"Harper Rejects Export Ban on Asbestos"

"ASBESTOS, Que. -- Conservative leader Stephen Harper has declared that Canada will not ban the export of asbestos - despite calls from health groups - because to do so would hurt Canadian industry.

Harper brought his campaign Tuesday to the community synonymous with cancer - and amid renewed pressure to ban the export of asbestos worldwide.

He came to a seniors' residence named Manoir Jeffrey - named in honor of the person who built the first asbestos mine in the town.

Speaking to reporters at the event, Harper was reminded by a journalist about the dangers of asbestos: How one of his former cabinet ministers, Chuck Strahl, contracted lung cancer from exposure to it, how the Parliament buildings are being gutted to remove the product and how Canada still exports it to other nations.

He flatly said his government will not ban the sale of the product, which he preferred to call `chrysotile' instead of asbestos."

Mark Kennedy reports for Postmedia News April 26, 2011.

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"Canada's Prime Minister Defends asbestos Exports" (Reuters)