Doctors Call on Surgeon Tory to Oppose Asbestos

Kellie Leitch torn between being her hippocratic oath and being a hypocrite.

Rookie Conservative MP Kellie Leitch, an orthopedic surgeon, has been put in the awkward position of having her medical peers call on her to stand up to her new boss and oppose the party's support of Quebec's asbestos industry. Two-hundred-and-fifty medical doctors and other health professionals from across the country have written to Leitch, telling her to uphold her hippocratic oath and to “put the protection of health ahead of personal advantage” by pushing for the Tories to drop their support of the dwindling asbestos industry. Mines in Quebec export chrysotile asbestos to many developing world countries, where the mineral is believed to cause as many as 100,000 deaths a year. Leitch's office has declined to comment, telling Canadian Press to talk to the Ministry of Natural Resources. Looks like Leitch has already learned the delicate art of buck-passing. She'll do fine in politics.