Justin Trudeau's First Big Mistake - Going Ahead With $15 Billion Arms Sale to Saudi Arabia

'Real Change' the Saudi arms deal isn't

Adam Barratt, director of communications for Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion, said on Monday a $15 billion contract with the government of Arab country would still go ahead. He said:  “A private company is delivering the goods according to a signed contract with the government of Saudi Arabia. The government of Canada has no intention of cancelling that contract." The Trudeau Liberals decision to go ahead with the $15 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia while at the same time condemning the Whabbist kingdom's mass execution of their opponents, including a peaceful Shia cleric leader Nimr al-Nimr, is hypocricy.

This action, far from being the 'real change' promised by Trudeau in his recent election campaign, is exactly the same position as his deposed predecessor Harper took  in a similar situation almost a year ago. At that time Sweden canceled its arms deal with Saudi Arabia after a human rights dispute.

Also in today's news the article: 'No Deal? Germany May Cancel Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia'. So if the Swedes can do it and the Germans can do it, it isn't illegal in world tade terms...it's a matter of choice...and Trudeau has made the wrong one.

According to Global Research – an independent research organisation based in Montreal – the deal, which dwarves any other military exports brokered by the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), for an undisclosed number of Light Armoured Vehicles to be manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS), based in London, Ontario is the largest military exports contract in Canadian history. The GR report claims that federal rules oblige Ottawa to examine whether arms shipment to countries with poor human rights records would endanger the local population.

This despite the facts, quoting the Global Research article that:
Fact 1: The deal is, by far, the largest military exports contract in Canadian history.

Fact 2: Canada’s trade policies state that Canada “closely controls” military exports to governments with “a persistent record of serious violations of the human rights of their citizens.”

Fact 3: Saudi Arabia is one of the worst human rights violators in the world.

Fact 4: Documentary evidence shows that the Saudi regime uses Light Armoured Vehicles against civilians.

As an old friend commented earlier today in an email exchange on this topic: "It’s not what they say, but what they do." i agree completely and suggested that it' time to start a list eh!