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December 10, 2009 - No. 230

International Human Rights Day

In Solidarity with Striking Vale Inco Workers


Sudbury, Labour Day 2009

Copper Cliff
Candlelight Vigil

Thursday, December 10 -- 6:00 pm
Starts at McClelland Arena in Copper Cliff and proceeds to Smelter
To download flyer (PDF), click here.

Week of Action in Support of Striking Vale Inco Workers
CALENDAR OF EVENTS

International Human Rights Day
In Solidarity with Striking Vale Inco Workers - Sudbury Marxist-Leninist
Party Club


Kidd Creek Metallurgical -- Timmins
Stop Xstrata's Wrecking of our Economy
"We Are Not Going to Let This Happen without a Fight" - Ben Lefebvre, Chair's Report to Membership, CAW 599

U.S. Steel's Imperialist Logic
Part One: Absolutist Infallibility and Impunity - K.C. Adams

Sept-Îles, Quebec
For a Moratorium on Uranium Exploration and Mining
Doctors' Letter of Resignation
Doctors or Nuclear Energy? - Press Release, Sept-Îles Sans Uranium


International Human Rights Day

In Solidarity with Striking Vale Inco Workers

The Sudbury Marxist-Leninist Party Club congratulates the Labour Council for boldly organizing a candle-light vigil action in support of the striking Vale Inco workers on the occasion of International Human Rights Day, Thursday, December 10. The strike will enter its sixth month against a vicious, arrogant, lying exploiter on December 13.

It is appropriate to uphold the banner of resistance of the Vale Inco strike on International Human Rights Day because this strike is evidence that it is the workers who are on the front lines fighting for a society fit for human beings. Resistance by the workers is the only obstacle standing in the way of monopolies like Vale Inco reducing the workers to chattel slaves, plundering our resources and leaving our economy in shambles.

The most human of all rights is the right to determine the affairs of society. Every individual is born and lives entirely in the context of a complex and interdependent human society. This dictates that all people must have a say in the affairs of society.

Monopoly right negates this fundamental human right. Monopolies like Vale SA amass huge war chests to seize control of resources and productive assets around the world for their own narrow self-serving aims. It is done at great expense to society, to countries and peoples everywhere -- as we are seeing now in Vale Inco's demands for concessions and in the difficult strike imposed upon the Vale Inco workers. Yet these same monopoly capitalists and their political representatives paint themselves as the champions of human rights!

The Sudbury MLPC salutes the Sudbury and District Labour Council for holding high the banner of International Human Rights Day with action in solidarity with striking USW 6500 workers. "When everything is said and done, rights can only find their concretization in the solution of the problems facing a modern society, be they related to the economic well-being of the people or to the peace and harmony between peoples within a nation or between nations, or to matters of a spiritual and social nature. Rights will be realized when authority changes the conditions in favour of the people and the people carry out their duty by ensuring that authorities do such a thing. People can perform their duty only if they have the right to conscience. This struggle, then, is the fulcrum on which the uplifting of the world and its renewal rests." (Hardial Bains, The State of Human Rights After the Cold War)

Victory to the Vale Inco Workers!
Uphold the Dignity of Labour!

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Week of Action in Support of
Striking Vale Inco Workers

Over the past several months we've chased Vale around the world to their home country of Brazil to the remote mines in New Caledonia; we participated in solidarity demonstrations in South Korea and Germany; and we confronted top management on the streets of Toronto and New York City. Now, as winter starts to really set in, it's time to turn the heat up in Sudbury.

Join strikers, family members, fellow steelworkers from around the province, retirees, and students for a week of action on the picketlines in Sudbury.

Thursday, December 10th—International Human Rights Day Candlelight Vigil on the Picketlines

Sponsored by the Sudbury District Labour Council and the United Steelworkers. Event starts at 6:00 pm at the McClelland Arena in Copper Cliff and continues at the Smelter Picketline.

