Asbestos and the old pusher arguments

If I don’t sell deadly drugs to naive kids, someone else will.

I’m just giving them what they want.  They can say no. 

It’s legal in Amsterdam, so what’s the problem?

(emphasis mine)

“But for years, Canada has been scraping asbestos out of buildings, including those on Parliament Hill and at 24 Sussex Dr., the prime minister's residence.  Asked during the recent election campaign how Canada can justify the contrast, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said as long as countries are willing to buy it, he won’t stand in the way.

"This government will not put Canadian industry in a position where it is discriminated against in a market where sale is permitted," Harper said.

By that logic, we should be able to sell drugs to several countries and nuclear bombs to any country that wants them, including Iran.  Arms dealers should be able to expand their exports to include chemicals and diseases.  We could sell children for arranged marriages.  We just can’t sell those things here in Canada.

Canada:  the pusher who sells death but won’t touch it himself because...damn!  That shit kills!

Pretty appalling, right?  Most Canadians would be very upset with a government that not only sells a deadly product to other countries as though lives outside of Canada have less value, but a government that actively attempts to block information on the very deadly nature of the product.

So what do our elected pushers do?  Don’t tell Canadians.  It’s not like they have a right to know.

On the eve of a conference to decide whether to label the substance as a hazardous material under the United Nations' Rotterdam Convention, a spokeswoman for Industry Minister Christian Paradis said this isn't the time to tell Canadians what Canada's position actually is.

"There are times when it's time to disclose it and there are times when it's not the time, and now it's not the time," Pascale Boulay said Friday. "Canada knows what its position is."

As Dr. Dawg points out, try to fathom that mindset.  

Makes you ask what harper considers makes up the national entity, Canada.  Not Canadians, apparently.  Canada is harper.  It’s not Canadians.  We’re just there to provide workers, taxpayers, and consumers.  Not the elected Parliament.  The members of the opposition don’t know the position harper will take on asbestos.  They can make a very educated guess, but they are not privy to what Canada knows.

That’s some very scary shit.

This is no longer a democracy.