Canada strikes new deal with Saudi Arabia, clearing way for armoured vehicle sales
Canada has struck a new contract with Saudi Arabia that eventually will allow it to resume exports of light armoured vehicles to the kingdom, the foreign affairs minister announced Thursday.
Francois-Philippe Champagne said the revised $14 billion agreement — which for years has been a political flashpoint because of the desert kingdom’s dismal human rights record — will allow the Liberal government to speak more freely about its terms.
The original contract, signed by the previous Conservative government, was cloaked in terms of extraordinary secrecy that prevented public discussion of some of its most basic of details, such as the number of vehicles on order and the penalties for defaulting on or cancelling the deal.
«The government undertook negotiations to improve the terms of the contract,» Champagne said in a written statement.
He said there have been significant improvements to the contract. He added that, had the federal government cancelled the LAV deal — something critics have demanded for more than five years — the Saudis would have been able to sue for the full value of the agreement.
Export permits related to the project have been sitting on Champagne’s desk unsigned — caught up in a diplomatic and trade dispute that erupted after former foreign affairs minister Chrystia Freeland criticized the Saudis’ handling of human rights critics almost two years ago.
A senior government official, speaking on background Thursday, said approval of the permits will now be reviewed.
