Harper government must stop funding a deadly industry: NDP

Harper government must stop funding a deadly industry: NDP

NDP MP joins with asbestos widow to urge the government to stop supporting asbestos industry











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February 16, 2012
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OTTAWA – NDP MPs Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre) and François Lapointe (Montmagny – L’Islet – Kamouraska – Rivière-du-Loup) were joined today by asbestos widow Margaret Buist to urge Federal and Provincial leaders to stop the funding and promotion of this deadly material.

Ms. Buist, who lost her husband in 1996 to asbestos-related disease, has distributed thousands of postcards to Canadians urging the government to “stop funding an industry that does not care about workers’ health”. She plans to deliver these postcards to Premier Charest.

“I have been fighting against the horrors of asbestos since my husband got sick in 1994” says Ms. Buist. “I will continue to advocate for victims of asbestos until our government finally puts an end to this killer industry”.

The Quebec government is poised to grant a $58 million loan guarantee to the asbestos industry which would keep the Quebec asbestos mines open for a further 40 years.

“Asbestos is a deadly and dying industry,” says MP Pat Martin. “The Quebec government should listen to victims like Margaret Buist. Let the industry die a natural death and use that money for other job creation measures in the region”.