Mr. Speaker, I rise today to table a petition signed by thousands of Canadians who ask the House of Commons to take note that asbestos is the greatest industrial killer the world has ever known and that more Canadians die from asbestos than all other industrial causes combined, yet Canada remains one of the largest producers and exporters of asbestos in the world.
The petitioners call upon Parliament to ban asbestos in all of its forms, to end all government subsidies of the asbestos industry both in Canada and abroad and to stop blocking international health and safety conventions designed to protect workers from asbestos, such as the Rotterdam Convention.