A union leader says the province has quietly lifted a stop work order imposed on an oilsands tank construction site in northern Alberta after two workers died.

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, says officials in the Immigration Department told him about the development Thursday.

In a letter to Immigration Minister Iris Evans, McGowan says he believed the stop-work order would remain in place until the end of an investigation into what happened at the site near Fort McMurray.

McGowan wants to know whether the review into the deaths and a second non-fatal collapse three weeks later has been completed.

He has also written a letter to Justice Minister Ron Stevens asking for a public fatality inquiry into the deaths.

The Chinese men were working on the multibillion-dollar Horizon oilsands project belonging to Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ).

The Edmonton Sun, Page 33, Sat July 14 2007