Madam Speaker, for weeks, months actually, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister told us that the Saudi Arabia arms deal was a done deal that happened under the Conservatives. At some point in April, though, we learned that it was the minister himself who, that very month, had signed the export permits for these arms that are headed to Saudi Arabia.
Yes, indeed, it is the current Minister of Foreign Affairs who signed the export licence for the Saudi arms deal. The Liberals had said for a long time that the deal was a done deal. There is no explanation to that. It is either that the minister and the Prime Minister actually misled Canadians on such an important issue, or that they consider export licences to be a formality that are not really important. As soon as the sales deal is signed, who cares about the export licence?
They did an assessment, but they did a very weak assessment. They have to do an assessment of the potential to commit abuses against human rights before granting an export permit, but the assessment is so weak. It does not respect our rules, our regulations, or our international commitments at all.
Let me quote some experts from civil society about that assessment. They said:
The Minister of Foreign Affairs has stated that Canada “has no evidence” that Saudi Arabia has used Canadian-made goods against civilians. However, the threshold established by Canadian export controls to assess the possibility of misuse is neither “evidence” nor “certainty” but “reasonable risk.” Given what is known about Saudi Arabia’s abysmal—and worsening—human rights record, both within Saudi Arabia and in neighbouring Yemen, we consider this risk to be evident.
I completely agree with those experts. We saw what Saudi Arabia did in Yemen, and what it does to its own people using armoured vehicles similar to the ones that we are going to sell it. The Liberals seem to have signed those export permits with their eyes closed. The Prime Minister said that cancelling the sale would have tarnished Canada's reputation. First, the sale would not have been cancelled. A sale is not complete until the permits are granted. Second, I think that our failure to abide by our own rules and keep our commitments is what is really tarnishing our reputation.
That raises other questions as well.
Why did the minister sign for 70% of the deal, which is supposed to go over 14 years? Is it because he is afraid that once Canada accedes to the ATT, as he has promised, Canada will not be able to play with the rules and lack transparency, as it has done in this case?