Canada is looking for a way out of big Saudi arms deal, says PM

[webfact]

Canada is looking for a way out of big Saudi arms deal, says PM

 

FILE PHOTO: Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a news conference on the final day of the G20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina December 1, 2018. REUTERS/Martin Acosta

 

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, speaking in an interview that aired on Sunday, said for the first time that his Liberal government was looking for a way out of a multibillion-dollar arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

 

The comments represented a notable hardening in tone from Trudeau, who previously said there would be huge penalties for scrapping the $13 billion agreement for armoured vehicles made by the Canadian unit of General Dynamics Corp.

 

Last month, Trudeau said Canada could freeze the relevant export permits if it concluded the weapons had been misused.

"We are engaged with the export permits to try and see if there is a way of no longer exporting these vehicles to Saudi Arabia," Trudeau told CTV. He did not give further details.

 

Political opponents, citing the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia's involvement in the Yemen war, insist Trudeau should end the General Dynamics deal, which was negotiated by the previous Conservative government.

 

Relations between Ottawa and Riyadh have been tense since a diplomatic dispute over human rights earlier this year. Ottawa says it has been consulting allies on what steps to take after Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

 

"The murder of a journalist is absolutely unacceptable and that's why Canada from the very beginning had been demanding answers and solutions on that," said Trudeau.

 

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-12-17

[Tug]

An honorable leader of an honorable nation kudos to my brothers and sisters to the north

[ReMarKable]

I admire PM Trudeau, whose father was also a PM.  Americans should have a parliamentary system, as most the rest of the world does.  The current American systems is much too corrupt for action like Trudeau's.

[farcanell]

More deals on the table for mr trump to make, because as he noted regards US direct supply, if the US don’t supply the armaments, Russia will, and he can’t have that.... money money money.

[IAMHERE]

Bull shit; follow the money. Talk is cheap, the arms deal will happen.

[Cryingdick]

Grow some balls and simply cancel it. There are many others to fill the vacuum the Saudis won't care. Take the penalty and cancel or simply go through with it. Trudeau is looking for a way to weasel out of a contract. I am not saying g it is right or wrong but cancel it and accept the consequences.

[bristolboy]

1 minute ago, Cryingdick said:

Grow some balls and simply cancel it. There are many others to fill the vacuum the Saudis won't care. Take the penalty and cancel or simply go through with it. Trudeau is looking for a way to weasel out of a contract. I am not saying g it is right or wrong but cancel it and accept the consequences.

You mean he could mouth off like a certain other political leader and then ignore or deny later that he said it? How clueless and unprincipled would someone have to be to do that? Lucky there are no current examples of such a person. 

[Cryingdick]

8 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

You mean he could mouth off like a certain other political leader and then ignore or deny later that he said it? How clueless and unprincipled would someone have to be to do that? Lucky there are no current examples of such a person. 

 

If he has such lofty morals he just cancels the deal. What is the need to negotiate?

[bristolboy]

16 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

 

If he has such lofty morals he just cancels the deal. What is the need to negotiate?

Did Trudeau claim he has lofty morals? That's your characterization. 

[300sd]

Won't matter much, most gov'ts kill people. But I agree and while your at it, break your extradition treaty with the US briefly!

 

(most gov'ts kill people, well I could be wrong on that!)

[Cryingdick]

8 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Did Trudeau claim he has lofty morals? That's your characterization. 

 

You like the sound of your own typing much of the time. Trudeau is looking for a moral reason he can break the contract and not get penalized. Much like anywhere else Canada will deal with the Saudis when money is involved.

 

If he indeed had any morals he would just cancel the contract out of the principle of the thing. 

 

 

[Galactus]

sounds good to me. Justin has a lot more honor then Trump for sure and doesnt see everything as money.

he gave a good lesson to US.

[bristolboy]

5 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

 

You like the sound of your own typing much of the time. Trudeau is looking for a moral reason he can break the contract and not get penalized. Much like anywhere else Canada will deal with the Saudis when money is involved.

 

If he indeed had any morals he would just cancel the contract out of the principle of the thing. 

 

 

I think Trudeau demonstrated his morals already when he refused to apologize for the criticism of Saudi Arabia that resulted in the cancellation of SA's deal to train medical students in Canada. That was quite a blow to the Canadian hospital system but Canada stood firm.

[Cryingdick]

27 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

I think Trudeau demonstrated his morals already when he refused to apologize for the criticism of Saudi Arabia that resulted in the cancellation of SA's deal to train medical students in Canada. That was quite a blow to the Canadian hospital system but Canada stood firm.

 

Okay. that means that all is left for his morals is to accept the financial consequences of not selling guns to KSA. It's a lousy few billion.It shouldn't be a problem. 

 

He should get off the fence. 

[guest879]

Trudeau is engaging in more expensive virtue signaling. He is determined to drive the Canada to financial ruin in the hope of looking good. He cares more for illegal immigrants than he does for his own oil workers. Every Canadian I know is just waiting for next year to vote him out. MCGA.

[Ulic]

Tredeau is a silver spoon Buffon and as dumb as a post. A SJW who has both his and his wife's trust funds in offshore secret tax haven accounts. 

[bristolboy]

1 hour ago, Ulic said:

Tredeau is a silver spoon Buffon and as dumb as a post. A SJW who has both his and his wife's trust funds in offshore secret tax haven accounts. 

Not only is this false but Trudeau has actually beefed up Canada's tax enforcement  to go after tax evaders.

[farcanell]

3 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

 

Okay. that means that all is left for his morals is to accept the financial consequences of not selling guns to KSA. It's a lousy few billion.It shouldn't be a problem. 