Friday, December 11th—Out of the Classrooms and Onto the Picket Lines!

Students and faculty from Laurentian University are coming out to hold 'class' at the picketline at Clarabelle Mill at 11:00 am. Sponsored by the Laurentian University Faculty Association (LUFA) and Laurentian Canadian Federation of Students (CFS).

Saturday, December 12th—Sunday, December 13th—Families Supporting the Strikers Fundraiser

Bake sale, penny tables, indoor yard sale, face painting, door prizes, jewelry, and private vendors. Admission is $2.00 and children under 10 get in free. Saturday from 9am to 5pm and Sunday from noon to 5 pm at the new Steel Hall at 66 Brady St.

Sunday, December 13th—Steelworker Solidarity with the Strike

Join a busload of USW members from the Toronto area for an action on the Clarabelle Mill picketline at noon.

Monday, December 14th—Lessons from the Past—Protecting What We've Won

Retired veterans of the 1978 strike and other struggles at Inco tell their stories of how we won the contractual benefits we have now. Starts at 1:00 at the Smelter Picketline.

Tuesday, December 15th—Fair Deal for Our Families

Join members of the Families Supporting the Strikers Committee as they march from Copper Cliff Park to Vale's offices to deliver a message of support for the strikers. The event starts at 3:00 at Copper Cliff Park and the march steps off at 3:30.

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Kidd Creek Metallurgical -- Timmins

Stop Xstrata's Wrecking of our Economy


July 24, 2009: Members of Mine Mill Local 598/CAW, 686 of whom were laid off by Xstrata in February, joined
USW Local 6500 members who have been on strike against Vale Inco since July 13 for the "Remove Tony Clement from Government Rally" in Copper Cliff, Ontario.

Xstrata Copper Canada announced on December 7 that it is permanently closing copper and zinc metallurgical operations at the Kidd Metallurgical Site in Timmins on May 1, 2010. Roughly 500 unionized workers, members of CAW Local 599 -- and as many as 670 employees in total, by Xstrata's estimate -- will lose their jobs. Xstrata says it plans to continue operation of the Kidd mine and concentrator, shipping the product to its Horne smelter in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec.

Xstrata has struck another blow, following its layoff of half the workforce at its Sudbury mining operations, this time to the Kidd Met Site workers, their families, to Timmins and to the economy of northern Ontario. The provincial and federal governments must not permit monopolies like Xstrata to seize control of Canadian resources and productive assets and then wreck our economy when it suits their "business plan" to do so!

The federal government must uphold the interest of Canada over monopoly dictate and ensure economic activity here is of net benefit to Canada! The provincial government must ensure that public stewardship over our natural resources results in value added economic activity. Monopolies must not be permitted to turn back the clock, making us hewers of wood and drawers of water. Monopolies cannot be permitted to simply extract or harvest resources here then ship them elsewhere for processing and refining simply because it suits their "business plan." Such business plans are at odds with the needs of society and must be subordinated to the interests of society.

Xstrata bought the Kidd Metallurgical facility as part of its $18.1 billion purchase of Canadian nickel producer Falconbridge in 2006. The assets include a copper concentrator, smelter and refinery, with annual output of 145,000 metric tons of copper cathode and 150,000 tons of zinc. Xstrata acquired the Horne Smelter facility in Rouyn-Noranda as part of the same take-over. Conditions facing the workers at the Horne facility are nothing short of fascist, as was reported in TML.[1]

Xstrata Copper is the fourth largest global copper producer with attributable mined production in 2008 of 952,000 tonnes of copper in cathodes and concentrates. The company is also the world's second and third largest producer of smelter and refined copper production respectively, including from third party materials.

