PM reluctant to cancel arms deal despite pressure
OTTAWA— The controversy surrounding Canada’s $15-billion deal to sell armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia got deeper on Tuesday, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed that taxpayers would pay “significant financial penalties” if the contract was cancelled. The comment came as the federal government faced new calls to scrap the agreement, billed as the largest arms deal in Canadian history, because of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The Saudi government has denied murdering Khashoggi in Turkey this month, but Canada and other countries say Riyadh’s explanation lacks credibility and called for a detailed investigation. Trudeau echoed those doubts during a news conference in Toronto on Tuesday, saying “the brutal murder of a journalist on foreign soil is something that is extremely preoccupying to Canadians, to Canada and to many of our allies around the world.”
Yet the prime minister, whose government was already locked in a diplomatic spat with Saudi Arabia even before Khashoggi’s death, indicated the federal government was reluctant to cancel the arms deal because Canadians would end up bearing up the brunt of the cost.
“One of the issues we are faced with is a contract that was signed by the previous government that makes it extremely difficult for us to withdraw from that contract without significant financial penalties on Canadians,” Trudeau said in response to a reporter’s question.
“We are working very hard and looking at our options, because as we said, this situation, if indeed the stories that are widely being reported turn out to the case, then Canadians expect us to act.”
The prime minister did not put a price tag on the potential penalties during the news conference to announce more details of his government’s federal carbon tax, but suggested earlier in the day that it would be $1 billion or more.
The Prime Minister’s Office referred questions to Global Affairs Canada, where a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland declined to comment.