blocking the listing. Instead, over and over, the government repeated the following words: “For thirty years, Canada has promoted the safe, controlled use of asbestos at home and overseas.”

11.10.19: Canada.com - 
NDP refocuses asbestos spotlight on Canada
Martin, who held a news conference with representatives from the England-based International Ban Asbestos Secretariat and a Canadian asbestos victims' group, said it's baffling to understand how Canada continues to ship asbestos out of the country, despite the health risks linked to the substance.

11.10.18: Globe and Mail - Documents detail Mulroney-era efforts to block U.S. asbestos ban
Anti-asbestos lobbyists say former Canadian politicians, ambassadors and bureaucrats abandoned their morals when they successfully lobbied two decades ago to prevent the carcinogenic material from being banned in the United States.

2011.10.17 - Globe and Mail - WHO rebukes would-be asbestos magnate
Baljit Chadha, the entrepreneur behind Quebec’s controversial asbestos exports, has earned a rare public rebuke from an official with the World Health Organization for distorting its position on the safety of the carcinogenic product.

2011.10.13: RightOn - We feel abandoned and betrayed by our government, say asbestos victims
“In the past 15 years, the number of new cases of mesothelioma – a deadly disease known only to be caused by asbestos – has almost doubled from 276 cases in 1992 to 512 cases in 2007, the latest year for which statistics are available. For each case of mesothelioma, it is conservatively estimated that there are two or more cases of lung cancer caused by asbestos. This means that, in 2007, over 1,536 Canadians became victims of deadly asbestos-related disease. This is a tragedy of colossal proportions. It is a tragedy that the Minister of Health must address,”

2011.10.06: The Chronicle Herald - Anti-asbestos on lineup at meeting 
"Asbestos might not be mined in Nova Scotia, but people die here regularly from direct and indirect contact," said Cathy Conrad, a professor at Saint Mary’s University who said she wants to bring the issue to the attention of participants at a symposium on campus, sponsored by the university and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.

2011.11.04: Montreal Gazette - Why I want to be in the asbestos business
I also see benefits to the end users of the finished product, primarily corrugated cement roofing sheets manufactured using five- to seven-per-cent chrysotile asbestos. For the poorest of the poor in the developing world this low-cost, strong, stable product provides a basic roof over a family’s head. Despite statements to the contrary, no substitute product or material can provide the same benefits at the same price.

2011.10.04: The Observer - 
Sarnia at centre of growing anti-asbestos campaign
The member of Victims of Chemical Valley group said she was inspired by the turnout and the spirit at the candlelight vigil and walk in memory of the victims of asbestos that attracted hundreds to Centennial Park on the weekend.

2011.10.03: Cyberpresse - 
Relance de la mine Jeffrey: Hamad veut régler le dossier avant les Fêtes
Le nouveau ministre du Développement économique, Sam Hamad, a déclaré dimanche qu'il souhaitait régler le dossier de la relance de la mine d'amiante chrysotile Jeffrey d'Asbestos, en veilleuse depuis quelques années, avant les Fêtes.

2011.10.03: iPolitics - Uncertainty continues in fate of Quebec asbestos mine 
The Quebec government had been set to decide last weekend whether to approve a $58-million loan guarantee for the Jeffrey Mine. 
The deadline has already been pushed back several times and now the government says it hopes to have the matter resolved before the Christmas holidays.

2011.10.03: The Observer - Hundreds rally against asbestos exports
Just before she died, Doreen von Palleske made a tape-recording for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, begging him to stop Canadian asbestos exports. 
On Saturday, her daughters and granddaughter joined 400 others at a rally in Sarnia's Centennial Park demanding that the government heed von Palleske's dying wish.

2011.10.02: The Observer - Asbestos victims remembered this weekend
Ada Lockridge of the Victims of Chemical Valley group, says her committee is pushing for widespread community support this weekend as A Walk to Remember Victims of Asbestos takes place in Centennial Park.

2011.10.01: Lambton Shield - Asbestos protestors send clear message: fight is far from over
Several hundred protestors of the federal government's refusal to close the door on the production and export of asbestos were clear in the message they are sending those who insist on trying to restart a closed mine in Quebec: the fight is one they aren't willing to give up on.

2011.09.30: The Gazette - PR agency used by tobacco firm hired by asbestos group
Anti-asbestos activists in Malaysia and Canada say a global asbestos lobby group has hired the Washingtonbased APCO Worldwide public relations company to persuade the Malaysian government not to ban chrysotile asbestos.

2011.09.30: The Gazette - Asbestos promoter Baljit Chadha polishes image
As the lead developer of the proposed Jeffrey Mine expansion in Asbestos launches a campaign to polish his industry's tarnished image, opponents charge the asbestos lobby with using tactics similar to those of the tobacco industry in its efforts to block public health initiatives to ban the cancer-causing fibre in developing countries.

2011.09.30: The Star - Sarnia rallies against asbestos
In the last decade, an alarming number of men and women in the area have died of asbestos-related cancers, which have latency periods of 20 to 40 years. Since 1999, 105 people with mesothelioma have come through the local Occupational Health Clinic for Ontario Workers. Only two are still alive.

2011.09.28: Finacial Post - Chadha’s asbestos gamble
He has been portrayed as a monster, a businessman with impeccable political connections who sells a product so dangerous it has been banned in Europe and largely shunned on this continent.

2011.09.26: The Canadian Press - Asbestos critics refuse to be converted after meeting with industry powerhouse
Chadha’s public-relations initiative comes as he seeks a $58-million government loan guarantee from Quebec that would help him reopen one of this country’s last two asbestos mines. The province has set Saturday as the deadline to finalize the deal that would extend the life of the Jeffrey Mine for another 20 years.

2011.09.26: The Globe and Mail - ‘Yes, we have the $25-million,’ Quebec firm says of asbestos plan
Days before a provincial government deadline this Saturday to find private funding for the Mine Jeffrey in Asbestos, Que., the wealthy and well-connected Montreal businessman says he has “letters of intent” from unnamed investors in three different countries – enough to breathe new life into an export trade critics decry for causing death.

2011.09.26: The Niagra Falls Review - It was a death sentence
She is angry that Canada continues to sell asbestos to other countries and she says the government should be finding new work for people working in asbestos mines in Quebec.

2011.09.26: CTV News - Asbestos industry launches campaign to clean image
Baljit Chadha is fighting back this week after Canada's asbestos sector has absorbed a public-relations pummelling, both here and abroad, in recent months.

2011.09.25: Global News - Asbestos industry strikes back at critics in high-stakes PR battle
MONTREAL - A prominent asbestos merchant is headed to Parliament Hill as part of a broader counter-offensive to salvage the reputation of his beleaguered industry.

2011.09.22: The Observer - Scope of Asbestos Walk continues to grow
A Halifax woman who lost her father to mesothelioma this year has bought a plane ticket to Sarnia so she can walk with others Oct. 1 in memory of asbestos victims. Cathy Conrad, a professor of geography and environmental studies at Saint Mary's University, is one of several people travelling from afar to be part of A Walk to Remember Victims of Asbestos in Centennial Park.

2011.09.22: Waterloo Cup - Why the Conservatives are bullying a widow
This rallying cry comes from Michaela Keyserlingk, the widow of an asbestos-related cancer victim. Keyserlingk has recently been caught in a Conservative government firestorm regarding her anti-asbestos campaign. So what's the official reason the Conservatives are giving to justify their attempt to end Ms. Keyserlingk’s campaign? A claim of trademark infringement.

2011.09.21: Simcoe - Leitch picked the wrong master
Canadian government support for the asbestos export industry needs to end. And the beginning of that end needs to start with Simcoe-Grey MP Dr. Kellie Leitch. 
She's already stated that she supports the party line - that the Canadian government supports safe and controlled use of chrysotile asbestos. 

2011.09.20: Rick Mercer Report - Rick's Rant - Asbestos

2011.09.20: Simcoe - Leitch mum on asbestos
Simcoe-Grey MP Dr. Kellie Leitch continues to face mounting criticism from victims of asbestos-related illness and the medical profession for her stand supporting Canada's export of chrysotile. Leitch's continued silence on the issue has angered people like Heidi von Palleske, a Coburg resident, who lost both her parents to asbestos-exposure-related cancer.

2011.09.19: The Observer - Fighting on: Asbestos battle gains momentum
There may have been a time when widows like Sarnia's Sandy Kinart felt helpless as they watched their men die from asbestos exposure.

2011.09.16: The National Post - Today’s letters: Asbestos is still deadly and should be banned
In a pitiful attempt to neutralize the highly effective way in which Lorne Gunter informed the readers of the horrors he experienced due to the presence of asbestos in the structure of his house, the Baljit S. Chadha comes forward with his misinformation. It is not just loose asbestos that poisons Mr. Gunter’s residence, it is also the asbestos built into the masonry of the building. 

2011.09.16: Envirogy - Canadian Medical Association Condemns Asbestos Exports
The Canadian Medical Association has condemned the Conservative government for continuing to support Asbestos exports. This was prompted by the government’s behavior at the recent Rotterdam Convention where Canada blocked a move to list chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance.

2011.09.16: Globe and Mail - Inscrutable Stephen Harper baffles the pundits
Then there’s the never-ending scandal of exporting Canadian asbestos to poor countries where it will certainly kill poor labourers. It’s an issue in which the Harper government stands virtually alone in the western world, and no one can fathom why.

2011.09.14: National Post - Two faced on asbestos
Unfortunately, the ceiling from our reno a decade ago had just been nailed up onto the old ceiling. The old stippled ceiling. The one with stipple laced with asbestos.

2011.09.13: Canadian Press - Open letter demands Conservative MP condemn asbestos
Asbestos victims' relatives are asking a doctor-turned-Tory MP to hand in her medical licence if she won't take a stand against her party's support for the controversial industry.

2011.08.09: Senior Living Magazine - Authorities Add Insult to Injury for Asbestos Victims
Asbestos is no longer used as a building material in Canada - at least intentionally - once widely used throughout the industrial world, and Canada, until the 1970's. By that time, other industrialized countries had banned the substance and developed policy around issues of compensation. In the UK, injured persons go to the courts to sue the employers. 

11.09.06: CTV News - Former MP Andre Bachand to become Harper's new Quebec adviser
A former Progressive Conservative MP who opposed the Clarity Act and once described Stephen Harper as having "the charisma of a picnic table" will become the prime minister's new adviser on Quebec politics. Bachand is also a supporter of Canada's asbestos industry, which is routinely blasted by health professionals and international activists for shipping the material to developing countries.

11.09.03: The Choronicleherald - Brave asbestos battle
I have been following the articles in your paper about Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s unwillingness to sign an agreement to label asbestos as a hazardous export. I am ashamed of my government that we would export this plague to countries around the world.

2011.09.04: The Cord - Where’s the empathy?
There are numerous pitfalls within the Conservatives’ decision to attack Michaela Keyserlingk. Attacking Ms. Keyserlingk’s campaign lacks empathy and compassion for this hardworking Canadian. Rather than launching a campaign against Ms. Keyserlingk, the Conservatives should work together on promoting awareness of the dangers of asbestos.

2011.09.01: Simcoe Observer - Leitch toes the line on asbestos
Despite repeated petitions by her peers, Simcoe-Grey MP Dr. Kellie Leitch maintains a buyer beware approach when it comes to Canada exporting asbestos. 
"The Canadian government has stated that it supports the safe controlled use of Chrysotile," said Leitch. "It will continue to do so, anything to do with the decision that [buyers] make - that's their choice." 
More than 300 Canadian and American medical experts signed a letter sent to MP Dr. Kellie Leitch calling on her to oppose any export of asbestos from Canada. 

2011.09.01: Observer - Asbestos’ human cost ‘astronomical’
Most stories of death from asbestos exposure are the same, says Sandra Kinart. "(People) go to work, they're strong, they're healthy. And then one day they can't breath."

2011.08.31: The Chronicle Herald - Woman seeks ban on asbestos exports
But for Conrad, the government’s actions on the issue don’t match that message. Three times the government has put a stop to adding asbestos to a United Nations list of hazardous exports, a move that would require warning labels on the material when it is shipped.

2011.08.29: The Star - Sommerfeld: A father who sacrificed his life to provide for his family
When the Canadian Medical Association came out raging recently against the Federal government’s export of chrysotile asbestos to countries like India and China, I felt my heart squeeze.

2011.08.25: Montreal Gazette - 
Stop exporting asbestos, doctors tell government
Delegates to the Canadian Medical Association's general assembly voted nearly unanimously - 99 per cent - in support of a motion Wednesday opposing the federal government for contesting the international designation of chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance.

2011.08.25: Vancouver Sun - Canada's doctors blast Harper government's asbestos policy
Canada's doctors are condemning the Harper government for its "shameful" decision to block listing asbestos as a hazardous product. 
Delegates to the Canadian Medical Association's general assembly voted nearly unanimously - 99 per cent - in support of a motion Wednesday opposing the federal government for contesting the international designation of chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance.
"Canada should not be in the business of exporting such a dangerous product."

2011.08.24: Globe and Mail - CMA slams Ottawa’s reluctance to stop asbestos exports to developing countries
Delegates to the general council of the Canadian Medical Association, meeting in St. John’s, rebuked the Harper government for blocking the inclusion of chrysolite asbestos in the Rotterdam Convention, which would essentially make it impossible for Canada to export the carcinogenic material to developing countries, as it does now.

2011.08.23: The Barrie Examiner - At the least, Canadians deserve an explanation
There's evidently no escaping controversy for the federal riding of Simcoe-Grey. 
Its newly elected Conservative MP, Dr. Kellie Leitch, has been called out by hundreds of health professionals about her government's position on Canada's asbestos industry.

2011.08.18: The Moderate Voice - He Likes To See Fear In Their Eyes
When Wickileaks dumped those American diplomatic cables onto the Internet, we learned that Stephen Harper “likes to see fear in [the] eyes” of his employees. How disconcerting it must be, then, for him to encounter Michaela Keyserlingk, who is neither an employee or — in Harper’s universe — an important person.

2011.08.18: The Gazette - Doctors ask doctor-MP to stop Canadian asbestos exports
More than 200 doctors in Canada and worldwide are asking Conservative MP — and orthopedic surgeon — Kellie Leitch to honour her professional and medical duty by helping to stop the use of Canadian asbestos in this country and abroad.

2011.08.18: Globe and Mail - Choose ethics over asbestos exports, MDs tell physician-turned-Tory MP
Hundreds of health professionals are urging a doctor-turned-Conservative MP to honour her medical oath and work against Canada's controversial asbestos industry.

2011.08.18: The Gazette - Asbestos jobs are toxic
As an organization representing more than 5,000 physicians and concerned citizens, we're extremely displeased with this effort to promote the Jeffrey Mine.

2011.08.18: CBC Radio 1 - 
Sarnia Asbestos
A widow from Quebec is taking on the federal government over the dangers of exporting asbestos. Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley is coming to her defence. He also talks about the impact of asbestos on his community. Listen  7:23

2011.08.16: Macleans - Tories stifle widow through IP laws, twirl moustaches, cackle
Robert Keyserlingk was a lifelong Tory who died horribly in 2009 from mesothelioma, a cancer typically caused by asbestos exposure. Keyserlingk had regular contact with asbestos in his youth while working summer jobs on Canadian naval ships.

2011.08.16: The Star - Tim Harper: Ottawa widow stands firm against Conservative threats
... the Ottawa woman has outsmarted the propaganda arm of the Harper government after it handed her a gift, allowing her to publicize a cause she has championed in honour of her late husband.

2011.08.15: The Star: Quebec government gives asbestos investors more time to get loan lined up
The Quebec government has given some breathing room to investors trying to relaunch one of Canada’s last remaining asbestos mines. 
Economic Development Minister Clement Gignac says investors have a six-week extension, until Oct. 1, to get financing that will enable them to qualify for a government loan guarantee.

2011.08.15: TheGazette - Conservatives send widow cease-and-desist order
However, despite the backing she has received, Keyserlingk doesn't relish her position in the limelight. "I don't like it to be quite honest, I would like to get back to my own life," she said. "But it's worthwhile and I certainly owe that to my husband and I will keep on going."

2011.08.15: Canadian Press - 
'Shameful': Ontario mayor sends Conservatives stern note in dispute over asbestos
The mayor of Sarnia, Ont., has written a letter to the Conservative Party of Canada, accusing it of "absolutely shameful" behaviour.

2011.08.15: National Post - Conservatives threaten lawsuit against asbestos widow
The email concerned an ad banner that Ms. Keyserlingk had been using to promote [external] www.canadianasbestosexports.ca, her anti-asbestos website. “Canada is the only western country that still exports deadly asbestos!” reads the banner’s text, which is nestled in between a “Danger” symbol and the Conservative logo.

2011.08.14: Canadian Press - Tories tussle with asbestos widow over use of party logo in ad campaign
The exchange comes as Canada faces intensifying international criticism over its asbestos exports and the Quebec government mulls whether to help revive one of the country's last-remaining mines — a decision that could come as early as Monday.

