Canada said to be open to meeting with Saudis
Foreign ministers will be attending UN assembly
Canada is extending an olive branch to Saudi Arabia after a diplomatic blowout, as the countries weigh whether they can potentially avoid a prolonged standoff affecting Canadian firms and Saudi students.
The Canadians are suggesting talks between the countries’ foreign ministers during meetings of the United Nations General Assembly, according to a Canadian government official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
At stake is a Saudi order to freeze any new deals for Canadian firms operating in Saudi Arabia, such as SNCLavalin Group Inc., and to end an arrangement under which the kingdom provides thousands of doctors a year, and funding, that’s become a key part of Canada’s medical system.
“(Crown Prince) Mohammad bin Salman was trying to send a message that he is not to be disrespected by anyone. Unfortunately, many Saudi students who were in Canada are paying a heavy price,” said Paul Sullivan, a Saudi specialist at Georgetown University in Washington.
“Investors are looking more askance at Saudi Arabia, and none of this helps Saudi relations with the rest of the world.”
The standoff started last month when Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland tweeted about a human rights case in Saudi Arabia.
In response, the Saudis expelled the Canadian ambassador, curbed investment, recalled medical students and lambasted Canada for interfering in domestic affairs.
Any long-term freeze would affect Canadian firms, with one official saying four in particular look exposed: engineering firm SNC-Lavalin, the Canadian unit of defence giant General Dynamics Corp., pharmaceutical maker Apotex Inc., and McCain Foods Ltd.
Within Canada, a freeze on Saudi investment isn’t expected to have a major impact.
While the Saudis used Canada to flex their muscle and a new brand of chequebook diplomacy, the spat is the latest sign of global weariness with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has a habit of virtue-signalling abroad.
China and India have bristled at the tone of the liberal leader, an advocate for women’s and minority rights who is unafraid to stick his nose into the fray, despite his country’s comparatively modest economy, population and military might.
The tweets about women’s rights activist Samar Badawi that sparked the feud came from official government accounts, including Freeland’s, and were sent during the dead of the Canadian summer.
Trudeau and many key government officials were on vacation, along with much of the capital, and scrambled to figure out how to respond to uproar from what they thought was a mundane statement, two officials familiar with talks said.
They believed that even the previous Conservative government in Canada had said essentially the same thing, the officials said.
Trudeau’s government couldn’t apologize, and has no plans to apologize, because it is alarmed by the Badawi case, the officials said. Instead, Canada spoke out about a second humanrights case — that of Israa al-Ghomgham — later in the month, though didn’t tweet it from the minister’s account.
Canada worked through back-channels to quell the spat, one official said. Freeland spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Aug. 11, discussing “human rights and the situation with Saudi Arabia,” according to a Canadian readout. The Trump administration has also tried to privately coax the Saudis to dial back hostilities.
It all means a standoff for now, as Canadians cope with the fallout.
The most pressing practical issue for Canada is a Saudi-financed program that places medical graduates in Canadian hospitals as residents and fellows. Care facilities were initially given less than a month’s warning that more than 1,000 Saudi doctors were being ordered to leave Canada.
Although the medical community understands they will now be allowed to stay, at least until new assignments are arranged, the fate of next year’s program is still up in the air and information from Saudi envoys has been sporadic and unspecific.
A day after initial reports of a reprieve, the Saudi cultural bureau in Canada said all students must still leave by Sept. 22. The bureau declined to comment when reached by telephone.
INVESTORS ARE LOOKING MORE ASKANCE AT SAUDI ARABIA.