Wednesday, June 10, 2020

The Liberals' inexplicable infatuation with arms exports to Saudi Arabia

Judging by letter-writers to the Globe and Mail, a lot of people of all political persuasions are having trouble understanding, and coming to terms with, the Liberal government's infatuation with arming Saudi Arabia.
I have written previously about how they seem to have taken advantage of most people's preoccupation with the pandemic to push through a new deal to export light armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia, in spite of the kingdom's abysmal human rights record and their ongoing role as an aggressor in Yemen.
Now, it turns out the cash-strapped Saudi royal family are behind on their payments so, rather than clutch at the opportunity to rethink a terrible deal, what do the Liberals do? They bail out contractor General Dynamics Land Systems Canada with a loan from the seldom-used "Canada Account", which is reserved for large, risky transactions "of a sensitive nature" but deemed to be in the "national interest".
Sensitive? I'll say! National interest? Not so much. The Liberals continue to contradict their own stated export policies and, in the process, give the other parties a handy stick to beat them with. Inexplicable!

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