2011.08.14: CBC - Montreal company hopes to revive Asbestos mineIndustry struggles as anti-asbestos crusader takes on federal Conservatives
Just as it seemed time was running out, a consortium of investors led by Montreal company Balcorp Ltd. said it's confident it can raise the money to purchase the mine.

2011.08.13: Global News - Firm trying to raise funds for Quebec asbestos mine seeks deadline extension 
Quebec politicians have traditionally supported the industry, but Premier Jean Charest faces a difficult decision as the asbestos comes under increased scrutiny.

2011.08.12: Ottawa Citizen - Ashamed of Canada's asbestos stance
I have always considered myself to be a proud Canadian, but I hang my head in shame when I read how our government recently blocked placing chrysotile asbestos on an international list of toxic substances.

2011.08.05: Canada.com - Canada's asbestos position endangering foreign workers
For years, Canada has been a leading exporter of asbestos to the developing world, where it is still used as building insulation. This is despite the fact that asbestos causes cancer and claims over 100,000 lives worldwide every year.
 
2011.07.27: Globe and Mail - Asbestos killed my father. Now my mother is sick
When I first heard that my mother had mesothelioma, a cancer of which the only known cause is asbestos exposure, I should have been concerned about only one thing: her welfare. I should have gone through the stages of grieving that any child losing their mother experiences.

2011.07.22: Glove and Mail - Canada's last functional asbestos mine about to run dry
A confidential federal memo suggests Canada's last fully functional asbestos mine is about to die, raising the prospect the controversial industry might just disappear on its own.

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011.07.21: Montreal Gazette - Asbestos mine may stop work if talks don't improve
Talks between management and union representatives were held Tuesday, and operations recommenced Wednesday morning with the return of five or six workers, Dupéré said. Employees will be gradually called back over the next few days and full operations are expected to be underway by Monday.

2011.07.20: Montreal Gazette, LAB Chrysotile mine sets Nov. 13 deadline
Canada’s only fully-operational asbestos mine will “suspend operations for an indefinite period” on Nov. 13 unless talks between LAB Chrysotile and the union representing the mine’s 350 employees prove fruitful, the mine’s president said Wednesday.
2011.07.19: CBC New - Quebec asbestos mine could close, Labour woes add to mine's list of challenges
The Canadian Press Posted: Jul 19, 2011 8:10 PM ET Last Updated: Jul 19, 2011 8:10 PM ET Read 31 comments31
Canada's last fully operational asbestos mine says it could be on the verge of shutting down, a closure that would deliver a major blow to the country's controversial industry.

2011.08.18: Langly Times - Canada backs a killer
Our government is not worse than most others. It’s not too difficult to believe other governments knowingly kill innocent people. We aren’t often willing to face this fact about our own. Or about ourselves.

2011.07.27: Vancouver Sun - Conservative government's ideology trumps science
I strongly support the column by Peter McKnight in which he points out that Canada and its Conservative government rightly deserve the world's opprobrium for their continuing sale of asbestos, a deadly carcinogen.

2011.07.16: The Leaderpost - Asbestos war enlightening
In the atmospheric film Silent Hill, a dead mining town is forever shrouded in fog and falling ash, while those unfortunate enough to visit also find themselves forever trapped in an alternate reality, where science and morality have no hold.
 
http://www.leaderpost.com/health/Asbestos+enlightening/5112695/story.html#ixzz1STLd8mwm

2011.07.13: Montreal Gazette - Ashamed of our government
First on June 24, by becoming the only country on Earth to oppose the listing of cancer-causing chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance under the Rotterdam Convention, allowing its export
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Ashamed+government/5093237/story.html#ixzz1SCRcyyP2

2011.07.11: Dogwood Initiative - Pushing Death
Harper’s policies on cancer-causing asbestos and heavily climate-polluting oilsands are undermining progress on international health and climate agreements, such as the Rotterdam Convention and Kyoto Protocol. Canada’s embarrassing positions could affect the health and survival of millions of people worldwide.

2011.07.11: The Hook - Clock ticking for private investment in Quebec asbestos mine
Quebec's controversial promise to make an investment in re-opening the province's Jeffrey asbestos mine may be rescinded if private investors don't step up to the plate by mid-August, the Montreal Gazette reported on July 7.

2011.07.11: The Hill Times - Critics slam feds' defence of Quebec asbestos mine
The federal government's defence and support for asbestos is "beyond reason, logic and economics," and stems from a "misguided perception of Quebec politics," says NDP MP Pat Martin, who's been fighting to ban asbestos mining ever since he was elected in 1997.
http://www.hilltimes.com/page/view/asbestos-07-11-2011
    

2011.07.11: Wawa News - Asbestos Shows Canada’s Unfortunate Double Standard
Canada missed an opportunity to add chrysotile asbestos to the U.N.’s list of hazardous substances in mid-June adding to our already degraded international reputation which now includes multiple fossil of the year awards and our foot dragging on signing the UN Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

2011.07.09: Vancouver Sun - A deadly disdain for science
The Conservative Party's stance on asbestos -which drew worldwide condemnation -is just the latest example of the federal government's embrace of an alternate reality bereft of scientific evidence and morality 
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/deadly+disdain+science/5077717/story.html#ixzz1Rl43Gbrc

2011.07.08: CBC News - Pro-asbestos lobby decries critics, applauds Canada
The president of Quebec's pro-chrysotile asbestos movement, Serge Boislard, said many anti-asbestos groups are lobbying for the sale of alternative building materials because they have something to gain financially.

2011.07.08: The Barrie Examiner - Shame on Harper government for blocking Rotterdam Convention
Your government will now shoulder the deaths of millions around the world, and all to allow Canadian companies to continue exporting a proven health hazard. 
Shame on the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper for blocking the Rotterdam Convention from listing chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance. 

2011.07.08: The Windsor Star - Don't put mining ahead of safety
The federal government's decision to block asbestos from this treaty effectively eliminates the requirement for a minimal level of warning to countries that might choose to import and use this dangerous substance.
2011.07.07: Edmonton Journal - Double standard on export ethics
The Canadian government has inadvertently allowed an uncomfortable parallel to be drawn between the controversial export of diamonds from Zimbabwe and chrysotile asbestos from Quebec.
2011.07.06: Hill Times - 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.

2011.07.05: Hill Times - NDP MP Martin's one-man battle to ban asbestos mining in Canada gains traction
NDP MP Pat Martin, who has been fighting to ban asbestos mining in Canada ever since he was elected to the House in 1997, and who has been waging a vocal battle in the Commons against the federal government’s controversial support for it, has his own asbestos story.

2011.07.05: BC Local News - On Friday, June 24, the Conservative government once again embarrassed our country on the international stage.
We alone prevented the United Nations from adding chrysotile asbestos to the global list of hazardous substances. 
We won’t allow asbestos in our homes and offices. We are spending millions to remove it from our Parliament buildings.
Mr. Nicholls, one of his patients, walks slowly around his home, catching his breath as his lungs slowly harden from a disease that will eventually suffocate him. But he too feels the industry is “not as dangerous as it once was” – though he is genuinely worried about the health of less-protected workers abroad.

2011.07.04: The Sudbury Star - Canada's stance on asbestos disgraceful - Column by Ruth Farquhar
Our government has once again given Canada a black eye internationally, refusing to put chrysotile asbestos on the hazardous list at the Rotterdam Convention two weeks ago.
2011.07.03: Troy Media - Canada’s asbestos industry is not worth the effort of defending it
Much has been written in the past few weeks about the Government of Canada’s move at last month’s Rotterdam Conference to keep asbestos off the United Nations’ Annex III list of dangerous substances. Had it been added, exporting nations would henceforth be required to inform importers of its risks and provide precautionary measures for safe handling
2011.07.02: Vancouver Sun - Conservatives' asbestos stand shames Canadians
We all feel the shame for our government's refusal to sign the Rotterdam Convention, which would have warned unprotected workers and the general populations in developing countries that Canadian chrysotile asbestos is a highly dangerous carcinogen.

2011.07.02: CTV News - Canada mocked in U.S. for asbestos 'hypocrisy'
Just in time for the Canada Day weekend, a major U.S. online magazine is calling out Canada for its "breathtaking hypocrisy" for exporting asbestos while seeking to rid the product at home.

2011.07.01: Globe and Mail - To Canada, some ways to keep your reputation at its asBESTos
Dear government of Canada: Congratulations on your refusal to stigmatize asbestos by allowing it to be added to a list of hazardous chemicals on the United Nations treaty, the Rotterdam Convention. In doing so, you have helped to ensure that countries exporting a known carcinogen (mostly to developing nations) need not add a warning that it be used correctly. May it be so for many years to come!
2011.06.30: Montreal Gazette - The Gazette’s View: Human cost of asbestos is not worth the jobs
For the sake of hundreds of jobs, $90 million a year in sales and our prime minister’s refusal to be wrong about anything, Canada is now the world’s only developed nation to not formally acknowledge chrysotile asbestos as a carcinogen.

2011.06.28: The Star - Asbestos hypocrisy sticking to PM
It was the third time Canada has stepped in to prevent placing asbestos on a list of exports that would have to include warnings of health hazards to recipient countries.

2011.06.28: Ottawa Citizen - Asbestos kills? Science be damned
Almost every other nation in attendance took the opposite position and as talks continued it appeared that there would be the unanimous agreement needed to add asbestos to the list. But Canada wouldn’t budge. The change was defeated. And asbestos continues to be, in an official sense, not a hazardous substance, no matter what the scientists say.

2011.06.27: CBC Radio - Asbestos in the Family
The federal government's on-going refusal to allow asbestos to be added to a United Nations treaty which lists hazardous materials has sparked criticism abroad and at home. We have a documentary about a family which has been devastated by the effects of asbestos. And we talk to a doctor who treats people with a rare form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.

2011.06.24: Ottawa Citizen - Canada admits asbestos opponents are right
The Canadian delegation at an international summit admitted Thursday it agrees with the work of a United Nations scientific panel that wants limits placed on the export of chrysotile asbestos, but Canada still won't back the move. 
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/Canada+admits+asbestos+opponents+right/4997758/story.html#ixzz1RAhlwinl
 
 
2011.06.24: Montreal Gazette - Harper parties with supporters in asbestos countryDelegates at the United Nations Environment Program's Rotterdam Convention accused Canada of "single-handedly" derailing the treaty's conference in Geneva on Friday in order to keep chrysotile asbestos off a UN list of restricted chemicals.
2011.06.24 - The Globe and Mail - Harper parties in mining town as Canada keeps asbestos off hazardous list
The Prime Minister celebrated St. Jean Baptiste Day in the heart of the asbestos industry as Canada's delegation to an international summit drew ire by keeping the carcinogen off a hazardous-chemicals list.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in asbestos country Friday -just one day after his representatives blocked a bid to limit exports of the carcinogenic mineral.

2011.06.24: The Star - Canada’s toxic asbestos trade
For years the federal government has been warned by doctors, environmentalists, unions, even Health Canada, about the deadly impact of asbestos. But Ottawa remains intransigent about curbing exports of this harmful mineral. Once again this week it opposed listing chrysotile asbestos on the United Nations’ list of dangerous materials. Once again it acted irresponsibly.

2011.06.25: Globe and Mail - With asbestos, we are the Ugly Canadians
Billions of dollars will be spent over the next two decades to repair the Parliament Buildings. One reason for the repair: The buildings are full of asbestos, a cancer-causing substance that Canadians no longer use. 
But we mine asbestos, we ship it, we make money from it, and we’ll use every diplomatic trick in the book to defend this odious practice. We are the Ugly Canadians.

2011.06.24: Ottawa Citizen - 
Asbestos's last, lonely champion
The Canadian delegation was undoubtedly acting on instructions from the prime minister - and over growing objections both inside and outside government. With India (which imports a lot of Quebec asbestos) and Ukraine withdrawing objections, Canada is left in the embarrassing company of Vietnam, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in defending a product so dangerous it is being carefully removed from 24 Sussex and the Parliament buildings.

2011.06.23: Winnipeg Free Press - Hiding the risk of asbestos
It is bewildering that successive Canadian governments would risk an international black eye to protect the market of a relatively small industry that exports a known carcinogen. Chrysotile asbestos has fallen out of favour for use as an insulator and fire-retardant in Canada, but it is the economic mainstay of Thetford Mines, Que., the hometown of federal Industry Minister Christian Paradis.

2011.06.23: Winnipeg Free Press - Hiding the risk of asbestos
It is bewildering that successive Canadian governments would risk an international black eye to protect the market of a relatively small industry that exports a known carcinogen. Chrysotile asbestos has fallen out of favour for use as an insulator and fire-retardant in Canada, but it is the economic mainstay of Thetford Mines, Que., the hometown of federal Industry Minister Christian Paradis.

2011.06.23: Coquitlam Now - Health critic calls for asbestos ban
A local MLA is calling on Premier Christy Clark to use her trip to Ottawa to insist Canada declare asbestos a hazardous substance.

2011.06.23: Toronto Sun - Canada OK with killer asbestos
"The government says that the product is safe if used in a certain fashion but they're refusing to ensure that the buyer is told to beware," said NDP Leader Jack Layton on Thursday.

2011.06.22: The Star - Canada blocks asbestos from hazardous chemicals list at UN summit
OTTAWA—Canada has opposed listing chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous chemical, the United Nations confirmed Wednesday, even as the Conservative government maintained its silence back home.

2011.06.22: Globe and Mail - Ottawa still shelters asbestos industry. Cigarette, anyone?
Ottawa should abandon asbestos industry - No one disputes any longer that cigarettes causes cancer. There's a warning on cigarette packages direct from the federal government. Yet Ottawa persists in sheltering the asbestos industry, despite warnings from health officials that it, too, causes cancer.

2011.06.22: The Star - Canada blocks asbestos from hazardous chemicals list at UN summit
Listing asbestos on Annex III of the convention would force exporters such as Canada to warn recipient countries of any health hazards. Those countries could also then refuse asbestos imports if they didn’t think they could handle the product safely. Canada has twice before played a lead role in blocking the inclusion of asbestos under the Rotterdam Convention, which operates by consensus.

2011.06.21: Vancouver Sun - Canada noticeably quiet at international meeting on asbestos exports
Canada remained silent Tuesday at an international meeting convened to decide whether to place limits on the export of chrysotile asbestos — fuelling concerns from observers that the federal government is letting other countries do its "dirty work."
http://www.canada.com/business/Canada+noticeably+quiet+international+meeting+asbestos+exports/4982873/story.html#ixzz1Q0cuJA83

2011.06.21: The Gazette - Layton patriarch champion of asbestos industry his son now slags
But here's the surprising twist: the Conservative government's increasingly isolated position on asbestos — that the substance can be safely used, and that Quebec's chrysotile exports to developing nations should continue or even expand — was largely shaped 25 years ago by Layton's own father.
2011.06.21: Vancouver Sun - Ottawa asked to label asbestos as hazardous/Opposition, ex-minister push for designation
Canada's chief public health officer said Monday it's wise "as a general principle" to inform people of the risks if they're handling hazardous materials such as asbestos, a statement that came on the eve of an expected move by the Conservative government to block international efforts this week to warn importing countries about the risks. It also came after a former top Tory minister asked his former colleagues to support the warnings.

2011.06.21: Macleans - Can asbestos be used “safely”?
Chrysotile, or white asbestos, is back in the news again, and doctors around the world are questioning the Canadian government’s championing of a substance that has been banned in most developed countries. “My jaw dropped when I heard [Soudas’ statement],” says Dr. Matthew Stanbrook, a specialist in respirology at Toronto’s University Health Network and assistant professor in the department of medicine at the University of Toronto. “It’s so completely misrepresentative of the science.”

2011.06.21: Vancouver SunEx-B.C. cabinet minister Chuck Strahl urges Tories to act on asbestos
The Conservative government took a hit from friendly-fire Monday when a former Tory cabinet minister who has battled lung cancer pleaded with his former colleagues to support limits on the export of chrysotile asbestos.
 
2011.06.20: CBC Radio - Asbestos in Developing Countries
Today, representatives from 143 countries meet in Geneva to debate whether chrysotile asbestos, the kind mined mainly in Canada, should be added to an international treaty regulating the trade in hazardous chemicals. 

2011.06.18: Vancouver Sun - 
Vancouver comedian finds no humour in Canada's asbestos mining practices
Cochrane, 28, recently joined forces with Sean Devlin, Cam Reed and other Vancouverites to launch a national campaign calling on the government to support a United Nations recommendation to add chrysotile asbestos, also known as white asbestos, as a hazardous substance under the Rotterdam Convention at a four-day conference that starts Monday in Geneva, Switzerland.

2011.06.17: The Toronto Star - 
The big deal: Should Canada defend the asbestos industry?
On Monday, a meeting is set to convene in Geneva of the 143 nations, including Canada, that have ratified the U.N.’s Rotterdam Convention. The international agreement concerns pesticides and industrial chemicals that have been banned or severely restricted for health or environmental reasons. As in previous years, chrysotile asbestos (the industry’s name for white asbestos) is one of the substances the convention is considering adding to its Annex III list.

