Asbestos Legislation

Tory leaders in Quebec recently came out in defense of the asbestos mining industry in the Canadian province.

Stephen Harper, the country's prime minister and leader of its Conservative Party, spoke out in defense of the industry following Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe's apparent flip-flopping on the issue, according to the Montreal Gazette.

Duceppe had recently come out and said that his party would further investigate the health risks associated with asbestos to see if the mining of substance in the province should be suspended. Harper used this as an opportunity to attack the opposition on job creation.

"Only the Conservative party will defend this industry here and everywhere in Canada," he said on the campaign trail. "Only the Conservative party understands that you have a right to live here, to raise your families here."

While politicians in Canada may be arguing about whether or not asbestos can be safely used, the medical community has known since the mid-1960s that exposure to asbestos can be responsible for the development of lung cancer, asbestosis and malignant mesothelioma, a rare cancer.