Crown corporation gets new chair after Philippines helicopter deal

OTTAWA — The Trudeau government has replaced the 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 surprise shakeup at Canadian Commercial Corp. was announced Tuesday by International Trade Minister François-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 ter- rorists 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.

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