2011.06.17: Postmedia News - Canada silent on intent ahead of meeting to limit asbestos exports
The federal government isn't saying whether Canada will block efforts at an international meeting Monday to limit the export of chrysotile asbestos.

2011.06.15: The Gazette - Chrysotile asbestos on UN agenda, Meeting on Monday; Quebec doctors urge PM to support regulation
QUEBEC – On Monday in Geneva, representatives of the 143 countries belonging to United Nations-sponsored Rotterdam Convention regulating hazardous chemicals are to begin a meeting where chrysotile, the type of asbestos fibre mined in Quebec, will be on the top of the list of new products to be regulated.

2011.06.15: The Canadian Press - 
Tories refuse to say Canada's position on warning world about asbestos dangers
OTTAWA — The Conservative government continues to claim that Canada's chrysotile asbestos can be used safely "under controlled conditions."
But with a major international conference in Geneva less than a week away, the government is refusing to say what position Canada will take when its global partners ask that the known carcinogen be included on a list of hazardous chemicals.

2011.06.14: CBC Radio - Power and Politics, Tuesday, June 14
...is the government ignoring the danger of asbestos? Why has it not followed advice by Health Canada to list it as a hazardous substance? We ask Industry Minister Christian Paradis, and MPs Pat Martin and Marc Garneau. 

2011.06.14: CBC News - Shut down Canada's asbestos industry
According to documents obtained under Access to Information, a senior Health Canada bureaucrat wrote that the agency believed that chrysotile should be added to a UN treaty known as the Rotterdam Convention.

2011.06.14: The Gazette - Canada's export of asbestos slammed by NDP, health experts
NDP MPs said a newly released internal government email has revealed that Health Canada officials recognize the danger of chrysotile asbestos, mined in central Quebec, but failed to convince the government to take the same position on the international stage under the United Nations Rotterdam Convention, which sets controls on the trade of a list of toxic substances.
http://www.canada.com/business/Canada+export+asbestos+slammed+health+experts/4944277/story.html#ixzz1PSeuvqFe

2011.06.14: CBC News - Asbestos: 'Magic' mineral was once Canada's gold, Critics decry Canadian production but industry, government says it's safe
Canada has spent the last 25-plus years trying to rid our homes, schools and offices — including Parliament Hill — of the dangerous dust that was often loosely sprayed as insulation. However, the country continues to mine and export the controversial mineral — though only chrysotile, or white asbestos, which the government says is safe to use.

2011.06.14: The Gazette - UN body aims to regulate asbestos
In the past, the Canadian government, allied with other chrysotile producers, like Russia and Zimbabwe, have blocked chrysotile’s inclusion in the Rotterdam Convention’s PIC designation – meaning prior informed consent must be given before such a product in imported.

2011.06.14: The Globe and Mail - UN-sanctioned group criticizes Canada on asbestos science
Canada has signed an international treaty that obligates it to follow the latest scientific evidence on the dangers of asbestos, a UN-affiliated labour organization is reminding the country this week. But the NDP has unearthed a 2006 Health Canada recommendation that suggests the Harper government isn't even following the advice of its own experts on chrysotile asbestos.

2011.06.13: CBC News - 
Health Canada's asbestos advice rejected by government
The 2006 Rotterdam Convention comprises a list of hazardous substances that require countries to disclose any restrictions imposed for health or environmental reasons by exporting countries. Importing countries would then decide whether to import the substance, ban it, or restrict it, something known as prior informed consent.

2011.06.10: Canadian Labour Congress - 
Canada called on carpet by ILO over asbestos
The International Labour Organization has taken the unusual step of calling Canada to account regarding asbestos at a special hearing which occurred in Geneva on June 10. Canada is a signatory to ILO Convention 162 concerning the use of asbestos for workers and the ILO held the hearing because the CLC and other organizations believe that Canada has failed to review its laws and regulations regarding occupational exposure to asbestos. This puts workers at risk both in Canada and abroad because virtually all of Canada’s production is exported.

2011.06.03: T
he Observer - ASBESTOS: MP did oppose Harper government on exports 
Letters reveal Davidson’s plight
They also reveal the frustration Davidson experienced in urging the Harper government to reject the "faulty" evidence used to support the continued export of asbestos.

2011.05.26: Langley Advance - 
Warawa may fight asbestos, Langley's MP says he wants to look at potentially changing asbestos export rules.
Just weeks after Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada won’t ban asbestos exports, Langley MP Mark Warawa wants to re-open the debate.
2011.05.20: 
Globe and Mail - 
Harper’s in and Canada’s back – just ask Jon Stewart
Hardly a news organization in Canada has failed to carry it, including this newspaper. The five-minute segment makes anyone who promotes the mining and exporting of asbestos appear to be either delusional or villainous, off their rockers or immoral. This includes the Prime Minister of Canada and the Premier of Quebec. 

2011.05.19: CTV.ca - A
sbestos episode a lesson in PR don'ts, expert says
"He's darn lucky the headline in The Globe and Mail wasn't 'We're Not Ignorant Imbeciles, Claims Poulombe'," Ansell said, suggesting the nuance of the mining executive's explanation was lost and instead served only to rejuvenate a story that might otherwise have flown under the radar.

2011.05.18: National Post - Anatomy of a public relations failure
Last Thursday, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart broadcast a report ripping into the Quebec town of Asbestos and the industry after which it's named. The show's reporter, comedian and actor Aasif Mandvi, asks mining executive Bernard Coulombe what Asbestos means in French. "Because in English it means slow, hacking death." He later shows CBC footage of Indian workers carelessly handling carcinogenic asbestos fibres and prompts Mr. Coulombe to speculate that, because people in India are "used to pollution," they have developed a resistance.

2011.05.17: The Star - Research data on asbestos exposure hidden
Canada’s role in exporting asbestos, a known carcinogenic product no longer used in this country, and in supporting an international lobbying effort for its use, has been appalling. Even more disgraceful, Canadian authorities have tried to hide their own work at piecing together an overview of where and how Canadians were exposed to chrysotile asbestos. That government-sponsored research, begun back in 2007, reviewed the many places — mines, office buildings, school gyms, homes — where the risk of exposure to asbestos dust was high and could cause serious health problems and death.

2011.05.14: The Canadian Press - Jon Stewart's popular U.S. TV show mocks Quebec town of Asbestos
MONTREAL — The town of Asbestos, Que., was the object of ridicule on one of the world's most popular comedy programs Thursday night. ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' produced a segment that began with lighthearted mockery and ended with moral indignation over the town's attachment to the asbestos industry.

2011.05.13: La Presse - De nouvelles photos gênantes pour l'industrie de l'amiante
Un mois après que Québec eut donné son appui à la relance de la mine Jeffrey, à Asbestos, de nouvelles photos embarrassantes pour l'industrie québécoise de l'amiante font surface.

2011.05.13: Globe and Mail - Unreleased report shows high levels of asbestos in many public buildings
In late 2007, Health Canada hired a group of researchers affiliated with the University of Ottawa to assess a health hazard it had never attempted to quantify before: how at risk were Canadians from everyday and occupational exposures to cancer-causing asbestos?

2011.05.13: CBC - Daily Show mocks Asbestos, Que.
Daily Show comedian Aasif Mandvi asks the president of Jeffrey Mine whether the word 'asbestos' means something different in French. (Comedy Network)
Asbestos, Que., is taking another beating on the international stage, this time from American news satire program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

2011.05.12: Daily Show - Aasif Mandvi Visits Asbestos, Quebec
Despite all the anti-asbestos propaganda, this town outside Montreal promotes the relatively safe mineral. These are kind of issues we look to the likes of Ruth Ellen Brosseau to solve in Quebec. 
http://www.thecomedynetwork.ca/Displayblog.aspx?bpid=9a17a3c0-68d2-40a6-88a6-e0bc73586b9b

2011.04.30: Vancouver Sun - Canada bans deadly asbestos at home but sells it overseas
Most of Canada's asbestos is exported to developing countries, as it has been banned everywhere else. (Worldwide 60 countries, including all those in the European Union, have banned the use of asbestos.)

2011.04.27: Sherbrooke Record - PM defends industry  
Prime Minister Stephen Harper continued to defend the local asbestos industry during a morning visit to the area, but added no efforts will be made to lift health and safety restrictions on its use in domestic and international industry.

2011.04.26: The Globe and Mail - Canada labelled ‘immoral asbestos pusher’ as Harper visits Quebec mining town
Stephen Harper says he won’t allow a substance synonymous with cancer to be reintroduced in Canadian homes or schools but he’s firmly behind allowing Quebec’s maligned asbestos industry to export its product to willing buyers abroad. The Conservative Leader made a campaign stop in Quebec’s Eastern Townships to show the failing asbestos industry some support, a move the Tories are hoping will enable them to win a seat in the area.

2011.04.26: Edmonton Journal - Harper rejects export ban on asbestos
ASBESTOS, Que. — Conservative leader Stephen Harper has declared that Canada will not ban the export of asbestos — despite calls from health groups — because to do so would hurt Canadian industry.Harper brought his campaign Tuesday to the community synonymous with cancer — and amid renewed pressure to ban the export of asbestos worldwide.

2011.04.26: Brandon Sun - Harper defends support for asbestos industry as he battles Bloc for Quebec seat
ASBESTOS, Qc - Neither the name of a cancer-stricken Conservative colleague nor the word asbestos passed Stephen Harper's lips Tuesday as he defended Canada's export of a deadly carcinogen that has afflicted Transport Minister Chuck Strahl. Instead, Harper used a campaign stop in Asbestos, Que., to promote his party's local electoral fortunes as a stout promoter of a dying regional industry.

2011.04.18: Safety-Reporter - Cancer Society ‘disappointed’ with Quebec government
The Canadian Cancer Society is “deeply disappointed” in the Quebec government’s conditional support for a project that could lead to the re-opening of a mine in Asbestos, Que.

2011.04.15: The Gazette - Minister defends support for asbestos
Although Quebec's support of Canada's lone asbestos mine won the supported of elected officials in the region, it has been widely denounced by health officials. The Canadian Cancer Society this week called upon the provincial government to withdraw its support for the Jeffrey mine expansion. "This decision directly conflicts with global cancer control. The epidemic of asbestos-related concerns, both in Canada and around the world, will continue to spread," the group said in a statement.

2011.04.14: The Canadian Press - Quebec gives conditional support to controversial asbestos mine's revival
"Our gesture today will remove the uncertainty," said Clement Gignac. "We are removing the uncertainty (in affirming) that the Quebec government will continue to support the chrysotile (asbestos) industry, will continue to support the region."

2011.04.14: CNW - Quebec Government Gives Conditional Support to Asbestos Mine / Canadian Cancer Society Urges Government to Re-consider
"From a public health point of view, the Quebec Government has made the wrong decision as all forms of asbestos cause cancer," says Paul Lapierre, Vice President, Cancer Control and Public Affairs, Canadian Cancer Society. "We strongly urge Minister Gignac to re-consider his decision and to withdraw this support."

2011.04.14: The Gazette - Cancer society 'disappointed' with Quebec asbestos expansion
The Canadian Cancer Society is calling on the Quebec government to withdraw its support for an expansion at an asbestos mine in the province, citing the health concerns associated with exposure to the material.

2011.04.13: The Gazette - Jeffrey asbestos mine gets $7.5 million from Quebec
 The Quebec government has approved the expansion of the Jeffrey asbestos mine in Asbestos, along with a $7.5-million economic diversification fund for the region. "I told the promoter today that the government has given its agreement in principle to the reopening of the Jeffrey Mine," Industry Minister Clément Gignac said in a statement Wednesday.

2011.04.07: The Gazette - A struggle for votes in asbestos country
Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe retorted that his party has always defended asbestos. That was a turnaround from Sunday, when Duceppe backed calls for a commission into the safety of the controversial mineral.

2011.04.06: The Gazette - Tories promise to 'defend' Quebec asbestos industry
"Only the Conservative party will defend this industry here and everywhere in Canada," said Harper during a campaign stop in Victoriaville. "Only the Conservative party understands that you have a right to live here, to raise your families here."

2011.04.04: Globe and Mail - Air at many Quebec worksites high in asbestos levels: study
The study highlights that Quebec’s occupational asbestos exposure limit allows for 10 times more airborne fibres than other Canadian provinces – and 100 times more than some European countries. The study was released as the Quebec government mulls over whether to give a controversial $58-million bank-loan guarantee to extend the life of the Jeffrey Mine in the city of Asbestos.

2011.04.04: The winnipeg Free Press - The air at many Quebec worksites contains high levels of asbestos
The study was released as the Quebec government mulls over whether to give a controversial $58-million bank-loan guarantee to extend the life of the Jeffrey Mine in the city of Asbestos. Quebec politicians have traditionally supported the province's embattled chrysotile asbestos industry — and Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe recently discovered that opposing it can sometimes be treacherous.

2011.04.03: Globe and Mail - Duceppe wades into debate on safety of asbestos mining during campaign stop
Mr. Duceppe said he supports a demand from the Parti Quebecois for a Quebec legislature committee on asbestos.

2011.03.28: Canada.com - Expert demands feds retract statement on 'safe' use of asbestos
A key member of the government's expert panel on asbestos is demanding Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis retract recent comments that cited the group's report to promote the "safe use" of asbestos.

2011.03.28: The Ottawa Citizen - Ban the immoral export of asbestos
Here's a suggestion for Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. Instead of trying match the Conservatives' largesse, why not demonstrate that you are willing to take a political risk in Quebec on an issue of integrity? Why not promise that if voters throw the Harper Conservatives out, Canada will quit exporting deadly asbestos to developing countries?

2011.03.14: CyberPress.ca - Paradis réitère sa confiance envers l'amiante
Le ministre des Ressources naturelles du Canada et député de Mégantic-L'Érable, M. Christian Paradis, assure que la volte-face de la CSN dans le dossier de l'amiante ne modifiera en rien la position du gouvernement du Canada à ce chapitre.

2011.03.11: CyberPress.ca - Le PQ souhaite un débat sur l'utilisation de l'amiante
Les députés péquistes Scott McKay et Agnès Maltais ont réclamé cette semaine qu'un mandat soit confié à ce sujet à la commission de l'agriculture, des pêches, de l'énergie et des ressources naturelles. Lors d'une entrevue à La Presse Canadienne, M. McKay a affirmé que les nombreuses interventions d'organismes de santé publique, au cours des derniers mois, ont soulevé des interrogations sur l'utilisation sécuritaire de l'amiante, au Québec ou à l'étranger.

2011.03.11: CyberPress.ca - Comme annoncé, la CSN révise sa position sur l'amiante
La présidente de la centrale syndicale, Claudette Carbonneau, avait annoncé plus tôt cette semaine qu'un vote serait pris en ce sens. Or, vendredi matin, à Montréal, le conseil confédéral de la CSN a entériné la recommandation du comité confédéral de la santé et de la sécurité au travail à l'effet de ne pas appuyer de nouveaux projets d'expansion des mines d'amiante québécoises.

2011.03.11: Daily Commercial News - Labour group opposes Quebec asbestos mine expansion
An organization representing Quebec unions is recommending against the approval of any expansion projects at Quebec asbestos mines due in part to concern about the use of asbestos cement in construction.

2011.03.11: Rabble.ca - Two big victories in the fight against asbestos
This past week has seen two very significant victories in the long battle against Canadian exports of asbestos. There is only one mine in Canada -- in Quebec -- that still exports the deadly substance but trying to halt the trade has proved extremely difficult, despite the fact that asbestos kills 107,000 people a year world-wide. As an industrial killer in Canada, more people die from its effects than all the industrial killers combined.