Now they are crying the blues that a "significant overcapacity of metallurgical plants globally," a "high Canadian dollar," "lower sale prices for by-products" etc. have "negatively impacted the viability of these operations." These are problems created by the monopolies themselves and of their monopoly capitalist system. Xstrata cannot be permitted to dictate that its difficulties must be solved at the expense of society. Xstrata cannot be permitted to wreck productive assets of our society, pit workers at one facility against those at another, and all the while use their "business decisions" to wring energy rebates and a host of other investment "incentives" from government.

Monopoly dictate must be curbed! The resources belong to the First Nations and to the Canadian people. Ontario and Canada need our productive assets such as mines, mills, smelters, etc. to be producing, providing for the needs of the society, not silenced and destroyed to suit the "business plan" of this or that monopoly.

Whose Economy! Our Economy!
Nation-Building Yes! Nation-Wrecking No!

Note

1. "Uphold the Dignity of the Horne Smelter Workers," TML Daily, November 5, 2009.

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"We Are Not Going to Let This
Happen without a Fight"

Our members received the worst possible news today with Xstrata's announced permanent closure of the copper and zinc operations at Kidd. The Company plans to continue operating the mine and concentrator, throwing roughly 500 CAW Local 599 members out of work. About 670 people in total will lose their jobs.

This is obviously a devastating blow to our members and their families, particularly at this time of year. When the dust settles, hundreds of other jobs will be affected in Timmins and the surrounding communities.

Ours is a highly productive and efficient workforce. Our safety statistics have improved immensely over the past couple years. There's not much more we could have done to satisfy this corporation. In fact, our membership has gone well above and beyond the normal call of duty.

Thompson Hickey told your Bargaining Committee members this past fall that our copper smelter had been shut down for business reasons only, that no other factor was considered. Our copper concentrate was shipped to Rouyn for processing. That's why they ran while we were shut down. Mr. Hickey told us that the Horne Smelter's business plan was better than ours, period.

Given such a callous statement, it's pretty hard to accept that Xstrata cares anything about its workers, our families, our communities, this province or this country. They just finished telling us how important sustainable development was to the Company. I have to ask, sustainability for whom? This closure will have a huge negative economic and social impact and all they can say is "it's just business"!

You can rest assured that we are not going to sit idly by and let this happen without a fight. Our mineral resources still belong to the people of Ontario. The federal government agreed to the takeover of Falconbridge by this foreign multi-national based on the fact that the deal would prove to be a net economic benefit to this country. Obviously that is not the case. The lost revenue to municipal and provincial coffers would be massive if our value-added production of refined metals ceases here at Kidd.

Despite the bad news, I hope our members remain focused on their jobs as much as possible. We don't want to see anyone injured. We still have a long way to go as we intend to prove to Xstrata Copper that they've made the wrong decision.

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U.S. Steel's Imperialist Logic

Absolutist Infallibility and Impunity

Part One

U.S. Steel's takeover of Stelco in 2007 and subsequent downsizing of its industrial capacity and attacks on steelworkers of Lake Erie Works have aroused strong feelings amongst both steelworkers and Canadians generally. Many feel this assault emerges from a negation of Canada's sovereignty leaving Canadians annexed and captive in their own land to outside forces over which they have little or no control.

The issue of control over Canada's economic affairs and who decides their direction has come to the fore not just with U.S. Steel's takeover of Stelco but also the seizing of all of Canada's integrated steel capacity and much of its manufacturing, retail, wholesale and transportation sectors. Sovereignty is negated with loss of control and the power to decide the direction of the country's basic industries. This loss of control leaves Canadians at the mercy not just of hidden economic forces of the capitalist system but interests that are alien and foreign and which serve anti-social aims and narrow interests at the expense of Canadians' well-being, their economy and the general interests of society.

