Rejecting science-based evidence and international co-operation: Canada's foreign policy on asbestos under the Harper government

Abstract

For most of the twentieth century, Canada was the largest global producer and exporter of asbestos. Production peaked at 1.7 million tonnes in 1974. When US and European multinational corporations abandoned the asbestos trade in response to asbestos-related deaths, worker lawsuits and enormous compensation claims, Canada became the industry's global advocate and defender of Quebec's asbestos exports. By 2006 when Harper took power, Quebec's mines were near extinction, having sought bankruptcy protection, laid off 90% of their workers and slashed wages. Responding to the medical evidence, the economic facts, public pressure and the harm being caused to Canada's reputation, almost all the other federal and Quebec political parties, including the Liberal Party of Canada and the Parti Québécois, ended their support for the asbestos industry. The Harper government, however, continued to deny medical evidence and politicized the scientific debate. Canada sabotaged international initiatives to control the asbestos trade and opposed UN safety proposals regarding asbestos in earthquake and tsunami prone areas. Harper's asbestos policies tarnished Canada's reputation and attracted domestic and international condemnation.