2011.03.09: Montreal Gazette - CSN withdraws support for Quebec asbestos industry
Quebec’s asbestos industry suffered another major blow Wednesday when one of the province’s largest unions said the Quebec government should not support the expansion of the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos. And Wednesday, the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), which represents 300,000 unionized workers across the province, announced it no longer supports the industry. Big Labour in Quebec has been among the staunchest supporters of the asbestos industry for decades.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/withdraws+support+Quebec+asbestos+industry/4412635/story.html#ixzz1GCkMJrs3

2011.03.09: The National Post - Your money or your lungs? Asbestos funding cut – next year
This isn’t the first time the Conservatives have embraced asbestos. Back in October 1985, then-Minister of State for Mines Robert Layton claimed that chrysotile was so safe, he could put it in his coffee. The Canadian public was neither convinced nor amused, and former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney shuffled Mr. Layton out of Cabinet and into the role of caucus chair in 1986.
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/03/09/tasha-kheiriddin-your-money-or-your-lungs-feds-cut-asbestos-funding-next-year/

So why, in 2011, would the Canadian federal government continue to fund an asbestos lobby group – to the tune of $250,000 a year? That’s right: the feds approved the money for the Chrysotile Institute, a lobby group which promotes the use of chrysotile asbestos in the developing world, where health and safety standards are lower, and the product remains in use. While the support will end in 2012, the group will still get funding for its current fiscal year.
2011.03.08: Ottawa Citizen - Ottawa quietly cuts funding to asbestos-industry group
 After years of criticism from Canadian and international health organizations, the federal government has quietly cut off taxpayer funding for an asbestos industry lobby group.
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Ottawa+quietly+cuts+funding+asbestos+industry+group/4402029/story.html#ixzz1G1qjBe83

2011.02.08: Canadian Press - Charest defends fundraiser hosted by man seeking to revive asbestos industry
Premier Jean Charest says there's nothing wrong with his provincial Liberals having a fundraiser hosted by a businessman seeking government money to reopen one of Canada's last asbestos mines. Charest accused Parti Quebecois Leader Pauline Marois of making assumptions about conflicts of interest when she raised links between Baljit Chadha and the Liberals.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/charest-defends-fundraiser-hosted-by-man-seeking-to-revive-asbestos-industry-115599579.html

2011.02.05: Le Devoir: Clément Gignac en Inde - Amiante: Québec cherche une façon d'aller de l'avant
New Delhi — Estimant toujours qu'il y a moyen d'utiliser l'amiante de manière à ne faire courir aucun risque à la santé des travailleurs, le ministre du Développement économique, Clément Gignac, qui clôturait hier une mission économique d'une semaine qui l'a mené à Mumbaï et Delhi, dit qu'il n'approuvera pas le projet d'expansion de la mine Jeffrey, à Asbestos, avant d'avoir acquis la conviction qu'on en ferait une utilisation sûre en Inde.
http://www.ledevoir.com/international/actualites-internationales/316217/clement-gignac-en-inde-amiante-quebec-cherche-une-facon-d-aller-de-l-avant              English Version

2011.02.04: Montreal Gazette - Quebec, India mining accord to include asbestos
The governments of Quebec and India have agreed to draw up an accord on investment and sustainable development in mining activities. The agreement would include chrysotile, as the variety of asbestos mined in Quebec is known. Quebec Industry Minister Clément Gignac is currently in India. In the face of opposition in the province to continued asbestos exports from Quebec, Gignac has delayed granting a government guarantee on a $58-million loan needed to reopen the Jeffrey underground asbestos mine in the Quebec town of Asbestos.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Quebec+India+mining+accord+include+asbestos/4226576/story.html#ixzz1D6c8XviC

2011.01.289: Macleans.ca - Well, this is awkward
The host of a fundraiser for Michael Ignatieff owns a company that exports asbestos from Quebec.  Their differences on asbestos aside, Ignatieff said he’s happy to attend Chadha’s fundraiser. ”Baljit Chadha is a great guy, personal friend, great businessman,” he said. ”(Asbestos) is a discussion I have with Mr. Chadha, but I’m happy to be there tonight.”

2011.01.28: Globe and Mail - La trahison des séparatistes
Any day now Premier Jean Charest will announce whether he will subsidize the re-opening and expansion of an asbestos mine in Quebec aimed specifically at increasing deadly asbestos exports to Asia, South America and Africa. If this scandalous venture goes ahead, it will, as sure as you are reading these words, lead directly to the deaths of workers in the countries who will be using it.

2011.01.28: CTV News - Ignatieff fundraiser to be hosted by asbestos supporter
A lavish fundraiser for Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff will be hosted by a businessman leading the charge to reopen one of Canada's last-remaining asbestos mines. Ignatieff has often said Canada must stop exporting the carcinogenic material abroad.

2011.01.27: La Press Affaires - Le ministre Gignac discutera d'amiante en Inde
Le ministre du Developpement economique du Quebec, Clement Gignac, discutera d'exploitation d'amiante avec le gouvernement de l'Inde au cours d'une mission économique la semaine prochaine. Les deux gouvernements entameront aussi des discussions au sujet d'une entente de collaboration sur l'exploitation sécuritaire de cette fibre cancérigène.

2011.01.25: Cyberpresse.ca - Amiante: Khadir affirme qu'il y a apparence de conflit d'intérêts
Le gouvernement se place en conflit d'intérêts en invitant dans une mission économique en Inde une entreprise associée à un projet controversé de relance d'une mine d'amiante, a déclaré mardi le député de Québec solidaire Amir Khadir.

2011.01.17: Montreal Gazette - Raging Grannies protest against asbestos exports
Montreal’s Raging Grannies had an earful for Premier Jean Charest on Monday, when they showed up outside his Montreal office. Wearing their customary outrageous hats and bundled up against the cold in bright layers of colourful clothing, the nine women sang “I’ve been working with asbestos” to the tune of “I’ve been Working on the Railroad”, including lyrics like “Asbestos has been proven to kill, kill, kill.”

11.01.14: Montreal Gazette - Quebecers don't want government cash going to asbestos industry
More than three-quarters of Quebecers oppose the idea of the Quebec government financing a project to expand the Jeffrey asbestos mine, according to a survey commissioned by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.

2011.01.12: Montreal Gazette - Asbestos safety at root of debate
Quebec's College of Physicians is unlikely to take a stand on the question of mining and exporting asbestos to developing countries, a spokesperson for the professional body said Tuesday.On Friday, a group of doctors asked the College to take a public position on asbestos, calling it a matter of public health. On Monday, groups that support the asbestos industry asked the College not to get involved.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Asbestos+safety+root+debate/4091985/story.html#ixzz1Appteyzb

2011.01.08: Montreal Gazette - The continued sale of Quebec's asbestos is indefensible
 Premier Jean Charest and the asbestos lobby have had to come up with some new arguments to defend Quebec's export of asbestos. Their usual arguments -that Quebec's chrysotile asbestos is less harmful than other forms of asbestos and can be safely used -have been exposed as groundless by provincial, national and international medical authorities, who are appalled by Charest and Prime Minister Stephen Harper denying the science and putting politics ahead of human life.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/continued+sale+Quebec+asbestos+indefensible/4080013/story.html#ixzz1ASbO3R9F

2011.01.08: Le Devoir - Amiante: un groupe demande l'intervention du College des medecins
 Une cinquantaine de medecins s'en prennent a l'ethique d'Yves Bolduc, "comme ministre et medecin" Pres de 50 medecins et quelques scientifiques du milieu de la sante ont reclame hier l'intervention du College des medecins du Quebec dans le dossier de la relance de l'industrie de l'amiante au Quebec grace a une garantie gouvernementale de pret de 58 millions.
http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/sante/314324/amiante-un-groupe-demande-l-intervention-du-college-des-medecins               English Version

2010.12.29: The Bullet: Working-Class Solidarity or Colonial Complicity? Quebec Unions and Asbestos
All the more troubling, therefore, was the reception that Quebec's union federations reserved the other week for a delegation from Asia, consisting of a representative of the Building and Wood Workers' International and victims of asbestos. The immediate aim of the delegation was to ask the government and people of Quebec not to give financial support to the exploitation of a new vein at the Jeffrey asbestos mine, whose production would be exported to Asia. Neither the FTQ (Federation des travailleuses et des travailleurs du Quebec) nor the CSN (Centrale des syndicats nationaux) saw fit to respond to the request for a meeting. Only the CSD (Centrale des syndicats democratiques) met the delegation, but in the presence of a lobbyist of the Chrysotile Institute.
http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/447.php

2010.12.28: The Observer - Asbestos exports decried
 A former head of the local occupational health clinic is calling on Quebec's premier to halt a plan to loan millions of dollars to the provincial asbestos mining industry.
http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2907602

2010.12.28: Cyberpresse.ca - Amiante: la complicite des syndicats
 D'autant plus deroutant est l'accueil reserve par nos centrales a une delegation venue de l'Asie la semaine derniere, composee d'un syndicaliste, representant de l'Internationale des travailleurs et des travailleurs du batiment et du bois (IBB), et de victimes de l'amiante. Le but immediat de la delegation etait de demander au gouvernement du Quebec, et au peuple du Quebec, de ne pas soutenir le financement de l'exploitation d'un nouveau gisement d'amiante a la mine Jeffrey, dont la production serait exportee en Asie.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/opinions/201012/28/01-4355902-amiante-la-complicite-des-syndicats.php               English Version
 
2010.12.22: Ecologist - Canada's plans to reopen world's largest asbestos mine will create "new generation" of victims??
Campaigners are protesting against plans to re-open the world's largest asbestos mine, the Jeffrey Mine in Quebec with the help of $58 million from the provincial government. The mine would export upwards of 6 million tonnes of chrysotile asbestos to less industrialised countries over the next 25 years.
http://goo.gl/gjW6w

2010.12.20 Le Devoir - L'avenir de l'amiante au Quebec - Un debat s'impose
 Au moment ou le gouvernement du Quebec s'apprete a prendre une decision sur l'octroi d'un pret de 58 millions de dollars aux promoteurs de la reouverture de la mine Jeffrey, de nombreuses voix sur le plan international s'elevent contre ce projet. Une delegation asiatique de syndicalistes, d'activistes et de victimes de maladies associees a l'amiante est venue recemment au Quebec pour temoigner des dommages que l'usage de l'amiante quebecois cause dans leur pays. La prestigieuse revue medicale britannique The Lancet, dans un article en ligne paru recemment, accuse pour sa part le Canada d'hypocrisie concernant ses exportations d'amiante.    
http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/313335/l-avenir-de-l-amiante-au-quebec-un-debat-s-impose             English Version

2010.12.15: CTV Winnipeg - Two Tory staffers tried to block access to info: CP
 In October, Paradis adviser Sebastien Togneri resigned after it was revealed he had meddled in at least three different access-to-information requests while with the Public Works Department.  In one case dealing with the members of a federal panel who wrote a damning report on asbestos, Paradis' political office had highlighted material it did not want released.
http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20101215/paradis-documents-101215/20101215/?hub=WinnipegHome

2010.12.13: Montreal Gazette - Stop promoting asbestos exports
 When Quebec Health Minister Yves Bolduc was asked what he thought of Industry Minister Clement Gignac's proposal to have the government's workplace health and safety board conduct an annual audit on the safe use of Quebec asbestos in countries to which the product is exported, he respectfully declined. For good political reasons, if not good health reasons.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Editorial+Stop+promoting+asbestos+exports/3967827/story.html#ixzz18DwZsTIo

2010.12.10: Le Devoir - Amiante - Un devoir moral
La pression s'accentue pour obtenir des gouvernements canadien et quebecois une interdiction de l'exploitation de l'amiante au Canada. Hier, le depute Amir Khadir deposait un projet de loi en ce sens a l'Assemblee nationale. De son cote, le chef du Nouveau Parti democratique, Jack Layton, demandait au premier ministre Harper d'agir en ce sens. Le silence des deux gouvernements devant les enjeux moraux que pose la poursuite de l'exploitation de ce minerai est de plus en plus troublant.       
http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/sante/312738/amiante-un-devoir-moral             English Version 

2010.12.10: Montreal Gazette - Asbestos community lobbies Quebec for loan guarantee
 Despite a week of setbacks, asbestos advocates are pleading with the Quebec government to approve a loan guarantee before Christmas that would allow the controversial underground mine project in Asbestos to go ahead. On Friday, a coalition of elected officials from the asbestos-producing region announced their support for continued mining and export of the fibre.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Asbestos+community+lobbies+Quebec+loan+guarantee/3960610/story.html#ixzz18IfhtGPd

2010.12.09: Montreal Gazette - Quebec promises to conduct annual safety audit of asbestos exports
 Quebec's industry minister said Thursday he will ask the province's workplace-safety board to conduct an annual audit on the safe use of Quebec asbestos in other countries. The pledge was quickly dismissed as "utopian and hypocritical" by critics. Industry Minister Clement Gignac was responding to a growing chorus of opposition to the planned reopening of the Jeffrey Mine in the town of Asbestos, south of Quebec City.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Quebec+promises+conduct+annual+safety+audit+asbestos+exports/3954544/story.html#ixzz18IgYFha4

2010.12.08: Globe and Mail - Lancet, Asian delegation urge Canada to ban asbestos exports
Quebec is finding itself at the centre of a world debate this week over the production and export of asbestos, with a prestigious medical journal taking on the government and a delegation from Asia arriving to urge support for a ban on the product.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/lancet-asian-delegation-urge-canada-to-ban-asbestos-exports/article1830597/

2010.12.08: CTV.ca News - Journal article slams Canada for asbestos exports
Quebec's controversial asbestos industry is being taken to task in a new article published in the prestigious British medical journal, The Lancet. The article accuses Canada of hypocrisy for imposing a de facto ban on the cancer-causing substance and refusing to expose its own citizens to it, but still exporting it to developing countries.
http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20101209/lancet-asbestos-critique-101209/20101209/?hub=EdmontonHome

2010.12.08: CBC News - Que. asbestos exports should stop: activists
The Jeffrey mine in Asbestos, Que. has been lobbying the provincial government for a $58-million loan guarantee. (CBC)
Anti-asbestos activists from several Asian countries have travelled to Quebec this week to urge the province to get out of the asbestos industry.
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/12/08/asia-asbestos-activists-visit-quebec.html#ixzz17d1lYfWh

2010.12.07: Toronto Star - Victims, activists urge Canada to stop asbestos exports
"I want to ask why Canada, an advanced country, a civilized country, wants to continue to produce this toxic product?" Lee asked through an interpreter. "Why does Canada want to destroy the joy of families?"
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/903341--victims-activists-urge-canada-to-stop-asbestos-exports

2010.12.07: Canadian Mining Journal - Anti-chrysotile crusaders oppose Jeffrey mine redevelopment
The debate concerning the safe use of asbestos is far from over. It has been re-ignited as a group of international investors wants to purchase the Jeffrey mine. Plans call for mining to cease in the pit and move underground. Production will expand from 15,000 to 180,000 t/y in 2012 and eventually to 225,000 tonnes. Accomplishing that will take an $80-million investment and create 500 jobs. The plans are supported by the Asbestos community and those who would like to have those jobs.
http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/issues/story.aspx?aid=1000395512

2010.11.25: Gazette - Asbestos dealer has 'clear conscience'
 A Westmount-based businessman who wants to help finance the expansion of the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos says the international outcry against the project does not bother him.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Asbestos+dealer+clear+conscience/3885311/story.html#ixzz16W6CsPAf

2010.11.14: Winnipege Free Press - Ottawa hopes asbestos mining waste will yield plants and biofuels
MONTREAL - A federal government plan to transform mountains of asbestos mining waste in Quebec into lush greenery could pose a risk to citizens living nearby, according to internal documents. Ottawa is digging into tailings in the heart of Canada's asbestos country to see if they could one day yield plants, and even sprout biofuel crops.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/life/health/ottawa-hopes-asbestos-mining-waste-will-yield-plants-and-biofuels-107896949.html

2010.10.27: La Tribune - La CRE de l'Estrie aura son mot a dire sur l'avenir de l'amiante au Quebec
Mercredi, au cours de la reunion mensuelle de son conseil d'administration, la CRE a en effet accepte de donner son avis sur le sujet, comme le lui demande le ministre du Developpement economique, de l'innovation et de l'exportation.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/la-tribune/economie/201010/27/01-4336744-la-cre-de-lestrie-aura-son-mot-a-dire-sur-lavenir-de-lamiante-au-quebec.php?utm_categorieinterne=trafficdrivers&utm_contenuinterne=envoyer_cbp
                         English Version

2010.10.22: Montreal Gazette - Quebec asbestos mine may have investors: Owner
The owner of Quebec's Jeffrey Mine says he has finally found a willing partner to help finance his proposed underground expansion, a development that could keep Canada in the controversial asbestos export business for decades.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Quebec+asbestos+mine+have+investors+Owner/3714119/story.html#ixzz13Kldzq7O

2010.10.15: Globe and Mail - Exporting death: Another popular Harper foreign policy
What do you call a country that deliberately sells products abroad that will kill many people? You call it Canada. What do you call it when a state action kills a large numbers of defenseless people? You call it a crime against humanity.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/exporting-death-another-popular-harper-foreign-policy/article1759444/ 

2010.10.13: Vancouver Sun - Blame game begins as Canada loses out on UN Security Council seat
The Ottawa-based institute, specializing in foreign and defence policy, attempted to explain the vote debacle: Canadians pride themselves on our global role, but Canada's dismal performance on climate change, foreign aid, peacekeeping, asbestos, reproductive rights and the Middle East, has taken a heavy toll.
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Blame+game+begins+Canada+loses+Security+Council+seat/3662989/story.html#ixzz12FrF97UO

2010.10.13: AM 1150 - The Canadian Press - MONTREAL - Indian consortium makes cash offer to revive rare Canadian asbestos mine
 An Indian consortium has made an offer to buy one of Canada's last remaining asbestos mines and extend its life.
The group made a bid last Thursday to purchase the cash-strapped Jeffrey Mine in the Quebec town of Asbestos.
http://www.am1150.ca/News/National/Article.aspx?id=238918

2010.10.12: La Tribune - Une offre d'achat deposee pour Mine Jeffrey
 (ASBESTOS) Un consortium indien vient de deposer une offre d'achat de la mine de chrysotile d'Asbestos. L'offre a ete presentee jeudi dernier au conseil d'administration de Mine Jeffrey et aux representants de la Cooperative des travailleurs de la min
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/la-tribune/estrie/201010/12/01-4331561-une-offre-dachat-deposee-pour-mine-jeffrey.php?utm_categorieinterne=trafficdrivers&utm_contenuinterne=cyberpresse_B4_en-manchette_375_section_POS2                                 English Version

2010.10.08: La Presse - Amiante: des photos embarrassantes pour une mine quebecoise
Penche au milieu d'un depotoir, un enfant fouille les dechets a mains nues. Derriere lui, des adultes utilisent de grands sacs pour recuperer du plastique, des planches et des morceaux de ciment. Leurs sacs portent le logo de Lab Chrysotile, une mine d'amiante situee a Thetford Mines, au Quebec.

