September 7, 2011
Friedrich Nietzsche once said “there are no facts, only interpretations.” With that in mind, let’s try to discern what Prime Minister Harper is thinking with his latest embrace of Quebec’s asbestos industry and its ridiculous assertion that the “safe use” of asbestos – outside of Canada, of course – is not some deadly joke on the world’s poor. Some “facts.” It is impossible to find a reputable, independent, peer-reviewed international medical research or workplace health and safety institution arguing that chrysotile asbestos can be used safely by humans without significant risk of cancer.
The International Agency for Cancer Research states there is no safe exposure limit to asbestos of any kind, echoed by the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization. The WHO says more than 100,000 people die each year from asbestos-related diseases.
The World Bank mandates that, even in disasters, asbestos must not be used for emergency construction projects.
The Canadian Cancer Society, the US Government and all 27 member states of the European Union call for a total ban.
Even the provincially-funded “Institut national de santé publique du Québec” argues “chrysotile asbestos is carcinogenic …. safe use of asbestos is difficult, perhaps impossible.”
In the cruel calculus of electoral politics, if this industry generated immense amounts of money and jobs, you could understand why “facts” could be ignored in pursuit of votes.
But it does not. Quebec’s asbestos industry generates annual sales of less than $100 million and supports roughly 600 jobs, most part-time. That hardly seems enough influence, even in one riding, to determine an electoral outcome.
(Inconvenient truth time: it’s only very recently, with the industry shrinking, that the Liberals, the NDP and the Canadian Labour Congress called for an end to asbestos production. For decades, they supported government funding for the promotion of asbestos exports.)
So, the “interpretations.”
Maybe Prime Minister Harper is simply playing a craven waiting game, gambling that, eventually, asbestos production in Canada will wither away. Recently released government documents (obtained only through Freedom of Information requests) support this position. So why risk losing those few asbestos industry-related votes in Quebec?
(There is an argument to make that beyond electoral politics, asbestos has an iconic importance in Quebec politics that transcends its ugly truth. The asbestos industry was central to the political awakening of modern Quebec during the late 1940s and early 1950s when virtually the whole province came together to support strikers against their then-American bosses … helping to kick-start the careers of Trudeau, Marchand and Pelletier, who supported the strikers.)
But more likely – and more depressing – is the idea that, once again, the Prime Minister is simply ignoring the facts because of his ideological dislike of evidence presented by experts.
Think the cancelled long-form census, when Harper ignored warnings from statistical experts around the world that this would hurt Canada’s economy.
Think crime stats, with Harper ignoring an outpouring of evidence that crime of almost every kind in Canada is steadily declining to argue that what the country needs is tougher laws and tougher prisons.
Sadly, the facts on asbestos’ dangers – overwhelmingly consistent – will do nothing to convince Harper to reverse his support for the industry.
Which leaves the rest of us to buckle down and fight on: perhaps as a best bet, to call for a well-funded transition program to help miners and their families find new sustainable jobs.
But a fact – with no interpretation possible – is that our country must rid itself of its sadly-indisputable reputation as an industrial merchant of death.