The sale of weaponized Light Armoured Vehicles (LAVs) to Saudi Arabia has raised a heated debate in Canada, pitting so-called realists against people who expect trade to be conducted according to a minimum set of moral values. Outgoing Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s swan song was the $15-billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, which Harper boasted would provide 3,000 jobs.
A poll by Nanos Research showed that 60% of Canadians feel it is important to ensure arms go only to countries “that respect human rights” vs providing jobs to a few Canadians. The same poll showed that 86% hold a negative or somewhat negative view of Saudi Arabia.
The proposed sale is now being protested in a class action law suit by University of Montreal professor Daniel Turp. Turp and his group’s challenge, Operation Armoured Rights, points to how poorly Saudi Arabia treats its own citizens, their horrific bombing campaign in Yemen, and their support for Wahhabi extremists in the Syrian insurgency.
The Quebec and Federal Court challenges argue that the Canadian government is violating its own arms-export rules by permitting the armoured vehicles to go to Saudi Arabia. The law states shipments cannot proceed “unless it can be demonstrated there is no reasonable risk that the goods might be used against the civilian population.”
Despite the legal challenge, Canadian Foreign Minister Stephane Dion forged on with the sale. He did bow to public pressure to reveal the…