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/international/asie-oceanie/201010/07/01-4330625-amiante-des-photos-embarrassantes-pour-une-mine-quebecoise.php?utm_categorieinterne=trafficdrivers&utm_contenuinterne=cyberpresse_lire_aussi_4330753_article_POS1                                         
English Version
2010.09.30: The Globe and Mail - Tory minister's aide resigns after meddling repeatedly in ATI requests
A cabinet minister's aide resigned late Thursday over his meddling in at least four access-to-information requests, a case that initially spurred the Conservative government earlier this year to declare ministers responsible for the actions of their staff.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ministers-aide-meddled-repeatedly-in-access-to-information-requests/article1735970/

2010.09.08: The Globe and Mail - Government investment in asbestos is morally bankrupt
Quebec has lent Jeffrey Mine Inc. $3.5-million to keep it alive when the asbestos industry should be allowed to die a natural death.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/government-investment-in-asbestos-is-morally-bankrupt/article1699823/ 

2010.09.02: The Star - Quebec offers lifeline to a deadly industry
Thumbing their noses at appeals from the Canadian Cancer Society and Quebec's 9,500 doctors, both the Charest and Harper governments are backing a last-ditch, desperate effort to revive Quebec's deadly asbestos industry.
 http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/855643--quebec-offers-lifeline-to-a-deadly-industry

2010.08.30: CBC News - Asbestos mine gets $3.5M from Que. government
The Quebec government will guarantee a $3.5-million line of credit for one of the country's last asbestos mines. The money will allow the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos, Que., to reopen and resume exports of asbestos - also called chrysotile - for the next month.
 http://license.icopyright.net/user/viewFreeUse.act?fuid=OTcyNzQ1Mw==
 
2010.08.28: The Gazette - Asbestos mining resumes for now
The nearly exhausted Jeffrey Mine in the town of Asbestos will resume operations for the month of September in a last-ditch bid to woo foreign investors to a proposed new underground mine at the site.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Asbestos+mining+resumes/3453561/story.html#ixzz0y9Vj4fqG

2010.08.26: La Nouvelle Union- Deux groupes interesses a devenir partenaire
Mine Jeffrey d'Asbestos reprend le boulot durant tout le mois de septembre, non seulement pour repondre a la demande de clients exclusifs, mais aussi pour montrer les operations a des groupes etrangers interess's a un partenariat en vue du projet d'exploitation de la mine souterraine. Mine Jeffrey peut reprendre ses activites en raison d'une marge de credit garantie par Investissement Quebec. Quelque 250 employes retrouveront ainsi temporairement leur travail. -Des visiteurs etrangers seront de passage en septembre. Nous discuterons d'affaires, mais on veut aussi leur montrer un gros complexe en operation et non pas un complexe ferme-, a indique, jeudi matin, le president de Mine Jeffrey, Bernard Coulombe, en entrevue telephonique avec le www.lanouvelle.net.

 2010.08.24: Le Soleil - LAB Chrysotile forcee d'acheter 80 000 tonnes de minerai d'amia
(Thetford Mines) Incapable depuis la mi-juin d'extraire le minerai au fond du puits de sa mine Lac d'amiante du Canada (LAC) de Thetford Mines, la societe miniere LAB Chrysotile a du se resoudre au cours des dernieres semaines a acheterde la compagnie Mazarin 80 000 tonnes de minerai d'amiante chrysotile extrait mais non traite qui dormaient depuis au moins 13 ans dans les entrepots de l'ancienne mine British Canadian.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/le-soleil/affaires/les-regions/201008/23/01-4309118-lab-chrysotile-forcee-dacheter-80-000-tonnes-de-minerai-damiante.php       

2010.08.04: Serbrooker Record - Jeffrey mine faces permanent shutdown 
The Jeffrey asbestos mine faces permanent shutdown later this month if financing by the Quebec government is not granted, says mine owner Bernard Coulombe.
http://www.sherbrookerecord.com/content/view/490843/1/

10-07-23: The Gazette - Investigation slams asbestos industry
 The fight to keep a controversial mineral flowing out of the Quebec town that bears its name has been dealt a major blow at the hands of one of the world's largest media organizations.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Investigation+slams+asbestos+industry/3307407/story.html#ixzz0upOZdPBk

10-07-21: The Vancouver Sun - Lobbyists push use of deadly asbestos in developing nations
 A global network of lobby groups has spent nearly $100 million since the mid-1980s to preserve the international market for asbestos, a known carcinogen that's taken millions of lives and is banned or restricted in 52 countries, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has found in a nine-month investigation.
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Lobbyists+push+deadly+asbestos+developing+nations/3306405/story.html#ixzz0upNf5wHJ
        
10-07-21: The Vancouver Sun - India's expanding use of asbestos brings dire warnings
 Every day, the swirling waters of the Arabian Sea bring misery to Alang, the world's largest shipbreaking yard, in western India's Gujarat state.
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/India+expanding+asbestos+brings+dire+warnings/3306427/story.html#ixzz0upO164De

2010.07.20: Edmonton Journal - Tax support of asbestos industry a disgrace
 For a few votes... The federal government is taking money away from women's groups such as KAIROS, a humanitarian NGO backed by churches who worked with Palestinians, and International Planned Parenthood, a group who hasn't heard for over a year if they will have renewed funding, to funnel a quarter of a million of our tax dollars toward the asbestos lobby.
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/support+asbestos+industry+disgrace/3298205/story.html#ixzz0uFh59Imc

2010.07.15: The Province - If asbestos is so dangerous, why do we export it?
 Why does Canada apply strict measures domestically to protect the health of Canadians handling asbestos and yet exports asbestos to developing countries such as India, where the capacity to implement and monitor the application of similar precautionary measures is inadequate?
http://www.theprovince.com/business/asbestos+dangerous+export/3280544/story.html#ixzz0tr3IuP1Z

2010-07-14: Tax support of asbestos industry means we all share the blame - PM continues to boost market for deadly product overseas
 A recent opinion article in the Journal condemns the "absence of a collective conscience," noting that "the stench of immorality clings to everyone who participates in the asbestos industry."
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/support+asbestos+industry+means+share+blame/3275093/story.html#ixzz0tfYXdMEV

2010.07.13: Cyberpress - L'amiante tue
 Il est pathetique de voir le premier ministre Charest faire la promotion de ce produit cancerogene a l'etranger, d'entendre des ministres repeter mot pour mot l'argumentaire de l'Institut du chrysotile, de voir le ministre Bolduc s'eriger seul contre a peu pres tous ses confreres medecins.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/place-publique/editorialistes/francois-cardinal/201007/13/01-4297726-lamiante-tue.php?utm_categorieinterne=trafficdrivers&utm_contenuinterne=cyberpresse_BO40_editoriaux_199_accueil_POS1

2010.07.08: Ottawa Citizen - A bad business
Normally it's ill-advised to disparage an entire community, but it's hard not to feel that the whole town of Asbestos, Que., is guilty of shaming Canada.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/3248983/story.html#ixzz0uE9ywiEW

10-07-10: Le Soleil - Le lobby antiamiante maintient la pressio
(Quebec) Une nouvelle ronde de pression s'exerce sur les alus de l'Assemblee nationale pour interdire l'extraction, l'utilisation et l'exportation de l'amiante.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/le-soleil/affaires/actualite-economique/201007/16/01-4299054-le-lobby-antiamiante-maintient-la-pression.php

2010.07.05: The Chonicle Herald - Canada and asbestos: Exporting death
 But evidently, there are safe levels of chrysotile asbestos, the Quebec miners are mining it safely, or they wouldn't be allowed near it, so perhaps Health ... The politics behind continued production - entirely in Quebec - and export of asbestos is killing people.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Editorial/1190519.html
 
2010.07.05: Ottawa Citizen - Canada pressed to stop supporting asbestos mines
 lthough asbestos has been banned in 52 countries, annual world production is still more than two million metric tonnes, exposing an estimated 125 million people worldwide to asbestos at work, the researchers said Thursday in the journal Environmental Health http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Canada+pressed+stop+supporting+asbestos+mines/3225545/story.html#ixzz0tYM04wJk

2010.07.02: The Montreal Gazette - Groups slam asbestos mine
 As construction workers protested in front of Canada House in London yesterday, three health organizations added their weight to calls for Quebec to stop exporting chrysotile asbestos to developing countries
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Groups+slam+asbestos+mine/3226195/story.html#ixzz0tYMHJAmK

2010.07.02: Le Devoir - Amiante et sante publique - Une difficile equation
 Le gouvernement quebecois se prepare a apporter, sous forme d'une garantie de pret de 58 millions de dollars, son soutien a la reprise des activites de la mine d'amiante Jeffrey a Asbestos.
http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/291815/amiante-et-sante-publique-une-difficile-equation
 
2010.07.01: The Globe and Mail - Researchers ask Canada to ban asbestos
 An international group of researchers is renewing its call for a global ban on the mining and use of asbestos, a known cause of cancer they say is unsafe in any form.
http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/291815/amiante-et-sante-publique-une-difficile-equation

2010.06.30: CBC TV - Don't revive asbestos mine: cancer society. Quebec government considering investment in dying Jeffrey mine
Canadian Tax Payers fork out $58 million subsidy to increase Canadian exports of asbestos to the developing world.
http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/TV%20Shows/The%20National/ID=1533277215

2010.06.29: Edmonton Journal - Cancer society urges Quebec not to resuscitate ailing asbestos industry
 The Canadian Cancer Society on Tuesday urged Quebec Premier Jean Charest not to breathe new life into one of the country's last remaining asbestos mines.
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/Cancer+society+urges+Quebec+resuscitate+ailing+asbestos+industry/3216581/story.html

2010.06.29: CTV News - Don't revive dying asbestos industry: Cancer society
 MONTREAL - The Canadian Cancer Society is urging the Quebec government not to revive one of the country's last-remaining asbestos mines.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Health/20100629/quebec-asbestos-industry-100629/

10.06.27: The Tyee - Asbestos: Quebec Labour's Shame
Why are that province's union leaders defending this killer export by Canada?

2010.06.24: Montreal Gazette - Australian reality show puts Asbestos, Qc. back on the map
 An Australian reality show that challenged marketers to come up with a tourism pitch for a little Quebec town with an unfortunate name (Asbestos) was intended to be funny.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Australian+reality+show+puts+Asbestos+back/3196895/story.html#ixzz0s4C59GSE

2010.06.14: Winnipeg Free Press - Quebec breathing new life into one of Canada's last remaining asbestos mines
The province is close to backing a loan of $58 million to reopen a mine in the town of Asbestos, a cash injection that could keep it operating for the next 25 years.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/quebec-government-to-breathe-new-life-into-canadas-dying-asbestos-industry-96310999.html

2010.06.13: CBC - Les travailleurs acceptent l'offre patronale
Les travailleurs de la mine Jeffrey, a Asbestos, ont accepte dimanche la proposition deposee par leur employeur pour renouveler la convention collective pour une periode de cinq ans.
http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/estrie/2010/06/13/001-mine-jeffrey-vote.shtml 

2010.06.13 La presse affaires - Mine Jeffrey: les travailleurs votent en faveur de l'offre patronale
Une premiere etape a ete franchie dimanche pour la reouverture de la mine d'amiante Jeffrey, a Absestos, puisque les travailleurs se sont prononces en faveur de la derniere offre patronale.
http://lapresseaffaires.cyberpresse.ca/economie/201006/13/01-4289548-mine-jeffrey-les-travailleurs-votent-en-faveur-de-loffre-patronale.php

2010.06.13: CTV News - Asbestos miner banking on government loan to survive
After 131 years of boom times, followed by a gradual decline and mounting international criticism that the product it�s exporting is lethal and should be outlawed, Jeffrey Mine Inc. is closing in on a last-minute reprieve in its fight to stay alive.
http://www.ctv.ca/generic/generated/static/business/article1602716.html

2010.06.12: The Gazette - Asbestos industry in for boost
Union set to vote. Province appears poised to okay loan guarantee
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Asbestos+industry+boost/3145594/story.html

2010.06.08: The Star - Furious at PM's asbestos support
It makes me ashamed to be a Canadian to learn that my PM continues to support the Quebec asbestos industry by preventing asbestos from being listed by the United Nations as the hazardous substance health experts know it is.
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters/article/820290--furious-at-pm-s-asbestos-support

2010.06.06: The Star - Deathbed reprieve for killer industry?
The battle to end Canada's export of deadly asbestos may be about to be lost.
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/819432--deathbed-reprieve-for-killer-industry

201.05.16: Times Colonist - Anti-tobacco activist takes on Canadian asbestos industry
Ask Fernand Turcotte, a veteran of the tobacco wars, whether he thinks his side's latest salvo against another deadly industry will be successful, and there is a long sigh on the other end of the phone line.
http://www.timescolonist.com/health/Anti+tobacco+activist+takes+Canadian+asbestos+industry/3034801/story.html#ixzz0oCBjsELB

10-05-15: The Gazette - Asbestos: silky, strong - deadly
Turcotte, an occupational health expert and retired professor of public health and preventive medicine at Universit Laval, is at the forefront of an escalating battle over chrysotile asbestos, with most of the country's medical and scientific community lining up on one side, and the asbestos industry and most federal and provincial politicians on the other.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Asbestos+silky+strong+deadly/3031124/story.html#ixzz0o9JB2zsx

10-05-15: The Gazette - Chrysotile Institute champions asbestos - by any other name
A major player in the asbestos story is the Chrysotile Institute - which until 2004 was known as the Asbestos Institute - a non-profit organization set up in 1984 by the Quebec and federal governments to promote the safe use of chrysotile asbestos around the world.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Chrysotile+Institute+champions+asbestos+other+name/3031134/story.html#ixzz0o9IgcCHx

2010.05.14: The Ottawa Citizen - The town that refuses to die
 This small Quebec town is still counting on a mineral that is now a global pariah, reports Catherine Solyom.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/town+that+refuses/3025513/story.html

2010.05.12: Radio-Canada - Manifestation contre l'amiante
Une centaine de personnes ont manifeste mercredi midi sur la colline du Parlement, a Ottawa, pour demander aux gouvernements federal et quebecois de mettre fin a la production et a l'exportation d'amiante.
http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/ottawa/2010/05/12/004-manif_amiante_Ottawa.shtml

2010.05.12: La Tribune - Front commun contre l'amiante a Ottawa
Des professionnels de la sante ainsi que des elus pressent Ottawa d'interdire l'amiante chrysotile avec une conference de presse organisee ce matin sur la colline parlementaire.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/la-tribune/estrie/201005/12/01-4279766-front-commun-contre-lamiante-a-ottawa.php

2010.05.11: The Globe and Mail - Canada pegged to lead world away from asbestos
If Canada stops selling it, other countries will take note and take action, activist says
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canada-pegged-to-lead-world-away-from-asbestos/article1564381/ 

2010-05-07: The Gazette - Asbestos: Town at a crossroads
“If I believed what I hear on television every night, I’d have to pinch myself to make sure I am still alive,” Lortie says.

