...but it can be measured. A couple of years back the Feds were also funding these guys.
Showing posts with label Asbestos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Asbestos. Show all posts
Monday, April 30, 2012
Progress Is Measured In Small Increments
A decades-old pro-asbestos lobby group, currently funded by the Quebec government, will be shutting its doors after notifying the federal government of its plan to dissolve.
...but it can be measured. A couple of years back the Feds were also funding these guys.
...but it can be measured. A couple of years back the Feds were also funding these guys.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Iggy In Edmonton: Lets Get Out Of Asbestos Business
Warning! Hardly a sympathetic source, but assuming it isn't outright lies (and I would assume from my experience with the source that it isn't), very interesting:
Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is in Edmonton for a few days and last night he held a little town hall style gathering where he took questions from the audience. I would put the crowd at about 450, which is larger than Stephane Dion's numbers last July, and has to be considered a good turnout for an Alberta event.
And here, I think, is something genuinely newsworthy:
Question #11 Asbestos. While in the past Ignatieff has flip flopped on asbestos, tonight there was to be no beating around the bush on this one as Ignatieff answered by saying that "Canada has to be out of the asbestos business. We should not export it and we should not produce it".
And on a carbon tax:
Question #3 was on a carbon tax from someone familiar with Ignatieff's history on the idea. Ignatieff hinted that while he still liked the idea of a carbon tax, the political reality of such a tax makes it impossible to implement in a poor economy. He never ruled it out completely say if the economy improves, but votes ("practical politics") seem to be more important than the environment right now for the LPC.
Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is in Edmonton for a few days and last night he held a little town hall style gathering where he took questions from the audience. I would put the crowd at about 450, which is larger than Stephane Dion's numbers last July, and has to be considered a good turnout for an Alberta event.
And here, I think, is something genuinely newsworthy:
Question #11 Asbestos. While in the past Ignatieff has flip flopped on asbestos, tonight there was to be no beating around the bush on this one as Ignatieff answered by saying that "Canada has to be out of the asbestos business. We should not export it and we should not produce it".
And on a carbon tax:
Question #3 was on a carbon tax from someone familiar with Ignatieff's history on the idea. Ignatieff hinted that while he still liked the idea of a carbon tax, the political reality of such a tax makes it impossible to implement in a poor economy. He never ruled it out completely say if the economy improves, but votes ("practical politics") seem to be more important than the environment right now for the LPC.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Iggy's First Gaffe (In Awhile)
I’m probably walking right off the cliff into some unexpected public policy bog of which I’m unaware, but...
At this moment his aides should have run on stage and clubbed him with a stick. In fact, one of my "Lib insider" friends told me they were going to plant an electric buzzer under Iggy's jacket that would shock him any time he started improvising like this. Why has that device not been installed yet? Heads should roll.
FWIW, Iggy was right the 1st time; asbestos is terrible stuff and as a nation we should get out of the business of exporting it to 3rd world countries, not merely "warning them" of dangers they surely know all about.
As a baby step in that direction, however, why not end funding to the Chrysotile Institute (formerly known as the Asbestos institute before than name got too hot to handle)?
Why not at least make the industry pay for its own propaganda?
At this moment his aides should have run on stage and clubbed him with a stick. In fact, one of my "Lib insider" friends told me they were going to plant an electric buzzer under Iggy's jacket that would shock him any time he started improvising like this. Why has that device not been installed yet? Heads should roll.
FWIW, Iggy was right the 1st time; asbestos is terrible stuff and as a nation we should get out of the business of exporting it to 3rd world countries, not merely "warning them" of dangers they surely know all about.
As a baby step in that direction, however, why not end funding to the Chrysotile Institute (formerly known as the Asbestos institute before than name got too hot to handle)?
Why not at least make the industry pay for its own propaganda?
Friday, January 23, 2009
A Suggestion For The Upcoming Budget
Looking for stuff to cut, Mr Harper?
