Ottawa sees rare double hypocrisy over Saudi sale.

Even in politics, the double hypocrisy is a rare event. We get lots of duplicity, but a twofer, a political buy-one- get-one, that’s scarce. So aficionados of Canadian politics might want to take a moment to soak in the singular spectacle of Canada’s $ 15- billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, which has Liberals and Conservatives alike exposing their lack of sincerity on the same issue at the same time.

The Liberals were first in the game, as new Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion performed his rendition of a man with his feet on fire as he tried to hotstep his way around the Liberal’s refusal to cancel the deal. During the election campaign, the Liberals attacked the Conservatives for refusing to release details of the sale and for failing to stand up to the Saudis on human rights issues, while at the same time revealing that they wouldn’t cancel the deal. No one noted that contradiction much during the campaign — everyone was too eager to condemn Stephen Harper — but now that the Liberals are in power, the question is being raised.

And Dion doesn’t have an answer. How could he issue a denunciation of the Saudis over their mass execution of prisoners and on the same day defend the sale of armoured vehicles to be used against Saudi citizens? His response — well, other countries sell them weapons, too — wasn’t impressive. Other countries sell nuclear secrets to North Korea, but that’s no excuse for Canada to do so.

The Conservatives are loving this. They knew Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s troops would eventually be tripped up by their campaign rhetoric, but who knew it would happen so soon? Unable to contain himself, Tony Clement, no longer the minister in charge of upsetting the civil service, unburdened himself of a brazenly shameless statement, demanding the Liberals release the details of the sale that the Tories themselves had refused to release.

“Canadians don’t want these weaponized vehicles to be used against innocent sin Saudi Arabia ,” Clement intoned. “We need to know, given this rapidly changing environment in the Middle East, that the weapons are going to be used for the purposes that are intended and that there has been sufficiently rigorous assessment of Saudi Arabia.”

Having made the deal, of course, the Conservatives are infinitely well acquainted with the details. It’s possible Clement could have recited them from memory. But that would be no fun and would waste a perfectly legitimate opportunity to roast the Liberals over their own sanctimony. Clement’s suggestion that a “rapidly changing environment” justifies his call is baloney; the Saudi human rights record has been appalling for ages. Ditto his implied shock at discovering the vehicles might be used against other Saudis. Did the Tories think Riyadh was going to use them to invade Syria?

Perhaps most laughable, however, is his quest for assurances that “there has been sufficiently rigorous assessment of Saudi Arabia.” Must have slipped his mind that the Conserva- tives were in charge of assessments at the time.

Clement knows he can getaway with such egregious bunk because he knows the Liberals can’t challenge him on it. To do so would only return the spotlight to their own lack of scruples. On Tuesday, the Tories got a new supply of ammunition, when Amnesty International reported that Samar Badawi was arrested along with her two- year- old daughter in Jedd ah, Saudi Arabia, after using Twitter to campaign for the release of her ex- husband, who is serving a 15- year sentence for his work as a human rights lawyer.

Samar Badawi is the sister of Raif Badawi, a Saudi blogger who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for “insulting Islam through electronic channels.” Raif Badawi’s wife and three children live in Quebec, after having fled to Canada more than a year ago.

Expect more questions from the gleeful Tories. The Liberals didn’t create this situation, but they boxed themselves in by being so self- righteous in their attacks. Now they’re on the receiving end.

BOTH THE LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES ARE EXPOSING THEIR LACK OF SINCERITY ON THE SAUDI ARMS DEAL.