10-04-29: CBC News - Quebec town seeks to expand asbestos mining 
A group of business co-operatives has raised $2 million to expand mining operations in the Quebec town that is home to the last two asbestos mines in Canada. The money will go toward a $190-million plan to reopen an underground portion of the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos, Que., allowing operations to continue there year-round.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/04/29/mtl-asbestos-expansion.html

2010.04.09: Montreal Gazette - Letter to Quebec premier calls for halt on asbestos exports
A group of more than 100 international scientists and experts have put their weight behind a letter to Quebec Premier Jean Charest that calls for an end to the province's asbestos exports to the developing world.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Letter+Quebec+premier+calls+halt+asbestos+exports/2784707/story.html#ixzz0lETrP3bK

2010.04.09: CBC TV - Mining Town Severely Contaminated
2:25 Min

2010.03.23: CBC TV - New lobby group tries to keep asbestos industry alive
Quebec organization bucks international calls to ban carcinogenic material. The Canadian government has been under pressure domestically and internationally to shut down the country's only remaining asbestos mines, both located in Thetford Mines, Que.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/03/23/mtl-abestos-partners-defend.html

2010.03.23: The Gazette - Lobby group dodges bid to cut funding, Asbestos cartel are corporate thugs, MP says
A parliamentary committee rejected a motion to cut federal funding for a pro-asbestos lobby group from the 2010 budget Tuesday, but a Liberal member of that committee said his party remains concerned about Canadas asbestos industry.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Lobby+group+dodges+funding/2718190/story.html#ixzz0jWDkzuve

2010.03.19: Montreal Gazette - Lobby group takes flak over federal funds
New Democratic Party filibustered a budget estimates committee in an attempt to stop taxpayer funding for the Chrysotile Institute.
"The asbestos lobby is the tobacco lobby's evil twin, and taxpayers are funding this group to lobby the government so they will keep on exporting this dangerous substance,"
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Lobby+group+takes+flak+over+federal+funds/2699662/story.html

2010.03.19: Standard Freeholder - Exporting of asbestos called into question
Martin -- a longtime critic of Canada's asbestos industry, which he called a "corporate serial killer" -- took Paradis to task Thursday at the natural resources committee meeting for continuing to support the industry.
http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2498380

2010.03.18: Winnipeg Free Press - Feds should cut asbestos advocacy funding: NDP MP
A New Democrat MP has challenged the federal government to cut its budget funding for the Chrysotile Institute, a Quebec-based advocacy group for the asbestos industry.
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Feds+should+asbestos+funding/2698741/story.html

2010.03.18: Parliamentary Bureau - Paradis, NDPer duke it out over asbestos     
OTTAWA Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis and the NDPs Pat Martin verbally duked it out Thursday over asbestos.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2010/03/18/13281786-qmi.html

2010.03.18: Vancouver Sun - Exporting Death
Nurturing an industry producing asbestos for export does not fit Canada's image as a responsible international player. But that's not interfering with the Harper Government's support for a promotional agency known as the Chrysotile Institute.
http://communities.canada.com/VANCOUVERSUN/blogs/powerplay/archive/2010/03/18/exporting-death.aspx?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+canwest/F229+(Vancouver+Sun+-+News)


2010.03.13: The Globe and Mail - Dying for a living
In Sarnia, Ont., former workers with chemicals and asbestos are enduring a slow-motion Bhopal. People are afflicted with rare cancers at a rate nearly 35 per cent higher than the provincial average. It may be the worst outbreak of industrial disease in recent Canadian history
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/dying-for-a-living/article789982/ 

2010.02.24: LaTribune - Chrysotile: Marc Garneau raffirme la position de son chef
Marc Garneau, Ignatieff's new Quebec lieutenant, went to the town of Asbestos on February 23 and met with the asbestos industry lobby and told them face to face that this is the Liberal Party's position. The industry seems now to have accepted that they have lost the support of the federal Liberal Party and that this will not change.

2010.02.17: Globe and Mail - Quebec Liberals rebuff effort to probe asbestos exports
Opposition wanted committee to examine effects of selling cancer-linked substance to developing world
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-liberals-rebuff-effort-to-probe-asbestos-exports/article1471837/#

2010.02.17: 
Winnipeg Free Press -
 Liberals shoot down opposition request to explore risks of exporting asbestos 
QUEBEC - The Quebec government has shot down an opposition effort to examine the dangers of exporting asbestos to the developing world.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/liberals-shoot-down-opposition-request-to-explore-risks-of-exporting-asbestos-84638257.html
 
2010.02.17: Radio-Canada - Politique, Exportation d'amiante; Les libraux refusent de dbattre
Translation: I don't think that the government, in its closed mind position, is rendering service to Quebec or to the industry. In fact, by this kind of denials of the reality, what they are doing is create the perception in those countries where we export this product, that we have something to hide, thatn we have something that we don't use here, but that we send them our toxic products. Khadir
(Je ne pense pas que le gouvernement, dans sa position de fermeture, rend service au Qubec puis l'industrie. En fait, par cette espce de dni de la ralit, ce qu'on contribue faire, c'est enraciner la perception, l o on exporte ce produit, qu'on a quelque chose cacher, qu'on a quelque chose qu'on n'utilise pas ici, puis qu'on leur envoie notre toxique.)  Amir Khadir
http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/Politique/2010/02/17/003-amiante-motion-refusee.shtml

2010.02.17:La Presse - Les libraux refusent de dbattre sur l'amiante
Les libéraux se sont objectés au dépôt d'une motion du député Amir Khadir proposant de confier ce mandat à une commission parlementaire.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/politique-quebecoise/201002/17/01-952696-les-liberaux-refusent-de-debattre-sur-lamiante.php

2010.02.17: Le Soleil - Khadir veut un dbat sur l'amiante
(Qubec) Aprs avoir bris le consensus politique autour de l'amiante au Qubec, Amir Khadir aimerait forcer l'Assemble nationale tenir un vrai dbat sur ce minerai controvers.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/le-soleil/actualites/politique/201002/16/01-950417-khadir-veut-un-debat-sur-lamiante.php

2010.02.17: La Presse - Amiante chrysotile: des propos accablants pour le Canada
In light of the explosion of asbestos-related deaths, Mexico should not only ban the import of chrysotile asbestos from Canada. It should also require the asbestos industry to cover the resulting costs of health care, concludes a report by a team of six researchers in public health. (En raison de l'explosion des morts lies l'amiante, le Mexique doit non seulement bannir l'importation de chrysotile du Canada, il doit aussi refiler le cot des soins de sant l'industrie, conclut une quipe de six chercheurs de sant publique.)

2010.02.17: Canadian Medical Association Journal - Quebec stands firm on asbestos exports despite growing controversy
Quebec Premier Jean Charest is refusing to stop exporting chrysotile asbestos, despite a growing international outcry accusing Canada of hypocrisy in promoting the sale of a known carcinogen.
http://www.cmaj.ca/earlyreleases/17feb10-quebec-stands-firm-on-asbestos-exports.dtl

2010.02.12: Radio Canada - Charest accus de travestir la vrit (Radio/TV)
Aux yeux d'une dizaine de scientifiques canadiens, cette position tmoigne d'un grave manquement d'thique. Dans une lettre adresse Jean Charest, ils l'accusent de tenir des propos errons sur les dangers potentiels que pose ce minerai pour les travailleurs et prcisent que l'OMS demande plutt de mettre fin l'utilisation de l'amiante.
http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/societe/2010/02/12/002-amiante-scientifiques.shtml

2010.02.12: La Press - Quand c'est notre cochonnerie
L'intervention surprise des travailleurs indiens qui ont dnonc l'amiante qubcois, la semaine dernire, lors de la visite du premier ministre Jean Charest en Inde, n'est pas un simple incident de parcours. Cet incident risque de faire plus mal au Qubec qu'on l'imagine.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/opinions/chroniqueurs/alain-dubuc/201002/12/01-948888-quand-cest-notre-cochonnerie.php

2010.02.12: Globe and Mail - Controversy brews over asbestos deaths in Mexico
The death toll from mesothelioma, a rare cancer almost always caused by asbestos exposure, is rising rapidly in Mexico, a major market for Canada's exports of the mineral, and could be as high as 500 a year.


10.02.12: T
he Gazette - 
On hot seat over asbestos
Physicians attack Premier; Damning report rebuts his contention mineral can have benign uses

2010.02.11: 
McGill Daily - 
Charest questioned in India for asbestos sales, 
Scientists slam province for hazardous exports
The majority of all asbestos produced in Quebec is exported to developing nations, where regulations on their usage are generally absent. Its sad to see workers in developing countries dying of preventable disease, said Reinstein. People in developing nations need money desperately, corporations take advantage of this, and workers end up working with asbestos in compromising conditions with no protection. 
The exposure level for people overseas is 10 times higher than the level permitted by...other Western industrialized countries. The Canadian government is seeking thus to protect Quebec workers from asbestos harm. 

2010.02.10: La Tribune - Mine Jeffrey: Qubec confirme qu'une analyse de l'aspect financier est en cours 
Le gouvernement du Qubec est actuellement analyser le financement du projet de mise en exploitation de la mine souterraine d'amiante chrysotile d'Asbestos, mais refuse d'en dire davantage.

2010.02.08: The Toronto Star - Asbestos worries dog Charest 
NEW DELHIControversy over asbestos exports continued to dog Quebec Premier Jean Charest right up to the very last day of a trade mission to India.

2010.02.05: Winnipeg Free Press - Charest faces more questions about export of asbestos during visit to India
Premier Jean Charest maintains he can do nothing to protect workers in India who are exposed to the health risks of asbestos that's mined from Quebec.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/83652822.html

2010.02.05: La Presse - Amiante: les travailleurs indiens critiquent Charest
le 05 fvrier 2010
(Delhi) Les syndicats de travailleurs indiens dans le secteur de la construction ont hauss le ton hier et somm le gouvernement Charest de mettre fin l'hypocrisie en mettant fin aux exportations d'amiante dans les pays pauvres.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/environnement/201002/05/01-946649-amiante-les-travailleurs-indiens-critiquent-charest.php
 
2010.02.04: Globe and Mail - Playing a dirty game: exporting asbestos
The federal government promotes asbestos exports despite the fact that the use of asbestos has all but disappeared in this country. Why? Because scientists, governments, industries and unions have concluded that the product can lead to a variety of health-related problems and, in some cases, to death.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/playing-a-dirty-game-exporting-asbestos/article1456630/
 
2010.02.04: Globe and Mail - Quebec physicians urge Charest to call for end to silence on asbestos
Doctors claim Indian scientists being threatened with legal action for disseminating information on the dangers of chrysotile asbestos
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-physicians-urge-charest-to-call-for-end-to-silence-on-asbestos/article1456997/
 
2010.02.03: Montreal Gazette - Protesters Dog Charest
Charest's response was to say it is up to the Indian government to pass laws to protect workers handling asbestos, or chrysotile, the term now preferred in ...
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Protesters+Charest/2515164/story.html

2010-02-03: La Tribune - A fatwa against asbestos?
Of note these past few days: a sizeable increase in interventions some of them virulent against the production and exportation of Quebec chrysotile asbestos. We believe that this dirty war against Quebec and its chrysotile industry is orchestrated and guided by a handful of intellectuals in search of recognition.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/la-tribune/opinions/201002/03/01-945847-une-fatwa-contre-lamiante.php

2010-02-02: Le Soleil Abestos export: Khadir breaks the consensus
The political consensus surrounding the Quebec asbestos trade is not as solid as it once was. Qubec solidaire MP, Amir Khadir, wants nothing to do with it.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/le-soleil/actualites/politique/201002/01/01-945289-exportation-damiante-khadir-brise-le-consensus.php

2010-02-02: La Presse Asbestos catches up to Jean Charest
Nearly all asbestos mined in Canada is exported to developing countries where it is transformed into asbestos-cement. The WHO identifies the material as carcinogenic and recommends an end to its use in construction where it threatens the lives of thousands of workers.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/environnement/201002/01/01-945323-lamiante-rattrape-jean-charest.php

2010-02-02: La Presse Ashamed and indefensible
If a pharmacist had proof that an over-the-counter drug was killing or sickening many people, could she continue to sell it?
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/opinions/chroniqueurs/rima-elkouri/201002/02/01-945330-honteux-et-indefendable.php

2010-02-02: Epoch Times Canada Must Stop Exporting Banned Asbestos, Urge Scientists
The controversy surrounding Quebecs asbestos industry has moved up a notch with Premier Jean Charests trade mission to India, one of the biggest importers of Canadian asbestos.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/29011/

2010-02-01: Radio-Canada The asbestos issue rears its head
Jean Charest maintains that it is up to the Indian government to protect its laborers working with chrysotile asbestos produced in Quebec.
http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/Economie/2010/02/01/006-charest_inde_amiante.shtml

2010.02.01: CBC News - World - Indian workers rebuke Quebec over asbestos 
It's hypocritical for Quebec to ban the use of chrysotile asbestos at home, while selling it to countries in the developing world, said activist Gobal
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/02/01/india-criticizes-quebec-for-producing-asbestos.htm

2010.01.30: THE GAZETTE - Scientists, MDs, labour groups sound the alarm  
Many developed countries around the world, including the EU, have banned asbestos use, but we continue to promote its use abroad.

2010.01.30: THE GAZETTE: Asbestos: A pile of trouble
Forecasters were calling for snow this week in Thetford Mines. But for the first winter in recent memory, the town is not spreading asbestos-laden mine residue on the roads as an abrasive.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Asbestos+pile+trouble/2503075/story.html

2010.01.29: The Gazette - Quebec accused of hypocrisy on asbestos exports
More than 100 prominent scientists and researchers from 28 countries appealed yesterday to Premier Jean Charest on the eve of his trade mission to India to stop exporting Quebec-mined asbestos to developing nations.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Quebec+accused+hypocrisy+asbestos+exports/2496940/story.html

2010.01.29: CBC News - Charest may face asbestos protests in India
Quebec Premier Jean Charest will face protests over the provinces continued exportation of asbestos when he arrives in India on Sunday, according to a Montreal newspaper report.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/01/29/qc-charest-protests-india-asbestos.html

2010.01.29: Globe and Mail - Charest told to ban asbestos exports
Scientists from 28 countries are calling on Jean Charest to ban the use and export of all forms of asbestos, placing the Quebec Premier in an embarrassing position on the eve of his trade mission to India, the province's biggest importer of asbestos.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/charest-told-to-ban-asbestos-exports/article1448541/

2010-01-29: Le Soleil Stop exporting asbestos and supporting the industrie
To the premier of Quebec, Jean Charest As scientific experts of twenty-eight countries, sworn to the protection of public health, we ask that you recognize the incontestable scientific proof that all forms of asbestos are dangerous, as well as the WHO judgment that there is no secure means of using asbestos. http://www.cyberpresse.ca/le-soleil/opinions/points-de-vue/201001/29/01-944212-arretez-dexporter-lamiante-et-de-soutenir-lindustrie.php

2010.01.28: CTV news - Scientists implore Charest to stop asbestos exports
The 100 or so scientists say the province needs to stop mining asbestos -- also called chrysotile -- and stop sending it abroad.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100128/quebec_asbestos_100128/20100128?hub=Canada

2009.12.27: Meet Quebec's 'Mr. Asbestos'
Bernard Coulombe has big plans for a mineral shunned here but valued in the developing world
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/742991--meet-quebec-s-mr-asbestos

2009.12.27: Canada's lethal export
If Canadians think that exporting asbestos is a marginal, dying business, they ought to think again. Canada ships $100 million worth of chrysotile asbestos a year to developing nations such as India, Indonesia and Vietnam, where it is used to make cheap, fire-resistant roofing, cement, water lines and other products. We are one of the world's most aggressive exporters.
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/742677--canada-s-lethal-export

2009.12.15: Canada's booming asbestos market
The cancer-causing mineral is prized in India, even as it is reviled here. Jennifer Wells investigates the demand for a product we shun – but still mine
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/india/article/741085--canada-s-booming-asbestos-market

2009.12.15: Climate-change skeptics gain from Ottawa funding
The federal government has been funding an asbestos lobby group that promotes the work of prominent climate-change skeptics.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/12/15/asbestos-climate-change.html

2009.12.10: Canadian exports on rise again
For the first time in four months, Canada notched a surplus in October, netting $428-million thanks to high commodities prices and an unexpected run on canola oil. The biggest increases have been in aircraft and asbestos.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/canadian-exports-on-rise-again/article1396239/

2009.12.02: Quebec government holding onto health report into link between asbestos and cancer
For eight months, the Quebec government has been holding on to a report that explores the link between asbestos-related cancer and Canada's only community that still mines the substance.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gyb3_nLxBq5u9GktW-ZtVkzH9wJw

2009.12.02: Quebec health officials denounce asbestos
Public health officials in Quebec have added their voices to those calling on the Canadian government to end its support for the mining and use of asbestos.
The group has sent a letter to federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq criticizing the government for its support of the mineral that has been banned in many countries as a health hazard.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/12/02/quebec-officials-criticize-asbestos.html

2009.12.01: Quebec health officials speak out against asbestos
Critics send letter to federal Health Minister demanding action but risk backlash in province that mines the deadly mineral
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-health-officials-speak-out-against-asbestos/article1385045/

2009.12.01:  Quebec health experts are “a little gang of Talibans”, accuses Quebec’s asbestos industry
Medical experts working for the Quebec government’s National Public Health Institute (INSPQ) are “a little gang of Talibans”, charges Bernard Coulombe, president of the Jeffrey asbestos mine.
http://www.rightoncanada.ca/?p=395

2009.10.08: Asbestos killing more Canadians than ever; like old 'landmines'
An aggressive cancer linked to asbestos is killing more Canadians than ever before, even decades after the end of a boom that saw buildings stuffed with the toxic substance. The number of reported new cases annually of mesothelioma shot up 67 per cent over a decade and a half from 276 across the country to 461 according to the most recent federal figures.
http://www.rdmag.com/News/FeedsAP/2009/11/life-sciences-asbestos-killing-more-canadians-than-ever-like-ol/

2009.10.23: Two interesting articles in Quebec's Le Soleil newspaper on Oct. 24
The 1st article quotes figures from Quebec's CSST (Workers Compensation Commission) for the period Jan 1 - Aug 9, 2009, showing that of the 104 deaths from disease, road accidents or any cause, 61 were due to asbestos. For deaths from occupational disease, 84% were from asbestos (61 of the 73 deaths).

