john-ivison-as-canada-considers-cancelling-saudi-lav-deal-trudeau-must-choose-between-idealism-and-electoral-reality

Thank you my friend LTC (Join to see) for sharing the perspective of John Ivison "Trudeau has talked about the potential of incurring 'significant financial penalties' of over $1B. And there is the prospect of thousands of lost Canadian jobs.

Could the federal government really cancel the multibillion-dollar contract to supply Saudi Arabia with armoured vehicles?

After all, it is the eve of an election year, and southwestern Ontario — where the light armoured vehicles are made, in London — will be a key electoral battleground. The Liberals hold two of five seats in the city and have their eyes on a third.

The General Dynamics Land System-Canada plant employs more than 1,800 Londoners and there are 240 companies in the region that provide supplies for the massive contract.

Given the circumstances, many people have treated the Liberal government’s bellicose statements on the subject with skepticism.

But sources suggest Prime Minister Justin Trudeau government is deadly serious. Senior officials from the departments of Global Affairs and Finance recently met with the Saudis and representatives of General Dynamics, with cancellation of the contract very much on the agenda.

Chrystia Freeland, the global affairs minister, is said to be keen to follow through on comments she made publicly at the end of last month, when she linked arms sales to Saudi Arabia to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

No new arms export permits will be issued to the desert kingdom, she said. “I also want to be clear that in the past, we have suspended already issued export permits and, as the prime minister has said, that is action that we have taken in the past and we stand prepared to take in the future.”

For the same reason that Canada may kill the deal, the USMC should stay as far away as possible.