Such is the case with U.S. Steel and its imperialist logic in response to the very simple demand of the Investment Canada Act (ICA) whether U.S. Steel's takeover of Stelco has been a net benefit to Canada or not. U.S. Steel responded, as will be detailed and analyZed in a series of articles, in an arrogant and absolutist style that could be paraphrased in the following manner:

How dare you Canadians even ask the question whether the purchase has been a net benefit or not! U.S. Steel decides such matters because that is our prerogative of ownership and monopoly right. We have acquired ownership rights to Stelco and that is all that needs to be said. We act in our own self-interest as owners of capital and those interests necessarily correspond to your best interests for how could it be otherwise. To suggest other interests are in contradiction with our self-interest or heaven forbid "more important" than our interests goes beyond the bounds of reality and legality. The interests and rights of ownership dictate the existence of rights. In the face of ownership, how can other rights exist separately? Other rights than those emanating from ownership, if you can even call them rights, are to be seen only as a faint reflection of our rights in a similar manner to wealth trickling down to the masses from an overabundance held by owners of capital. Your rights and wealth come from the rights and wealth of U.S. Steel and other corporations. If we lose our rights and wealth, you are left with nothing. Why can you Canadians not understand and accept such simple logic?

When confronted with problems arising from the economic crisis or anything else, we respond in ways that serve our ownership self-interest, which is identical to your best interests. To behave otherwise would violate our rights of ownership. Even to pose the question of net benefit to others besides U.S. Steel is to violate our rights of ownership of Canada's social property and your rights that come from serving our rights, which are protected and guaranteed under the Canadian Constitution and Charter of Rights and Freedom. To challenge our rights is to deny your own rights under the Constitution and Charter, which is why we have launched a court Charter challenge on your and our behalf.

If you Canadians had kept Stelco as an "independent" steel producer, it would have been completely wiped out by this recession and you would have been left with nothing -- no rights, no wealth. You should be thankful that at least some possibility remains of restarting the mills once you Canadians accept the reality of concessions and that your rights and wealth exist only within the protection of our ownership rights and wealth.

The paraphrased words of U.S. Steel may seem harsh but they are not an exaggeration. U.S. Steel has indeed launched a Charter and Constitutional challenge to the Investment Canada Act, which has effectively derailed ICA's court action to answer the very simple question: Has U.S. Steel's seizure of Stelco been a net benefit to Canada? The next court date for the Charter challenge is not until next year, meanwhile Stelco's Lake Erie Works is completely shut down and Hamilton Works is only producing slab.

The negation of Canadians' rights by U.S. Steel's monopoly right can be found in its own words in its court filing earlier this year, "Response to demand under Section 39 of the Investment Canada Act."

In the Overview of the Response, U.S. Steel summarizes its position with the imperialist logic that anything it does must be consistent with all expectations because ownership of Stelco gives U.S. Steel a sort of papal infallibility that cannot be questioned. Outcome must be and has been consistent with expectations, as only U.S. Steel's expectations matter.

Why does U.S. Steel have such absolutist power, people may ask? Because ownership bestows upon it monopoly right, which has become a new absolutist right of infallibility and impunity in a medieval sense negating the sovereignty and rights of the people. To question the absolutist ruler is wrong and illegal even when the absolutist ruler is clearly wrong. If the Emperor or U.S. Steel has no clothes, to say so is contrary to monopoly right and its perceived Constitutional and Charter rights rendering such assertions illegal or at least meaningless and without force.

U.S. Steel writes in its Response:

"U.S. Steel's performance to date has been substantially consistent with the original expectations of the parties and it has met every specific performance objective for which it can be held accountable. In the event there is any present or future inability to meet, or to continue to meet, any specific performance objective, such inability is the result of factors beyond the control of U.S. Steel and for which it cannot be held accountable."