It is significant that the article quotes a prominent Quebec union leader highlighting the threat that asbestos continues to pose to Quebec workers and angry at the failure of the Quebec government to take action to protect workers from asbestos harm.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/le-soleil/affaires/actualite-economique/200910/23/01-914577-lamiante-premiere-cause-de-deces-au-travail.php
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/le-soleil/affaires/actualite-economique/200910/23/01-914575-amiante-portrait-noirci-plaide-lindustrie.php

2009.10.03: Asbestos opponents at Harper’s door, Le Soleil, Nov. 3, 2009
A large coalition of environmentalists, health experts & trade unionists, principally from English Canada, are asking Stepen Harter to establish a national registry of all buildings and places contaminated with asbestos. The letter is signed by Larry Stoffman in the name of the ban asbestos committee and is endorsed by groups such as the Sierra Club, Canadian Association of University Teachers, the Canadian Auto Workers, the Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Quebec association of asbestos victims.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/le-soleil/actualites/environnement/200911/03/01-918045-les-opposants-a-lamiante-aux-portes-de-harper.php

2009.08.28: Whatever you call it, asbestos is deadly
We do this knowing the World Health Organization has condemned the use of chrysotile asbestos, the most commonly used type of asbestos...
http://www2.canada.com/montrealgazette/features/viewpoints/story.html?id=bf70624a-4270-428e-af6c-c46622a16ef5

2009.09.21: L'amiante menace la population, estiment les experts
L'histoire des planchers d'école contenant de l'amiante confirme que cette substance cancérogène est une menace non seulement pour les travailleurs de l'industrie, mais pour l'ensemble de la population, estime Fernand Turcotte, professeur émérite de médecine à l'Université Laval.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/environnement/200909/21/01-903799-lamiante-menace-la-population-estiment-les-experts.php

2009.09.21: De l'amiante se libère des planchers des écoles
Les planchers d'un bon nombre d'écoles du Québec contiennent de l'amiante. Or une étude menée par la CSST révèle que les techniques de nettoyage libèrent des fibres de cette «matière dangereuse» dans l'air de ces établissements, a appris La Presse.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/environnement/200909/21/01-903788-de-lamiante-se-libere-des-planchers-des-ecoles.php

2009.08.11: Le cancer provoqué par l'amiante fait de plus en plus de victimes au Canada
Canadian Press: Le nombre de nouveaux cas de mésothéliome rapportés annuellement a grimpé de 67 pour cent depuis une quinzaine d'années, étant passés de 276 à 461 à travers le pays, selon les plus récentes statistiques fédérales.
http://www.google.com:80/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hME46YVEQpItBMraYqvrhnl7vCTw

2009.08.11: Asbestos killing more Canadians than ever; like old 'landmines' 
Associated Press: An aggressive cancer linked to asbestos is killing more Canadians than ever before, even decades after the end of a boom that saw buildings stuffed with the toxic substance. Experts warn that the upward trend will continue for years as Canada feels the residual impact of its asbestos boom, and will likely be far worse in developing countries that still heavily use Canadian exports.

http://www.rdmag.com:80/News/FeedsAP/2009/11/life-sciences-asbestos-killing-more-canadians-than-ever-like-ol/

2009.06.11: Asbestos leading cause of work related deaths in Quebec
Ottawa Citizen: 60% of Quebec work related deaths in the first eight months of this year are from asbestos
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Quebec+Asbestos+leading+cause+work+related+deaths/2190423/story.html


2009.10.26: Dangers Of Quebec Exporting Asbestos Ignored By Ottawa.
Winnipeg Free Press: It was a tragic week on Parliament Hill. A 50-year-old father and grandfather died following an explosion in a steam plant that heats 52 buildings in downtown Ottawa, including the Parliament Buildings. It is yet another reminder of the dangers of asbestos, which has been mined in Canada for decades but has become an international pariah because of the dangers it poses. Dozens of countries have banned its use but Canada continues to mine and export asbestos from one remaining mine in Quebec.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/dangers-of-asbestos-ignored-by-ottawa-65967742.html

2009.10.24: L'amiante, Première Cause De Décès Au Travail 
Le Soleil, Quebec: L'amiante représente de loin la principale cause de mortalité au travail pour le Québec. Durant les huit premiers mois de 2009, l'exposition à ce minerai a causé 60 % de tous les décès de travailleurs, actifs ou retraités 
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/le-soleil/affaires/actualite-economique/200910/23/01-914577-lamiante-premiere-cause-de-deces-au-travail.php 

2009.10.17: A Deadly Industry That Is About To Die
Ottawa Citizen: Prime Minister Stephen Harper is the last remaining national leader supporting this dying and deadly trade. It’s time he, like Ignatieff and two of Harper’s own backbenchers, recognized what both ethics and economics are showing: it’s time that he stopped supporting asbestos.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/deadly+industry 


2009.09.29: Canada's Shameful Secret
Even today with the health hazards of asbestos well documented, Canada remains the fifth largest exporter of the mineral fiber in the world. In a tough-minded editorial, The Montreal Gazette newspaper chastises the government for supporting the export of a material known to cause cancer and for subsidizing the Canadian mines that produce it.” 
http://www.aboutmesothelioma.net/2009/09/canadas-shameful-secret.asp


2009.09.29: Whatever You Call It, Asbestos Is Deadly
The Montreal Gazette: Quebec is the last place in Canada to mine asbestos, a known carcinogenic substance. The miners who used to work extracting the needle-like fibre might be coughing up blood and dying by the dozens, but Ottawa and Quebec City continue to promote the sale of asbestos.
http://www2.canada.com/montrealgazette/features/viewpoints/story.html?id=bf70624a-4270-428e-af6c-c46622a16ef5

2009.09.16: Asbestos: Canada Mocking Human Rights 
La Presse: A world scientific expert on asbestos, affiliated with the International Centre for Research on Cancer, believes that Canada is mocking its human rights policy by exporting this cancer-causing substance to the third world.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca:80/actualites/200909/16/01-902229-amiante-le-canada-bafouerait-les-droits-de-la-personne.php

2009.09.16: NDP Private Member's Bill Would Ban Asbestos Mining And Sales
The Observer, Sarnia: Nathan Cullen, the NDP MP from British Columbia introduced a private member’s bill C-399 earlier this year that would put an end to the mining and selling of Canadian asbestos. It’s a move that was endorsed recently by the Canadian Medical Association.In August, Conservative Sarnia-Lambton MP Pat Davidson told The Observer, “I’m definitely not supporting the mining or exporting of asbestos.” 

2009.09.15: Amiante: des pressions pour mettre fin à l'exportation (Asbestos: Pressure to End Its exportation 
La Presse, Montreal: The industry has been telling untruths about chrysotile asbestos for years. Only people paid by the industry defend it. The governments of Canada & Quebec, in full knowledge that chrysotile asbestos is a hazardous carcinogen, still continue to promote its sale which equates to criminal negligence. A study by the Univ. of Montreal Faculty of Medicine shows continuing failure to protect construction workers from asbestos harm.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/environnement/200909/15/01-901810-amiante-des-pressions-pour-mettre-fin-a-lexportation.php

2009.09.15: L'opposition à l'amiante prend de l'ampleur (Growing Opoosition to Asbestos)
La Presse, Montreal: Like the tainted blood scandal, this Canadian mining and export of asbestos is coming under growing national – even from the Liberals – and international pressure.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/environnement/200909/14/01-901779-lopposition-a-lamiante-prend-de-lampleur.php

2009.02.09: Liberals slam Davidson over asbestos stand
The Observer, Sarnia: The refusal by Sarnia-Lambton’s MP to clarify her position on Canada’s controversial asbestos exports is appalling, a prominent Liberal says. Liberal Fugard was responding to Davidson’s repeated dodging of questions from The Observer this past week, asking her to clarify her stance on asbestos exports.
http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1727091

2009.09: Special Report: International. Asbestos production increases despite WHO opposition
The Lancet: Production levels of asbestos are not declining; and have stabilised at roughly 2·2 million metric tonnes a year, around the same level they stood at in 1960. Canada was formerly the world’s leading producer of chrysotile; and its continuing support for the industry has raised concern.
http://www.mdconsult.com/das/article/body/162734181-2/jorg=journal&source=&sp=N&sid=0/N/710999/1.html?issn=

2009.08.31: Take a position, lose a candidate
Macleans: Liberal election readiness suffered one setback Monday – the resignation of a Quebec candidate over Ignatieff’s stance that Canada should stop exporting asbestos, the lifeblood of Quebec’s Thetford Mines district. Ignatieff did not back down, saying a Liberal government would help the region develop other job creation possibilities.
http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/08/31/take-a-position-lose-a-candidate/

2009.31.08: Liberals prepare 'tough decisions' over potential election
Vancouver Sun: Ignatieff said he respects the decision by candidate Marc Giroux to quit as a candidate in Megantic-L'Erable. "I think it's an honourable thing for the candidate to do," Ignatieff said. He said the party wants to emphasize the need for regional economic development to replace asbestos. http://www.vancouversun.com:80/business/Liberals+prepare+tough+decisions+over+potential+election/1947653/story.html

2009.29.08.: The Canadian Medical Association Votes on Asbestos Motion
As reported by the Winnipeg Free Press, the motion calls for Canada to no longer oppose chrysotile asbestos being designated on a global scale as a hazardous chemical, and implement stricter regulations on its use.
http://www.mesotheliomacancernews.com/2009/08/28/the-canadian-medical-association-votes-on-asbestos-motion_20090828244.html

2009.28.08: Two Tories defy party's asbestos support
National Post: Two Conservative MPs have broken ranks with the government over support for the asbestos industry as Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff faces criticism in Quebec for opposing the export of what he describes as a "dangerous" substance.
http://www.nationalpost.com:80/news/canada/story.html?id=1938006

2009.27-09: Some Conservatives denounce asbestos
Le Devoir, Hélène Buzzetti: MPs Pat Davidson & Dona Cadman have both recently indicated that they want to see the end of the asbestos industry. "I'm definitely not supporting the mining or export of asbestos," Davidson told the Sarnia Observer. “I don’t think anyone in Sarnia-Lambton does. Hopefully there can be a lot more people that will not support it.”

2009.08.26: Canadian Official Wants Nation’s Asbestos Plant Shut down
Pat Martin, an MP from Winnipeg Centre and member of Canada's New Democratic Party, stated his support for the overall asbestos ban stemmed from a report from the Canadian Medical Association. In the report, ninety-five percent of the doctors polled voted in agreement with a motion that would call for the government to deem asbestos, specifically, chrysotile asbestos, as a dangerous substance. 
2009.07.22: Federal government continues to 'wrestle' with asbestos issue: Strahl
The Hill Times: Federal Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl, who was diagnosed in 2005 with a rare and terminal form of lung cancer linked to asbestos exposure when he once worked in a road construction and logging business, says the federal government continues to "wrestle" with the ethical issues of Canada being one of the world's last asbestos producers and exporters, even as it continues to subsidize the asbestos industry that sells huge amounts of the material to developing countries.
http://www.hilltimes.com:80/html/cover_index.php?display=story&full_path=/2009/june/22/asbestos_issue/&c=1

2009.07.21: Settlement Reached For Cleanup of Asbestos Mine
A legal settlement allowing for the cleanup and monitoring on the nation's largest former chrysotile asbestos mine and mill in Vermont helps raise awareness of the prevalence of asbestos in society, says a New York personal injury attorney who concentrates in asbestos litigation.
http://www.prweb.com:80/releases/2009/07/prweb2652884.htm

2009.07.: Asbestos threat 'underestimated', say scientists
The Guardian, England: The lethal threat from asbestos fibres may have been seriously underestimated, medical researchers are warning, as thousands of people with asbestos-related illnesses wait to hear whether they can sue for compensation. The Ministry of Justice is expected to reveal this week whether it will reverse a landmark judgment that prevents those diagnosed with pleural plaques – an early indicator of contamination – from taking legal action.
2009.02.07: Demonstrators draw attention to “Canada’s Ugly Secret” on Canada Day
Demonstrations to ban asbestos were held on Canada Day (July 1) outside Canadian embassies in Washington, DC, Paris, Sydney and Birmingham, UK. These demonstrations aimed to “end the shame of Canada’s asbestos export,” “put people’s lives ahead of political ambition” and support the C-399 Bill to ban asbestos.
http://laborrightsblog.typepad.com/international_labor_right/2009/07/demonstrators-draw-attention-to-canadas-ugly-secret-on-canada-day.html

2009.06.29: MPs Living With Cancer
The Hill Times: MPs say their spiritual faith, family, and friends help them live with cancer, but they want to do more

 http://www.hilltimes.com:80/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=2009/june/29/cancer/&c=2


2009.06.10: Asbestos: The Magic Mineral That Was Once Canada's Gold
CBC News: But in the 1960s and '70s, when more and more asbestos miners started coughing up blood, the sheen wore off. Canada has spent the last 20-plus years trying to rid our homes, schools and offices — including Parliament Hill — of the dangerous dust that was often loosely sprayed as insulation.
http://www.cbc.ca:80/canada/story/2009/06/10/f-asbestos-safety.html


2009.06.10: CBC's The National  Video: Canada’s Ugly Asbestos Secret
Mellissa Fung reports on how Canada's overseas sales of asbestos may be breathing new life into a dying industry - but also making exposed workers sick. Gripping scenes of Indian workers handling Canadian asbestos without any safety equipment.
http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/video/healtheducation/canadas_ugly_secret.html

2009.05.28: United Steelworkers - Asbestos The Silent Killer: Hard-Hitting 
USW Local 480 Video Examines Human Costs of Industrial Diseases and Calls for Reinstatement of Disability Pensions

2009.05.04 : Ignatieff jongle avec l'idée d'interdire l'exportation d'amiante et de ses dérivés
 (Ignatieff Plays With The Idea Of Forbiding the Export Of Asbestos)
Le Devoir : Le chef libéral, Michael Ignatieff, s'est attaqué à un sujet controversé hier en réitérant que le Canada devrait cesser d'exporter l'amiante chrysotile parce que ce produit représente un risque pour la santé publique. Il propose de mettre en place une stratégie de transition pour les travailleurs québécois affectés.
(Cease the export of asbestos abd replace it with a transiton programme for the Quebec workers)

2009.04.28: Victoria Times Colonist: End Asbestos Support Now.
The federal government's inexplicable support of the chrysotile asbestos industry is an appalling example of pandering for votes in the face of scientific proof of the substance's health hazards. Ottawa should recognize the dangers posed by the substance and immediately end its export.
http://www2.canada.com:80/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html?id=ce1185c5-57f9-46cc-9fc8-455750ddd3e1


2009.04.26-7: The Asian Asbestos Conference Accuses the Chrysotile Institute of Lying
The Canadian Chrysotile Institute has been feeding lies and myths to promote the white asbestos. Controlled conditions were difficult to achieve in the West and it will be ambitious to think that such conditions exist in Asia.

2009.04.22: British Expert Accuses Ottawa of Suppressing Cancer Report
Globe and Mail: There are interests in continuing production of Canadian chrysotile asbestos, said Dr Trevor Ogden, member of Health Canada’s asbestos committee’s report, editor-in-chief of the Annals of Occupational Hygene and advisor to the British government.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090422.ASBESTOS22ART2244/TPStory/TPScience/Quebec/

2009.04.22: Ignatieff fails the human rights litmus test on asbestos
Vancouver Sun: What would cause Michael Ignatieff, a man who boasts of his human rights credentials, to suddenly reverse himself on a critical -- and global -- human rights issue? The question arises from conflicting statements he made two weeks ago regarding the banning of chrysotile asbestos (the only type still sold in the world.)
http://www.vancouversun.com/Health/Ignatieff+fails+human+rights+litmus+test+asbestos/1521580/story.html

2009.04.21: Canadian Chrysotile Asbestos An Immoral Export
The Ottawa Citizen: The new release of a Health Canada report, documenting as it does a "strong relationship" between lung cancer and exposure to chrysotile asbestos, means the government can rationalize its irresponsible behaviour no longer, and must finally ban these exports. . As panellist Leslie Stayner, director of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Illinois School of Public Health, put it: “ I think the answer …is, yes, chrysotile is a hazardous substance."
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/Immoral+exports/1516943/story.html

2009.04.17: Supporting A Toxic Trade, Canada’s Export of Asbestos
The Ottawa Citizen: Kathleen Ruff; The federal government still spends taxpayers’ dollars on the pseudo-scientific promotion of the fraudulent industry spokesman, the Chrysotile Institute, and the export of our asbestos to developing countries
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/Supporting+toxic+trade/1504587/story.html 
 
2009.04.15: Ottawa Citizen - Part I: A deadly common thread
Despite the estimated thousands of Canadians who have died and the World Health Organization’s call for a global ban, Canada continues to send asbestos to recipients in the developing world. Chrysotile asbestos is recognized as the least dangerous type of asbestos, but is still classified as a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The Canadian position is that risks can be controlled.