 

He should get off the fence. 

Unfortunately there is the law to consider.... which is what Canada is looking at...  Governments that act outside of the legal framework set down in their constitution, are not acting within their authorized powers.... or legally.

 

now this may work in a flawed democracy like the US of A, but Canada is better than that... after all, the PM of a fully democratic country can’t just give himself a pardon.

 

so to govern per the law, Canada must prove the right to be able to terminate the contracts.... and it seems that the PM has well and truly gotten off the fence, in starting the process, unlike the swamp critters south of the border.

[Nilats]

I'm not an outright Trudeau hater  - I agree with some of the things he says/does, but the main problem I see with this guy is that due to his mega "liberal" stance and his general incompetence in understanding how to run his office, mistakes in foreign policy etc, it will obviously lead to a majority Conservative win after the next elections - and that would be a real shame for Canada imo, who knows what policies those guys could enact in Canada... so whatever Trudeau does it's all premature celebrations imo.

[doacko]

Cryingdick is right. The boy should get off the fence--hopefully without feeling the need to leap and dance in colorful ethnic regalia!

[bristolboy]

6 minutes ago, doacko said:

Cryingdick is right. The boy should get off the fence--hopefully without feeling the need to leap and dance in colorful ethnic regalia!

Well, I don't know where cryingdick is from but I suspect that he's not aware that Canada is a nation of laws. So there may be legal impediments to Trudeau simply cancelling a deal by fiat.

[doacko]

 

 

 

16 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Well, I don't know where cryingdick is from but I suspect that he's not aware that Canada is a nation of laws. So there may be legal impediments to Trudeau simply cancelling a deal by fiat.

I am sure there are "legal Impediments", but if our gloryboy wants to take a moral stand, he shouldnt let a few billion hard earned tax dollars prevent some unilateral action stand in the way. I guess the old saying goes something like: "you can't have it both ways".

[bristolboy]

11 minutes ago, doacko said:

 

 

 

I am sure there are "legal Impediments", but if our gloryboy wants to take a moral stand, he shouldnt let a few billion hard earned tax dollars prevent some unilateral action stand in the way. I guess the old saying goes something like: "you can't have it both ways".

So you mean he should break the law?

I think you're confusing Canada's chief executive with that of a neighbor somewhere to the south.

[oldhippy]

10 hours ago, Ulic said:

Tredeau is a silver spoon Buffon and as dumb as a post. A SJW who has both his and his wife's trust funds in offshore secret tax haven accounts. 

If they are secret, how do you know about them?

Are you privy to information that we mere mortals are unaware of?

Are you a secret agent? A troll? An alien? An embittered sour person?

Sounds like fake news to me.

 

[doacko]

Pretty hard to confuse the boy up here with the orange haired moron. I wouldnt expect our boy-wonder to tell awful lies to his wife and then hire somebody to do his dirty laundry, and then lie some more about the instructions he gave to his fall guy.

Just to break a contract on moral grounds, between two parties. Its not a crime and it happens all the time.

[Aussie999]

18 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

 

If he has such lofty morals he just cancels the deal. What is the need to negotiate?

Like all contracts there are repercussions to cancelling them, unless there has been a breach of conditions, you suggest a legal black hole.

[Aussie999]

17 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

 

Okay. that means that all is left for his morals is to accept the financial consequences of not selling guns to KSA. It's a lousy few billion.It shouldn't be a problem. 

 

He should get off the fence. 

Wrong, there could be international repercussions, this is NOT only about money, time to wake up to the real world.

[Stargeezr]

Pierre Eliot Trudeau , hated western Canada, Justin does as well.

 He 's just a younger baffoon than Trump. No pipelines, because la la town in B.C. and Frog town in Quebec do not want one. The Green jerks and NDP fool in B.C. think that they do not need oil anymore. Alberta is hurting, but Quebec will still get 11 billion dollars from our province. Nice Hey!  Yes Canada does not have Trump but still have enough idiots anyway.  Please do not think that Trudeau is anything special, after all he paid a former murderer, 10.5 million after getting the slime out of Cubas hotel, prison. This guy has a sister who consorts with terrorists. The jerk threw a grenade

that killed a US medic as well.  Justin is no hero. Hopefully he will be voted out in the next election.

Geezer

[stevenl]

11 hours ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Pierre Eliot Trudeau , hated western Canada, Justin does as well.  He s just a younger baffoon than Trump. No pipelines, because la la town in B.C. and Frog town in Quebec do not want one. The Green jerks and NDP fool

in B.C. think that they do not need oil anymore. Alberta is hurting, but Quebec will still get 11 billion dollars from our province. Nice Hey!  Yes Canada does not have Trump but still have enough idiots anyway.  Please do not think that Trudeau is anything special, after all he paid a former murderer, 10.5 million after getting the slime out of Cubas hotel, prison. This guy has a sister who consorts with terrorists. The jerk threw a gernade

that killed a US medic as well.  Justin is no hero. Hopefully he will be voted out in the next election.

Geezer

Good you got that off your chest.

 

Can we now get back to the topic at hand?

[spidermike007]

Can one even imagine, in the furthest reaches of one's imagination, Trump doing something like this? Doing something because it was right, and honorable. Making a choice based on the interests of the nation, ethics, morality, and righteousness, over cash? Never happen, in a million years. He does not have the gravitas for such an act of courage. I admire Canada alot, for even considering this. This would be a huge statement to both America, which is entirely without a moral compass as the moment, and the Saudis, who are a murderous dictatorship, and do not deserve the prestige they are accorded. Buy non Saudi oil. Sunoco and in the US Valero. In Europe Hess or BP.