STOP FUNDING DANGEROUS NONSENSE,
HEALTH EXPERTS TELL HARPER
The Canadian government is funding censorship and perversion of scientific information, charge a number of health experts in a strongly worded letter sent today to Prime Minister Harper.
The experts, from the Université de Laval and other universities across Canada, ask the Prime Minister to stop funding the Chrysotile Institute (formerly the Asbestos Institute) in his government’s January 27 budget.
“The Institute censors information from the world’s leading health authorities, distorts their views and puts forward nonsensical claims, for example that chrysotile asbestos disappears when it is mixed with cement and becomes harmless,” says Dr Colin Soskolne, Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Alberta. “This is not science; this is dangerous nonsense.”
“It is a slur on the reputation of the scientific community and people of Canada for the government to be funding such distortion of scientific information,” says Dr Tim Takaro, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences, SFU. “But, more importantly, this misinformation puts people’s lives at risk. This is completely unethical and must stop.”
“Over the past 25 years, the government has given more than $20 million to support the dying asbestos industry in Quebec. Over 90% of the workers have lost their jobs; the remaining approximately 550 workers have had their wages slashed and work part-time; and in 2007, the asbestos mining company filed for bankruptcy protection,” said Kathleen Ruff, senior human rights advisor to the Rideau Institute. “It is time to stop this wasteful and unethical use of government funds. Instead, the government should help the remaining asbestos workers and the community with just transition assistance.”
Please contact Kathleen Ruff, kruff@bulkley.net for a copy of the letter.
- 30 -
CONTACTS:
- Dr Colin Soskolne (780) 492-6013; Colin.Soskolne@ualberta.ca
- Dr Tim Takaro (778) 782-7186; ttakaro@sfu.ca
- Kathleen Ruff (250) 847-1848; kruff@bulkley.net
-----
HEALTH EXPERTS TELL HARPER
The Canadian government is funding censorship and perversion of scientific information, charge a number of health experts in a strongly worded letter sent today to Prime Minister Harper.
The experts, from the Université de Laval and other universities across Canada, ask the Prime Minister to stop funding the Chrysotile Institute (formerly the Asbestos Institute) in his government’s January 27 budget.
“The Institute censors information from the world’s leading health authorities, distorts their views and puts forward nonsensical claims, for example that chrysotile asbestos disappears when it is mixed with cement and becomes harmless,” says Dr Colin Soskolne, Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Alberta. “This is not science; this is dangerous nonsense.”
“It is a slur on the reputation of the scientific community and people of Canada for the government to be funding such distortion of scientific information,” says Dr Tim Takaro, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences, SFU. “But, more importantly, this misinformation puts people’s lives at risk. This is completely unethical and must stop.”
“Over the past 25 years, the government has given more than $20 million to support the dying asbestos industry in Quebec. Over 90% of the workers have lost their jobs; the remaining approximately 550 workers have had their wages slashed and work part-time; and in 2007, the asbestos mining company filed for bankruptcy protection,” said Kathleen Ruff, senior human rights advisor to the Rideau Institute. “It is time to stop this wasteful and unethical use of government funds. Instead, the government should help the remaining asbestos workers and the community with just transition assistance.”
Please contact Kathleen Ruff, kruff@bulkley.net for a copy of the letter.
- 30 -
CONTACTS:
- Dr Colin Soskolne (780) 492-6013; Colin.Soskolne@ualberta.ca
- Dr Tim Takaro (778) 782-7186; ttakaro@sfu.ca
- Kathleen Ruff (250) 847-1848; kruff@bulkley.net
-----
I remember when my dad was posted to base Gagetown in Oromocto, New Brunswick. Myself and a bunch of other kids found these fabric containers of something or other --shaped roughly like small pillows--lying in a field behind the PMQs. We had great fun with them, whacking each other over the head, throwing them back and forth. The next day, I felt a terrible itching sensation. Bits of glass fibre embed in the skin and can't be removed by showering. It lasted for several days without let-up.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)