Tax dollars Promote Canadian Arms Exports – Yves Engler

Exporting Canadian weapons is big business as the "peace keeper" nation plays an important role as part of the U.S. military-industrial complex. Journalist Yves Engler joins Paul Jay on theAnalysis.news podcast. Transcript Paul JayWelcome to theAnalysis.news podcast. I'm Paul Jay. Don't forget there Exporting Canadian weapons is big business as the "peace keeper" nation plays an important role as part of the U.S. military-industrial complex. Journalist Yves Engler joins Paul Jay on theAnalysis.news podcast. Transcript Paul JayWelcome to theAnalysis.news podcast. I'm Paul Jay. Don't forget there's a donate button at the top of the page and without viewer support, we can't do this. In 2019, Canada finally signed the Arms Trade Treaty, known as the ATT, becoming the 104th state to do so. So that means, 103 states did it before Canada did. And Canada was actually the last NATO country to do so. The treaty is supposed to regulate the sale of what's called small arms, but it includes some pretty big arms, anything from battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, attack helicopters, to missiles and missile launchers. Canada was the world's 16th largest arms exporter between 2014 and 2018, and is now in the top 15. With a 15 billion dollar sale of light armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia. Canada became the second largest exporter of arms to the Middle East. Those vehicles will be used in the Saudi war in Yemen, and against its own people. The real size of Canada's exports are hard to measure, as the majority are to the United States and do not require the same export controls. But when the U.S wages an illegal war, you can be sure Canadian manufactured arms and parts will be there. Canada's contribution to the global war machine is a growing business, and in spite of the rhetoric about Canada being the righteous peacekeeper, the Canadian government promotes arms sales as if it were wheat or timber. Now joining us is Yves Engler. He's a Montreal based activist and author, a journalist. He's published 11 books, including his latest 'House of Mirrors: Justin Trudeau's Foreign Policy'. Thanks for joining us Yves. Yves EnglerThanks for having me. Paul JayStart with what that ATT treaty was about. When it says regulate these arms sales, what does it mean? Because there's this massive sale to the Saudis, 15 billion dollars over a few years, and whatever that ATT treaty was, it didn't seem to have put any brakes on that. Yves EnglerNo, it didn't. It's supposed to regulate weapons from being used in conflicts and human rights abuses. But obviously, if Canada can still be giving out new permits for weapons to the Saudis, while the Saudis are involved in the worst humanitarian disasters in the world, i.e. waging a brutal war in Yemen, then obviously the Arms Trade Treaty is not that serious. And it should be noted that the permits for the light armoured vehicle sale, the 14 billion dollar light armoured vehicles sale, the biggest export of Canadian weapons ever, actually biggest single export contract in Canadian history. Thats a permit which was signed and the process of delivering those weapons began before Canada signed the International Arms Trade Treaty. They have begun new export permits and weapons to the Saudis which includes rifles that have appeared in Yemen and other arms. So, no, the Arms Trade Treaty sounds good in theory, but just like Canada had on paper, it had arms, it had restrictions previous to signing the Arms Trade Treaty with its own legislation. And there was always ways of bypassing that legislation.