Mr. Speaker, we would need to be crazy to put asbestos in children's toys. We may as well put razor blades in Halloween apples.
However, the new Conservative government thinks it is okay. Its new asbestos regulations say that it is okay to put asbestos in children's toys, drywall mud and spray-on fireproofing. This is stupidity beyond belief. Asbestos is the greatest industrial killer the world has ever known. More people die from asbestos every year than all other industrial causes combined.
The rest of the developed world is actively banning asbestos in all its forms and yet Canada is still one of the largest producers and exporters of asbestos in the world. The government is spending millions subsidizing and promoting asbestos. We call it corporate welfare for corporate serial killers.
Putting asbestos in children's toys is a spectacularly bad idea. We should ban asbestos in all its forms and shame on the government for promoting a killer and exploiting human misery.