OTTAWA – The Liberal government today rejected an NDP motion to establish parliamentary oversight of Canadian arms exports, including to states with poor human rights records. The NDP motion would have established a multi-partisan committee empowered to examine all aspects of Canada’s current and future arms exports. A similar committee in the United Kingdom has investigated that country’s arms exports since 1999.
“This was a cynical, disappointing, and irresponsible vote by the Liberals,� said NDP Foreign Affairs Critic Hélène Laverdière (Laurier – Sainte-Marie), sponsor of the motion. “Canadians have a lot of questions about Canada’s arms exports to countries with questionable human rights records, and they deserve transparency and accountability from this government. Today, they got neither.�
Recent polls show that most Canadians disapprove of arms deals with human rights abusers. But Canadian weapons exports have nearly doubled over the last ten years, and Canada is now the second-largest arms dealer in the Middle East, including to countries with poor human rights records like Libya, Sudan and Saudi Arabia. Details on these Canadian arms exports remain scarce.
"Canadians are deeply concerned about human rights, especially following the many revelations about our arms exports to the Middle East and Africa," said Laverdière. “As Parliamentarians, we have a duty to ensure Canada is making the right choices and upholding human rights. With their shameful vote today, the Liberals have shown that they’d rather hide their heads in the sand than ensure transparency and accountability.�
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NDP Critic for Canadian Heritage Peter Julian issued the following statement:
"It has come to our attention that a consultant for a federally funded anti-racism project has a disturbing track record of spewing hate speech online against Jewish and francophone communities. This is completely unacceptable. We call on the Minister of Heritage to take drastic action and terminate his contract.
NDP Heritage Critic Peter Julian issued the following statement:
“Today’s announcement by Hockey Canada is another attempt to delay the important and urgent work to deal with the toxic culture in this organization. While a former Supreme Court Justice is a credible appointment to conduct the review into Hockey Canada, this won’t be the first time the organization undergoes this process.
NDP critic for Canadian Heritage, Peter Julian, made the following statement:
“Canadians are horrified by the incidents of sexual assault and by what they’re hearing from Hockey Canada. They are left with many questions about how this toxic culture is allowed to persist in our sports organizations and what the government is actually doing to ensure this doesn’t happen again.