Liberals shake up Crown corporation after helicopter deal with Philippines

OTTAWA The Trudeau government has appointed a new chair of the Crown corporation that facilitated a controversial helicopter deal with the Philippines, and ordered the organization to become less reliant on selling arms.

The shake-up at Canadian Commercial Corp. was announced Tuesday by International Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne as he confirmed the Philippines had formally cancelled the helicopter deal.

The Philippines originally planned to buy 16 aircraft from Montreal-based Bell Helicopters for an estimated $300 million.

But that was before concerns were raised that the Philippine military could use the helicopters to commit human-rights violations during the course of operations against terrorists and communist rebels in the country.

The Liberals initially defended the contract, saying the aircraft would only be used for search-and-rescue and disaster relief, but ordered a review after the Philippine military official revealed they would be used for “internal security operations.”

In response to the review, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte lashed out at what he described as restrictions on the use of military equipment against terrorists and rebels before ordering military commanders to kill the deal with Canada.

In a hastily called news conference outside the House of Commons, Champagne confirmed that the deal had been officially nixed even as he defended the Trudeau government’s actions in relation to the contract.

“With respect to the end use of these helicopters, human rights is a key component of foreign policy and our trade policy and it was the right decision to launch a review,” he said, adding that he would talk to Bell Helicopter in the coming days.

The trade minister also revealed that businessman Doug Harrison, who heads an international transportation and logistics company based out of Richmond, B.C., had been appointed chair of the Canadian Commercial Corp.