Activists Condemn Canadian Racism
Representatives from civil society in India are scathing about plans for a Canada–India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement which could eliminate all tariffs on Canadian asbestos exports to India. The existence of current negations to achieve this goal was exposed yesterday by a spokesperson for Canada's New Democratic Party in Canada.
Commenting on this news, a press statement issued by the Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India in conjunction with other campaigning groups denounced the bilateral agreement as an “appalling travesty of all ethical codes of human behaviour.” OEHNI Coordinator Mohit Gupta highlighted the double standards promoted by Canadian officials who are supervising asbestos decontamination of national infrastructure at the same time as they are attempting to sell increasing amounts of deadly asbestos to India.
The fact of the matter is that as of now Canada is not producing any asbestos at all, as production at the last mine stopped some weeks ago. That would, indeed, make this pact redundant except for the attempt by Canadian asbestos producers to secure a $58 million loan guarantee from the Quebec government to ensure that work is completed on a new asbestos underground mine. If that is accomplished then millions of tonnes of asbestos will be exported in the coming decades to Asian asbestos markets, of which India is by far the most lucrative.
December 7, 2011