2009.04.15: Health Canada Report Ties Asbestos To Lung Cancer
Vancouver Sun: Health Canada sat for more than a year on a report by a panel of international experts that concludes there is a "strong relationship" between lung cancer and chrysotile asbestos mined in Canada. In an interview, panellist Leslie Stayner, director of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Illinois School of Public Health, said "I think the bottom line here is that all forms of asbestos cause both mesothelioma and lung cancer.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Health/Health%20Canada%20report%20ties%20asbestos%20lung%20cancer/1500296/story.html
 
2009.04.14: World Health Organization affirms cancer risk from all asbestos types
The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has confirmed that all types of commercial asbestos—including chrysotile asbestos, the type most commonly used in the United States—cause mesothelioma , lung cancer and laryngeal cancer. The asbestos lobby’s claim that the fibre is safe is “absolutely untrue,” said Philip Landrigan, from the New York ‘s Mount Sinai School of medicine, the centre that first linked cancer to asbestos in the l960s
http://mesothelioma-treatment.explainedhere.com/world-health-organization-affirms-mesothelioma-risk-from-all-asbestos-types/

2009.04.13: Canada Should Call For A Complete Ban On Export Of Asbestos Right Now
There is an intense battle going on in Canada and internationally over the continuing export of Canadian asbestos to developing countries. But most Canadians remain largely unaware of the battle and the high stakes involved. Included amongst those Canadians, apparently, was Michael Ignatieff. Speaking in Victoria, B.C., Ignatieff was asked whether he supported ending the export of asbestos. Admitting that he might be getting into trouble for his answer, the Liberal leader was nonetheless unequivocal in his common sense answer: "Our export of this dangerous product overseas has got to stop.."
http://www.thehilltimes.ca/members/login.php?fail=2&destination=/html/cover_index.php?display=story&full_path=/2009/april/13/dobbin/
 
2009.04.12: Health Canada Sat A Year on Report Tying Asbestos to Lung Cancer
The scientific report by international health experts, which clearly links chrysotile asbestos to lung cancer, was received in March 2008, and only made available to CanWest through an access to information request
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/Health+Canada+report+ties+asbestos+lung+cancer/1502361/story.html

2009.04.12: Liberal Leader Ignatieff Backtracks On Commitment To Ban Asbestos Exports
Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff told a B.C. crowd on Saturday that he supports a ban on the export of asbestos, but his position appears to have since weakened. On Wednesday The Ottawa Citizen quoted Ignatieff saying Canada has an obligation to warn other countries of the dangers of asbestos, but stopped far short of repeating the call for a ban on exports.
http://thetyee.ca:80/Blogs/TheHook/Federal-Politics/2009/04/02/IgnatieffAsbestos/

2009.04.03: Gobe and Mail: Canada’s Asbestos Shame
Martin Mittelstaedt: It's not just that Canada is home to companies that sell asbestos abroad. The federal and Quebec governments actively promote it, spending tens of millions since 1984 to encourage the remaining markets, mainly in developing countries. Ottawa has even mobilized Canadian diplomatic staff, from Jakarta to Washington, as recently as last summer, to stand on guard against asbestos bans in the roughly 70 countries that still buy it from Canada. The biggest purchaser, taking about a quarter of Canada's output, is India, where it's easy to find workers using one of the most dangerous materials in the world clad only in T-shirts, shorts and flip-flops. Ottawa said it doesn't verify whether buyers follow Canadian-style rules when using asbestos, arguing that seeking such information would violate foreign sovereignty. "Anyone who says there's controlled use of asbestos in the Third World is either a liar or a fool," says Barry Castleman, a consultant who helped to advise Europeans in 2000 on Canada's unsuccessful attempt to overturn a French ban on Canadian asbestos. In July, the Canadian embassy in Washington sent a letter to the U.S. Senate, which was considering an asbestos ban. The letter conceded that "all forms of asbestos fibres, including chrysotile, are carcinogenic," but it maintained that its use can be safe if proper precautions are followed. The Senate ignored the advice and voted unanimously this month to ban asbestos.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/article791256.ece
 
2009.01.29: Government Must Stop Funding The Misleading Chrysolite Institute
Canadian experts in epidemiology and occupational medicine tell the Prime Minister that the Chrysotile Institute is endangering public health by disseminating misleading and untruthful information about chrysotile asbestos, especially in the world’s emerging economies.
http://www.bacanada.org/Letter%20Prime%20Minister%20Harper%20Jan%2023%2009.pdf
 
2009.02.09: Suppressing The Report On Canada's Asbestos
Ottawa Citizen: Michaela Keyserlingk; Canada is failing science
http://www2.canada.com:80/topics/news/story.html?id=1268485
 
2009.01.23: Scientists’ Letter to Prime Minister Harper Attacking The Chrysotile Institute
Dear Prime Minister Harper: We are profoundly disturbed that your government plans to continue to fund the
”The Institute’s misleading propaganda”
Dr. Fernand Turcotte Dr. Pierre L. Auger, MD, Msc, FRCPC
http://www.bacanada.org/Letter%20Prime%20Minister%20Harper%20Jan%2023%2009.pdf

2009.01.09: The Montreal Gazette - My Husband Is Dying Because Of Asbestos. Yet Canadian And Quebec Governments Continue To Promote It Overseas
The Montreal Gazette: No one in government seems to care. Canada’s reputation is on the line. The export of Canadian chrysotile asbestos to developing nations has to stop. Otherwise, my husband’s death and the deaths of others like him will have been for naught. 

2008.11.01: Wife Watched Husband Die Of Asbestos Disease
CP: Erica Casselman still struggles to find words to describe how she felt watching an aggressive form of asbestos cancer kill her husband. She says the experience has shattered "the very core" of her existence -- and she believes the tragedy that unraveled her life was preventable. Quebec continues to mine cancer-causing chrysotile asbestos and export it to Third World countries.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081101/asbtestos_canada_081101?s_name=&no_ads=

2008.11.01 Canada Declines To Clarify Chrysotile Asbestos Position
Globe and Mail: At an international conference in Rome this week on hazardous materials, chrysotile asbestos failed to be included on a list of dangerous substances because of a lack of consensus among the participating countries. Canadian officials were present but did not take part in the discussions.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081101/asbtestos_canada_081101?s_name=&no_ads=

2008.10.27: Government Spends Millions To Remove Asbestos From Parliament
For more than a decade, workers in hazmat suits have been boring into the walls and ceilings of Canada's Parliament buildings to remove tons of asbestos insulation.
http://www.guidedlearning.ca/On%20Going%20Topics%20and%20Issues/Economics/Canada/Asbestos.pdf 
 
2008.10.27: Asbestos Shame: Canada’s Cancer-causing Cargo. Our Gift To The World.
Globe and Mail: While the federal government projects an image of being a helpful, international Boy Scout on issues ranging from peacekeeping to nuclear proliferation, Canada has a peculiar relationship to asbestos. Since it’s a carcinogen, Canadians don’t use much of it any more. But the country remains one of the world’s biggest purveyors of the deadly mineral.
http://canadiandimension.com/articles/2007/10/28/1402/ 

2008.10.24: Asbestos Is Safe, Says Ottawa -- Except In Canada
Vancouver Sun: The federal government is paying $800-million to remove hazardous asbestos insulation from the interior of Parliament. The federal government is taking exhaustive measures to protect MPs and staff from a substance it only considers a safe building material when sold to developing countries.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=bafd0db7-9258-4bd2-b82b-f8f944d409a3

2008.10.24: Canada’s Asbestos Time Bomb 
The Ottawa Citizen: Critics say the only thing blocking a global asbestos ban is Canada's dwindling industry and the Canadian government. Four-part series by Katie Daubs. 
http://www2.canada.com/ottawacitizen/features/asbestos/story.html?id=ec094091-035a-4109-9b90-a013d7335d1a 

2008.10.21: Canadian Medical Association Names Asbestos An Evil Canadian Export
Next week, a handful of Canadian bureaucrats will fly to Rome for the 4th Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention, a treaty governing trade in substances that harm human health and the environment. They will be there, on behalf of the Government of Canada, to protect this country's asbestos industry, even if that means contributing to asbestos-related illnesses and deaths in the developing world.
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/179/9/871 
 
2008.09.03: Environmental Law Society Criticizes Government For Rrefusal To Phase Out Cancer Causing Substances.
“The government proposal to manage some of the worst chemicals in commerce in Canada is extremely weak,” stated Fe de Leon, researcher with the Canadian Environmental Law Association
http://cela.civicrm.ca/newsevents/media-release/environmental-organizations-issue-criticism-federal-government-refusal-phas
 
2008.09: Exporting Harm: How Canada Markets Asbestos in the Developing World
A 32-page report by Kathleen Ruff of the Rideau Institute on International Affairs in Ottawa exposing the corrupt science of the Chrysotile Institute and the conievance of the Quebeec and Federal governments in this deadly export.
http://www.rideauinstitute.ca/file-library/exportingharmweb.pdf

2008.08.18: CAW – Canadian Marine Atlantic Asbestos Claims
CAW members who work on a Marine Atlantic ferry who have tested positive for asbestos will have workers' compensation claims fast-tracked if they become sick due to the exposure.
http://www.caw.ca/en/3356.htm 
 
2008.05.26: Workplace Safety: Asbestos - The Magic Mineral That Was Once Canada's Gold
CBC News: Unlike countries in the European Union, as well as Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia, Canada has not banned asbestos. Rather, asbestos continues to be mined in Canada and the federal government actively promotes its use globally. Our country is the second-largest exporter of the mineral, after Russia, shipping it mainly to developing countries such as India and China.
http://www.cbc.ca:80/news/background/workplace-safety/asbestos.html

2008.05: Scientists Call on Federal Government to Release Asbestos Study
Canada is the only developed nation still producing asbestos, called a deadly threat by the International Labour Organization, the World Health Organization, the International Association for Cancer Research and many more health agencies. The Canadian government believes asbestos is safe if handled properly and has spent nearly $20 million in the past two decades to promote exports of the mineral, almost all of it going to developing nations such as India, Indonesia and Pakistan for use in construction material."
http://www.lib.uwo.ca/programs/generalbusiness/asbestos.html 

2008.04.26: Canada’s Double Standard On Asbestos
Edmonton Journal: Government says known carcinogen is too risky for use in Canada, but that doesn't prevent it from pushing chrysotile sales abroad.
2008.04.14: Tough History Of The Dying Quebec Asbestos Industry:
Sherbrooke Record: A French ban on asbestos imports in the late 1990s was followed by a sweeping European ban in 2005. But one of the hardest blows to the Canadian asbestos industry came last summer when the Canadian Cancer Society called for the use and export of asbestos to be phased out for good. The European bans, couple with a financial crisis in Asia — one of the few places where the product was in high demand — have caused a sharp decline for the once booming industry in the Townships.
http://www.sherbrookerecord.com/content/view/6154/ 
 
2007.12.14: Canada exporting asbestos to Third World is criminal Indian MD says
Winnipeg Free Press: Dr. T.K. Joshi, head of India's occupational and environmental department, said at least 100,000 factory workers and millions of construction workers across India inhale chrysotile asbestos every day. It's a toxic material that causes lung inflammation and, in some cases, cancer. 

2007.11.07: Canadian Cancer Society Calls for Ban on Asbestos
The Globe and Mail, Martin Mittelstaedt; The federal government should stop blocking international efforts to curb the trade in this dangerous material.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070711.wasbest0711/BNStory/National/home 
 
2007.11.06: CUPE - It’s time for Canada to ban asbestos
All forms of asbestos are harmful and deadly to workers and communities and that is why CUPE has a long tradition of calling for a full ban on the mining, production and export of asbestos. We have also demanded a respectful transition programme for workers in the asbestos industry and affected communities
http://cupe.ca/health-and-safety/banasbestospetition 
 
2007.11.06: Quebec asbestos mining town severely contaminated: report
Many private homes in the southern Quebec community of Thetford Mines are "severely contaminated" by asbestos and pose a dangerous public health risk, ...
www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/11/06/asbestos-thetford.html 
 
2007.10.01: Canada's Chrysotile Asbestos Business Is Dying Out
Macleans: The partnership that ran Thetford's two asbestos mines went bankrupt this summer, and the underground Bell mine (down the road from Black Lake) is slated to close next year. The only other remaining mine in Canada, the Jeffrey mine, is also on shaky financial ground (Jeffrey Mine Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002, and production since then has been sporadic).
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0013149
 
2007.10.01: The Chrysolite King: The Last Gasp of Assbestos
Macleans Magazine: In the late 1990s, the Canadian industry was hit with a French ban on asbestos imports, and in 2005 came a sweeping European ban. Markets in North America in the past five years have shriveled and shipments within Canada have dried up.
http://www.macleans.ca/business/economy/article.jsp?content=20071001_110037_110037 

2007.10: Depatment of Veterans Affairs Warns Of The Health Risks of Asbestos
When inhaled in significant quantities, asbestos fibres can cause scarring of the lungs which makes breathing difficult. It has also been linked to lung cancer and a rare cancer of the lining of the chest or abdominal cavity (mesothelioma). VAC has been awarding disability benefits related to asbestos exposure for a number of years.http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/clients/sub.cfm?source=salute/oct2007/health_asbestos
 
2007.08: Simon Fraser: Asbestos History and Canadian Regulatory Requirements
In 1975, it was discovered after much research that friable asbestos fibres when inhaled caused asbestosis or mesothelioma after laying dormant in the lungs for up to 25- 30 years. It was because of this finding that the regulatory agencies in Canada banned the use of asbestos and required employers to implement asbestos regulations.
http://www.ehs.sfu.ca/trades/details/asbestos_history_regulatory_requirements/ 
 
2007.08: The Health Risks of Asbestos; Department of Veterans Affairs
When inhaled in significant quantities, asbestos fibres can cause scarring of the lungs which makes breathing difficult. It has also been linked to lung cancer and a rare cancer of the lining of the chest or abdominal cavity. VAC has been awarding disability benefits related to asbestos exposure for a number of years.

2007.07.11: Canadian Cancer Society seeks comprehensive government policy on cancer. 
“The Society believes that exposure to asbestos must stop so that asbestos-related diseases can be eliminated,” says Dr. Barbara Whylie, CEO, Canadian Cancer Society, in announcing a new position adopted by the National Board of Directors.
http://www.cancer.ca/Canada-wide/About%20us/Media%20centre/CW-Media%20releases/CW-2007/Canadian%20Cancer%20Society%20Pursues%20Elimination%20of%20Asbestos-Related%20Diseases.aspx?sc_lang=en 
 
2007.04/05: Canada’s nefarious asbestos legacy: International Journal of Occupational Health
A growing number of voices are demanding an end to Canada’s century-long failure to protect workers from preventable asbestos disease.
http://www.preventcancernow.ca/Asbestos.pdf.pdf 
 
2006.11.13: Dept of Natural Resources funds the Chrysotile Institute
On November 7, 2006 the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources (Canada) signaled the Government's continued support for this industry of death by a 14:1 vote to maintain current levels of government funding for the Chrysotile Institute, a Quebec-based body which acts as the mouthpiece for Canada's asbestos industry.
http://www.miningwatch.ca/index.php?/Asbestos/Carry_On_Polluting 
 
2005.02.01: Asbestos Victims Association of Quebec.
Roch Lanthier, the anti-asbestos warrior is no more. Roch was deeply concerned about the plight of asbestos victims in Quebec and India. Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI) and AVAQ had plans of pursuing the asbestos interests in close collaboration in order to expose them.
http://www.mesothelioma-search-engine.com/mesothelioma-news/mesothelioma-news-0016.htm 
 
2004.03.01: Environment Canada underestimates the risk and use of chrysotile asbestos
On the one hand, the department admits that chrysotile asbestos is a carcinogen, therefore its use is restricted. At the same time, it falsely claims that most experts and review panels on asbestos agree that the risk of lung cancer and mesothelioma resulting from environmental exposure to asbestos is extremely low, and would be difficult to quantify.
http://www.ec.gc.ca/nopp/docs/consult/Rotterdam/ca/en/inp.cfm 
 
2003.11: Canadian Association of University Teachers ask for asbestos ban
CAUT calls on the Canadian government to ban the export of asbestos, withdraw its financial and political support for the Asbestos Institute, and lobby for a worldwide ban on the use of asbestos.
http://www.caut.ca/uploads/resolution.pdf 
 
Chrysotile(asbestos) open-pit mine, Thetford Mines, Quebec