This is U.S. Steel's version of a "Get out of jail" card or open-ended absolution card for any perceived sin. A priori, U.S. Steel declares itself innocent of any infraction because if "such inability to meet any specific performance objective" can be proven, it is of no consequence or importance and holds no legal or moral weight because "such inability is the result of factors beyond the control of U.S. Steel and for which" quite obviously according to monopoly right, "U.S. Steel cannot be held accountable." The case is closed and settled in favour of the absolutist ruler before it begins and that is one reason U.S. Steel is challenging the constitutionality of the Investment Canada Act. It considers itself "beyond" not only the forces of nature and the economy but Canadian law for any wrongdoing and perceived lack of net benefit could only be caused by factors beyond the control of the totalitarian ruler for which it is not responsible. Imperialist logic contends any perceived wrongdoing or lack of net benefit emerges from an ether world outside science, beyond the laws of nature and economics and the capacity of U.S. Steel to control or any monopoly or person to control for that matter, which renders the ruling oligarchy a force above the laws of humans, a force that can act with impunity according to its will and self-interest.

How can Canadians dispute such absolutist arguments and assertions? The verdict is set in stone as a monopoly doctrine before any actions occur or facts are presented that can be judged in court or elsewhere, for they are all a "result of factors beyond the control of U.S. Steel and for which it cannot be held accountable." According to U.S. Steel, its imperialist logic is irrefutable and bolstered by its ownership rights within the Constitution and Charter of Rights and Freedom. It acts with impunity, as any benefits are attributed to its "good works" and any lack of benefits is attributed to forces beyond its control.

The peasants, merchants and others of medieval times could not dispute the absolutist logic and the impunity of the ruling oligarchs within the perspective and framework of the medieval system. They concluded that the only way to deal with absolutism was through its revolutionary overthrow. That is what Canadians are confronted with today in the form of the imperialist logic and absolutist rule of monopoly right that negate the people's rights within a perspective and political and economic framework that could be described as totalitarian democracy. Monopoly right and imperialist logic negate the people's rights and logic and vice versa. Totalitarian democracy negates democratic renewal and vice versa. U.S. Steel must be confronted with a similar determination and enlightened organized force that the people mobilized to confront the absolutist rulers of medieval times and declare forcefully and with conviction that this Canadian economy is our economy. The people have the right to control and decide its direction in opposition to the monopoly right of U.S. Steel and any other absolutist force that seeks to negate the people's sovereignty and rights.

U.S. Steel Must Be Held to Account!
Whose Economy? Our Economy! Who Decides? We Decide!
Sovereignty Yes! Annexation No!
Organize and Fight for Democratic Renewal!

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Sept-Îles, Quebec

For a Moratorium on Uranium Exploration and Mining

Last week, twenty doctors in Sept-Îles announced their intention to resign and move out of the area because of the Quebec government's refusal to intervene against the opening of a uranium mine at Lake Kachiwiss. They are denouncing the government's indifference over the dangers posed to public health and to the environment by mining radioactive material and have made their plans known by way of an open letter to Quebec Minister of Health Yves Bolduc.

The project for the exploration and mining of uranium has been vigorously opposed by the people of Sept-Îles ever since the company Terra Ventures undertook exploration work near Lake Kachiwiss four years ago. They are demanding a moratorium on uranium exploration and mining in Quebec so that light can be shed on all its associated risks (see doctors' letter below). Communities across Canada are organizing to obtain a moratorium, already in force in Nova Scotia and British Columbia. In fact, Terra Ventures' head office is in British Columbia where uranium exploration has been under a moratorium since 2008.

TML supports the demand for a moratorium and considers the concerns associated with such reckless squandering of natural resources, championed by Jean Charest and Stephen Harper, as very legitimate. Apart from the hazards associated with the mining of uranium, trade arrangements for this radioactive material are intimately linked to the war preparations of the U.S. Empire and people want a say on that. While Charest and Harper travel the world to sell Quebec's and Canada's natural resources abroad, that does not mean that this contributes to building a sovereign, self-reliant economy, where all sectors and regions are developed. The people are also determined to have their say in this regard.

