Mr. Speaker, this is an industry that exports in excess of $300 million a year and over 2,000 jobs depend on it.
There are unsafe uses of asbestos, but on the other side of the coin there are safe uses of asbestos which is what we are trying to promote. My colleague the Minister of Health has made representations to the French government with respect to its ban.
In terms of the safe uses, there could be exceptions. The Prime Minister announced last week that he would make representations to the French government. My colleague the Minister of Natural Resources has also been very active on this file. We are making representations to the French government. I have made them to my counterpart. I offered to send some experts over to show the French government what the safe uses are so it can put them into its legislative exceptions.
We will continue to work with other countries in the European Union and around the world to help preserve the safe use of asbestos in international markets.