An Update on the Canada-Saudi Arms Deal
Finally confirmed by video footage obtained by Radio Canada, Canadian-made Light Armoured Vehicles are being used to kill Shia minorities who are rebelling against their oppressive government in Saudi Arabia.
Without any shadow of a doubt, Justin Trudeau must cancel the arms deal with Saudi Arabia immediately. The $14.8 Billion deal was crafted by the Conservative Harper government, where they agreed to sell the Saudis Ontario-manufactured and currently-in-service military equipment, and it was continued by the current administration without any sign of hesitation — quietly tiptoeing around the issue and rationalizing the sale in order to not inflict any economic harm on the country in the early days of being in office. Trudeau even gave a lecture about having to maintain the deal as a matter of “principle” last year in a nothing-but-ironic press conference.
No “liberal” with any principles would support the sale of military resources to a state that kills its citizens for dissenting or not believing in the state religion, let alone allow that state to use the dealer’s weapons and technology to do such things (not like that distinction should really matter if you’re a person with any heart, anyway).
In addition to our state actively sponsoring terrorism by providing our military equipment to a despotic empire, we’ve been allowing our private defence companies in Canada, like Terradyne Armored Vehicles, to sell their products to these states too. Currently, the Canadian government is apparently considering stripping their trade permit, but this evidence has been on the books for a while now and nothing has been done.
Just know that Canadian-made products, regardless of whether or not they’re being sold by our government (which mostly, they are), are assisting authoritarian regimes kill those who speak out against them in different parts of the world. What happened to freedom and democracy? There was recently a video published of a Terradyne APC being used by the Saudis while demolishing a devastated Shia town with heavy machine gun fire in the background. This is just going to keep on happening until something gets done. (http://www.cbc.ca/…/saudi-arabia-armoured-vehicles-investig…)
This needs to be shut down immediately.
While we’re at it, maybe the international community can boot them off the UN Human Rights Council and Commission on the Status of Women, which yes, is actually a thing.
The fact that we’re still supporting these states is absolutely crazy, all because we’re dependent on gulf state oil. It is disgusting, it is unprincipled, it is all based on blood money, and none of it has any basis in a consistent ideology whatsoever. When you hear western leaders talk about the threat of “radical Islam,” remember that we’re supporting one ultra-conservative ideology by giving them guns while (rightfully) opposing another, even though they are fundamentally the same thing. It’s not about opposing ideologies. The west still trades with countries that have newly implemented Sharia law and chops off limbs for crimes like thievery. It’s not about ideologies at all — it’s about money. Just remember that.
Absolutely insane. Call your MP. Share this around.
Currently, we are prioritizing profits over human lives. I encourage you to actively disagree with this policy approach.
You can make a difference.
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Write or Fax the Prime Minister:
https://pm.gc.ca/eng/connect
Many of these will take less than 5 minutes out of your day but I think this is something worth taking that time for. If you’re reading this, you’re already a step in the right direction. Make a difference.
Thanks for reading.
