Mr. Speaker, I am proud to table a petition signed by thousands of Canadians.
The petitioners call upon the House of Commons to take note that asbestos is the greatest industrial killer that the world has ever known and that more people die from asbestos than all other industrial diseases combined, yet Canada remains one of the single-largest producers and exporters of asbestos in the world. They also point out that Canada spends millions of dollars subsidizing the asbestos industry and blocking international efforts to curb its use.
Therefore, they call upon Parliament to ban asbestos in all of its forms and institute a just transition program for any asbestos workers or miners or the communities in which they live in, end all government subsidies of asbestos, both in Canada and abroad, and stop blocking international health and safety conventions designed to protect workers from asbestos, such as the United Nations Rotterdam Convention.