Furthermore, the way in which the mining company Terra Ventures and the Charest government are proceeding is in complete disregard of the hereditary rights of the First Nations, another topic where people want their say. Innu Chief Mike McKenzie of the Uashat mak Mani-Utenam community near Sept-Îles said, "We have been opposed to the exploration and mining of uranium on our ancestral territory for a very long time. We have sent a letter to the Minister of Natural Resources asking for a moratorium but have received no reply." "The mining of this uranium deposit threatens the Moisie river on which we live," he added, pointing out that such a mining project cannot proceed without the consent of the Uashat mak Mani-Utenam.

Related Facts

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's trip to China and India has brought to the fore just how much China needs uranium and is its largest purchaser. As for India, it is ready to build between 40 to 50 nuclear power plants.

In Charest's Northern Plan, which includes his government's mining strategy and infrastructure program to provide the monopolies with access to mineral resources by the monopolies, gold and uranium are the most coveted of metals. For uranium alone more than 80 exploration sites in Quebec have been mapped out.

Saskatchewan is the largest supplier of uranium in Canada, but its potential has peaked in terms of its capacity as a supplier. Quebec is the next largest with that resource in abundance on its territory. According to a survey carried out by the Quebec Institute of Statistics on mining investments in Quebec, a record high was reached in 2008. Despite the financial crisis, this represented a 24 percent increase over 2007. Furthermore, with investments of $526 million in 2008, exploration and deposit appraisal reached heights not seen in 20 years. Gold was the main metal sought by the mining companies, accounting for over half of all investments, while 17 percent was targeted for uranium. Approximately 95 percent of all committed funds were allotted to three areas: the Nord-du-Québec region, Abitibi-Témiscamingue and the North Shore.

In addition to plans for the construction of road infrastructure from Sept-Îles to Fermont, in Chibougamau and up to Churchill Falls, $20 million is being invested in the Port of Sept-Îles, which is the second largest and most busy port in terms oftr ansport of ore by ship in Quebec. Some of the companies active in the immediate vicinity of Sept-Îles include: Alouette, Alcoa, Iron Ore, Wabush, Port Cartier and Fer et Titane.

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Doctors' Letter of Resignation

Dr Yves Bolduc, Minister of Health and Social Services,

Due to the imminent opening of a uranium mine project in the Sept-Îles area, some twenty doctors from the Hospital Centre have already decided to leave the region.

It was back in November 2008 that for Public Health reasons 34 doctors from the Centre de Santé et de Services Sociaux de Sept-Îles opposed uranium mine exploration and development in their region, while other provinces such as Nova Scotia, British Columbia and New Brunswick, along with Nunavut demanded a moratorium. At that time many North Shore municipalities, after consulting with their citizenry and numerous other groups, made the same demands for a moratorium to the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources. Those demands were mainly founded upon disastrous environmental consequences and in particular, the release into the atmosphere of radioactive by-products of uranium decay, many of which have half-lives spanning many tens of thousands of years. Ironically, all Quebec doctors received a notice in October 2008 from the Assistant Deputy Minister for Health aimed at making our patients more aware of the problem with [the radioactive gas] radon so as to promote prevention measures, as that product, along with the other by-products of uranium decay, is the main cause of lung cancer in non-smokers.

The report of the Auditor General of Quebec, Renaud Lachance, published last spring confirmed the total lack of any management plan for mine tailings by the mining companies, thereby reinforcing already expressed concerns over the harmful consequences to health and the environment of such projects. Those concerns were again revived during the airing of the program "Enquête" on CBC television during the first week of November 2009, where it was clearly revealed that in Quebec there were 350 abandoned mine tailing sites and that the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources were strongly criticized for their laxity and total lack of rigour regarding the management of those tailings.

Recently, following the issuance of authorization permits by the Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources and of the Environment for the construction of an access road to a uranium exploration and mining site in Sept-Îles, uranium companies resumed their activities after a brief pause in the summer of 2009, thereby sending a clear message to the population that the development of a uranium mining project in the vicinity of the municipality was imminent, despite a general outcry of protest.

