Wednesday, November 07, 2018

Will Canada sell weapons to the Saudi Arabian?

Justin Trudeau is confronted by a simple question of conscience or cash.  Should Trudeau tear up a 2014 military deal with Saudi Arabia worth $12bn?  Will Trudeau tear up the 2014 agreement for all those light armoured vehicles? Alas, the deal included what Trudeau’s government has described as a prohibitive cancellation agreement which would cost the Canadians billions of dollars.

The prevailing view of arms cancellation, is it wouldn’t really “punish” the Saudis, and anyway they would only buy its armoured vehicles from other countries.

Dennis Horak, a former Canadian ambassador to Saudi Arabia  announced that cancellation would now “only serve to punish the 3,000-plus Canadian workers… who will see their high-skilled, middle-class jobs disappear for a gesture with no consequences in Saudi Arabia”.



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