Canada Shamed

Canada’s export of asbestos to tsunami-ravaged countries was the target of worldwide protests last week.

The Canadian Government is one of the leading exporters of asbestos in the world, even though it is banned from domestic sale and strict regulations surround contact with the toxic substance.

In Australia, protests were held outside the Canadian High Commission in Canberra and Canadian consulates in Sydney and Melbourne.

AMWU state secretary Paul Bastian said the Canadian Government had a specific policy of targeting South East Asia to export the cheap but deadly building material.

"The Canadian asbestos industry has demonstrated the worst excesses of corporate greed in its predatory targeting of countries such as Thailand and its neighbours, which are struggling to house hundreds of thousands of tragic victims of the Christmas Tsunami," he said.

Bastian warned the Canadian asbestos industry may try to push its exports to areas of the US devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

"We hope that the U.S. Government will not also fall prey to aggressive marketing by the Canadian asbestos lobby."

CFMEU construction national secretary John Sutton said Australian workers were outraged by the Canadian Government's actions.

"We have witnessed first hand the carnage and misery these products cause and will oppose any government that allows the trade to continue," he said.

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