All the basic research clearly and unanimously points to the harmful consequences of radiation on human health in the long term. We, the doctors of the Centre de Santé et des Services Sociaux, have difficulty comprehending why work has resumed, particularly since we are aware that in Nova Scotia, where the moratorium in place since 1982 is to become force of law, as stated by Nova Scotia's Minister of Natural Resources John MacDowell in October 2009, thereby relegating the citizens of the province of Quebec to second-class status...

Furthermore, it seems quite nonchalant to give the go-ahead to the development of uranium mines in Quebec and even more so on land comprising City of Sept-Îles, especially when we know that important American public health studies (New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado) have already been published. The problem of radioactivity associated with uranium mines does not only concern the population of Sept-Îles. The multitude of ongoing projects in Quebec is invariably exposing the province's entire population to such radiation, therefore the problem concerns the citizens of cities like Montreal, Quebec, Sherbrooke as much as it does those in the North Shore.

Concerned over the population's health as well as our own and those we hold dear (especially our children), we (the signatories) have decided to leave the region and many the province... Though we deplore the effects this massive exodus will have on the population and the remaining medical personnel, we consider it contrary to our code of ethics not to put the competent authorities on notice. We are aware that this first massive exodus will lead later on to other departures and will impact on any future recruitment, whether it be health care professionals or the specialized manpower so sought after by the industry already present on the North Shore, as long as such projects persist...

Bruneau Imbeault MD, respirologist and spokesperson
Isabelle Gingras MD, psychiatrist and spokesperson
Véronique Beaudry MD, psychiatrist
Jinny Bédard MD, internist
Stéphane Bélanger MD, family doctor
Annie Bernatchez MD, family doctor
Lucie Brault MD, family doctor
Isabelle Bossé MD, gynecologist-obstetrician
Manon Charbonneau MD, psychiatrist
Louis-André Chartrand MD, cardiologist
Anne-Marie Forget MD, internist
Annabelle Gagnon-Perreault MD, family doctor
Pierre Guèvromont MD, oto-rhino-laryngologist
Pascale Lafortune MD, internist
Isabelle Larocque MD, family doctor
Daniel Lefebvre MD, anesthetist
Julie Marchand MD, child psychiatrist
Laila Popescu MD, family doctor
Yveline Romain MD, family doctor
Éléna Stégaru MD, family doctor

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Doctors or Nuclear Energy?

Sept-Îles Sans Uranium supports the doctors who have put Health Minister Yves Bolduc, and hence the Quebec government, on notice that they feel they must leave the region because uraniferous mining activity continues despite all the dangers of radioactivity.

We find that Quebec uranium, already renowned and claimed, is taking worldwide significance as a result of emerging countries such as India which, to arrive at a 45 percent greenhouse gas emission reduction in Copenhagen, are converting their energy sources to nuclear energy.

Canada, with its technology and industry, has just signed a nuclear cooperation agreement with India that will provide our uranium and our businesses with privileged access to that market (dozens of nuclear power plants). One nuclear power plant alone is equal in dollars to the La Romaine project. Imagine the pressure from lobbies!

Imagine that for each barrel of uranium extracted from Quebec's subsoil twenty or so barrels of radioactive matter mixed into millions of tonnes of mine tailings will get left behind in each producing region that we, the citizens of Quebec, will ultimately end up managing for all time!

In October 2009 the Ontario government alotted $250 million for the tailings management of an old uranium mine. This is equal to a rehabilitation budget of more than 300 abandoned mine sites in Quebec. Uranium is a metal unlike any other. It is radioactive and all Quebecers have the right to be informed and consulted regarding the future of Quebec's uranium industry. In the meantime, a moratorium is called for.

For information, contact:
Marc Fafard, Spokesperson for Sept-Îles sans URANIUM
418-927-2528, sisur2009@yahoo.ca

(Translated from the original French by TML Daily)

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