Saturday, August 16, 2014

Ethical arms sales from Canada

Back here in comments, e.a.f. noted I was singling out Israel for its promotion of occupied Gaza as a lab/marketing display tool for selling its population control armaments abroad - when USA arms manufacturers also benefit. 

Too true. Also Canada.

As Marc Whittingham, CEO of the Canadian Commercial Corporation, the crown corporation that acts as Canada's global military sales agency and "a foreign policy instrument for the government of Canada", once put it :
 "There is no better trade show for defence equipment than a military mission."  

"Report on Exports of Military Goods from Canada", as per international.gc.ca :

Israel
  • Chemical or biological toxic agents, riot control agents, radioactive materials, and related equipment, components, materials. 
  • Bombs, torpedoes, rockets, missiles, other explosive devices and charges, and related equipment and accessories specially designed for military use. 
  • Vessels of war, special naval equipment and accessories, and components specially designed for military use. 
  • Aircraft, lighter-than-air vehicles, unmanned airborne vehicles. 
  • Specialized equipment for military training or for simulating military scenarios, simulators specially designed for training in the use of any firearm or weapon.

Saudi Arabia -
  • Guns. Bombs, torpedoes, rockets, missiles, other explosive devices and charges, and related equipment and accessories specially designed for military use. 
  • Ground vehicles. 
  • Aircraft, lighter-than-air vehicles, unmanned airborne vehicles, aero-engines and “aircraft” equipment, related equipment and components, specially designed or modified for military use. 
  • Imaging or countermeasure equipment, specially designed for military use.

Qatar
  • Chemical or biological toxic agents, riot control agents, radioactive materials, and related equipment, components, materials
[Aug 25, 2014 Update : Yesterday in the NYTimes, Israel's ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor called Qatar the “Club Med for Terrorists.”]

Egypt
  • "Guns. Ammo. 
  • Aircraft, lighter-than-air vehicles, unmanned airborne vehicles, aero-engines and “aircraft” equipment, related equipment and components, specially designed or modified for military use. 
  • Specialized equipment for military training or for simulating military scenarios, simulators specially designed for training in the use of any firearm or weapon. 
  • Imaging or countermeasure equipment, specially designed for military use." 

Iraq - Software.

Bahrain

  • "Aircraft, lighter-than-air vehicles, unmanned airborne vehicles, aero-engines and “aircraft” equipment, related equipment and components, specially designed or modified for military use."
Colombia
  • "Bombs, torpedoes, rockets, missiles, other explosive devices and charges, and related equipment and accessories specially designed for military use. 
  • Aircraft, lighter-than-air vehicles, unmanned airborne vehicles, aero-engines and “aircraft” equipment, related equipment and components, specially designed or modified for military use. 
  • Imaging or countermeasure equipment, specially designed for military use, and specially designed components and accessories."
[Note : Since this gc.ca report was issued, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird recommended amending the Automatic Firearms Country Control List (AFCCL) to create "new market opportunities" for Canadian companies to sell armoured personnel carriers to the Colombian military in January 2013.]

Algeria "Aircraft, lighter-than-air vehicles, unmanned airborne vehicles, aero-engines and “aircraft” equipment, related equipment and components, specially designed or modified for military use." 


Ukraine - "Guns. Ammo."

Russia - "Guns. Ammo. Electronic equipment. Software."

I could go on. You will note we have armed both sides of many recent bloody conflicts, as for instance when Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain to crush their "Arab Spring".


In the time period covered here, 2010 - 2011, 28 countries received "Chemical or biological toxic agents, riot control agents, radioactive materials, and related equipment, components, materials" from Canada.

The figures from this Feb 4 2014 report cover nothing more recent, as our government has not seen fit to provide the Canadian public with more up-to-date figures.   



However Project Ploughshares does provide this rather startling graphic on Canadian Commercial Corporation's recent marketing success in securing "two contracts totalling $14.8-billion awarded by the CCC to General Dynamics Land Systems Canada of London, Ontario during the 2013-14 fiscal year to supply Saudi Arabia with military armoured vehicles. "

According to Project Ploughshares
"For the first time in more than half-a-century of CCC operations, Saudi Arabia has displaced the United States as the largest year-on-year recipient of CCC-brokered military export contracts."
Canada, of course, has declined to sign the UN Arms Trade Treaty.
.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

When it comes to Harper, greed always trumps honor because, Harper has no decency, honor, ethics nor morals, what-so-ever.

I find a lot of humor in, Harper ripping into Putin and his annexing of Crimea. Harper says nothing what-so-ever regarding Communist China doing the exact same thing. China is menacing other countries around the globe.

Communist China has been given the contract for the building of the LNG plant at Prince Rupert. BC's ship building contract, has been given to Poland.

Harper will stoop to the lowest level, to grab money. I'm not surprised in the least, Harper sells arms to Russia. Harper is Canada's low life hypocrite, for this century.

Alison said...

Holly Stick's link

Indeed. I would add that although Engler points out the Cons led the fight against passing the Liberal Bill C-300 to encourage some semblance of corporate responsibility from mining companies registered in Canada, they couldn't have succeeded without the help of 13 Libs.
Barrick Gold hired former Liberal cabinet minister Don Boudria, by then a lobbyist with Hill and Knowlton, to target 15 Libs "multiple times" for two weeks. In the end, 13 of them obligingly skipped the final vote: Michael Ignatieff, Scott Brison, Ujjal Dosanjh, John McCallum, Geoff Regan, Scott Andrews, Sukh Dhaliwal, Ruby Dhalla, Martha Hall Findlay, Jim Karygiannis, Gerard Kennedy, Keith Martin, and Anthony Rota.

Blog Archive