Does Quebec Need Asbestos?
Data obtained on March 22, 2011 from the Canadian Library of Parliament reveal the irrationality of Quebec's devotion to the asbestos industry. In 2010, total Quebec exports were valued at $59.2 billion; overseas sales of chrysotile asbestos fiber were $76.5 million or 0.13% of total exports (Tables 1 and 2).1
As part of Quebec's finances, the value of asbestos is of little significance; with asbestos export sales accounting for a fraction of one per cent some might even categorize this industry as worthless. When direct and indirect production costs, environmental clean-up costs, medical support and government benefits for the asbestos-injured are deducted, the profit from Quebec's overseas trade in asbestos dwindles even further; combining the industry's precarious financial situation with the negative impact on Quebec's global reputation of continuing this toxic trade, there is no doubt that the economic case for keeping this industry alive is unsound.
Other information received in the same tranche of material includes data (Table 2) documenting Canadian exports of fabricated asbestos fibers and articles (product group HS 6812) and asbestos brake linings, pads and friction material (product group HS 6813).
| Title | Canadian Total Exports |
| Industries | Total for All Industries |
| Origin | Distribution by Province |
| Destination | ALL COUNTRIES (Total) |
| Period | Specific Year(s): 2010 |
| Units | Value in Thousands of Canadian Dollars |
| 2010 | |
| ---- Ontario | 168,417,866 |
| ---- Alberta | 78,361,058 |
| ---- Quebec | 59,203,291 |
| ---- British Columbia | 29,139,489 |
| ---- Saskatchewan | 24,195,146 |
| ---- New Brunswick | 12,644,203 |
| ---- Manitoba | 10,363,533 |
| ---- Newfoundland and Labrador | 9,212,420 |
| ---- Nova Scotia | 4,400,118 |
| ---- Northwest Territories | 2,067,609 |
| ---- Prince Edward Island | 716,883 |
| ---- Yukon Territory | 98,632 |
| ---- Nunavut | 6,127 |
| Title | Canadian Total Exports |
| Products |
HS 2524 - ASBESTOS HS 6811 - ARTICLES OF ASBESTOS-CELLULOSE FIBRE-CEMENT OR THE LIKE HS 6812 - FABRICATED ASBESTOS FIBRES AND ARTICLES HS 6813 - ASBESTOS BRAKE LININGS, PADS AND FRICTION MATERIAL |
| Origin | Distribution by Province |
| Destination | ALL COUNTRIES (Total) |
| Period | Specific Year(s): 2010 |
| Units | Value in Canadian Dollars |
| 2010 | |
| HS 2524 - ASBESTOS | |
| ---- Quebec | 76,537,737 |
| ---- Manitoba | -- |
| ---- New Brunswick | -- |
| ---- Newfoundland and Labrador | -- |
| ---- Nova Scotia | -- |
| ---- Prince Edward Island | -- |
| ---- Ontario | -- |
| ---- Saskatchewan | -- |
| ---- Alberta | -- |
| ---- British Columbia | -- |
| ---- Nunavut | -- |
| ---- Northwest Territories | -- |
| ---- Yukon Territory | -- |
| HS 6811 - ARTICLES OF ASBESTOS-CELLULOSE FIBRE-CEMENT OR THE LIKE | |
| ---- Quebec | 718,919 |
| ---- Ontario | 383,923 |
| ---- British Columbia | 240,028 |
| ---- Nova Scotia | 26,252 |
| ---- Alberta | 16,138 |
| ---- Northwest Territories | 100 |
| ---- Newfoundland and Labrador | -- |
| ---- Prince Edward Island | -- |
| ---- Nunavut | -- |
| ---- Yukon Territory | -- |
| ---- Saskatchewan | -- |
| ---- New Brunswick | -- |
| ---- Manitoba | -- |
| HS 6812 - FABRICATED ASBESTOS FIBRES AND ARTICLES | |
| ---- Ontario | 593,419 |
| ---- Quebec | 448,081 |
| ---- British Columbia | 91,928 |
| ---- Manitoba | 72,600 |
| ---- Nova Scotia | 37,182 |
| ---- Alberta | 7,992 |
| ---- Prince Edward Island | -- |
| ---- New Brunswick | -- |
| ---- Saskatchewan | -- |
| ---- Nunavut | -- |
| ---- Northwest Territories | -- |
| ---- Yukon Territory | -- |
| ---- Newfoundland and Labrador | -- |
| HS 6813 - ASBESTOS BRAKE LININGS, PADS AND FRICTION MATERIAL | |
| ---- Ontario | 6,297,663 |
| ---- British Columbia | 724,414 |
| ---- Alberta | 433,079 |
| ---- Quebec | 66,997 |
| ---- Nova Scotia | 638 |
| ---- Northwest Territories | -- |
| ---- Yukon Territory | -- |
| ---- Nunavut | -- |
| ---- Newfoundland and Labrador | -- |
| ---- Manitoba | -- |
| ---- New Brunswick | -- |
| ---- Prince Edward Island | -- |
| ---- Saskatchewan | -- |
| TOTAL (ALL COUNTRIES) | 86,697,090 |
Studies conducted in Quebec have revealed that guidelines and regulations designed to protect workers in asbestos product factories and the construction industry are routinely flouted:
“Between 2005 and 2009, none of the nine factories in Quebec that used chrysotile asbestos in their manufacturing process or in which workers handled asbestos-containing products, did so in a safe manner.”2
Describing the causation of asbestos disease in an occupational cohort, another document concluded:
“Close to half of the 1,348 workers were exposed in the construction industry and in the maintenance or repair of asbestos-containing materials or structures. More than half of the workers in these sectors lived in the Greater Montréal area. Therefore, the problem of asbestos-related diseases is not confined uniquely to Quebec's mining towns.”3
Considering the lack of compliance with regulations mandating health and safety precautions for workers exposed to asbestos, it is of concern to learn that asbestos is still being used in the production of friction and fabricated materials in Canada. If the national pattern of trade in raw asbestos is replicated in these industries, it is not unreasonable to suggest that the items turned out on these production lines are destined for foreign shores. Even if this is the case, there can be no doubt that workers engaged in these industries in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Alberta will be receiving hazardous occupational exposures on a routine basis.
Commentators who have studied Canada's asbestos industry have remarked that in Quebec chrysotile asbestos has the same iconic status that coal had to the people of Wales. For many years, the Welsh have been coming to terms with the demise of the country's coal mining industry. It is time for Quebec to acknowledge that the nationalist talisman that chrysotile has achieved is a historic relic best consigned to an inglorious past. To answer the question posed in the headline of this article “Does Quebec need asbestos,” the answer is a resolute No!
March 23, 2011
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1 According to information from the Canadian Library of Parliament these data can be accessed at a website (listed below). However, my experience at trying to use this website has been unsatisfactory.
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/tdo-dcd.nsf/eng/home
2 Additional Information on Asbestos in Quebec.
http://www.inspq.qc.ca/english/amiante/infos.asp?e=cp#exposition_mines
3 Study of new cases of asbestos-related occupational pulmonary diseases in Quebec: 1988-2003.
http://www.inspq.qc.ca/english/amiante/publications.asp?e=cp#651
