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Canada’s controversial deal with Saudi Arabia is being served by a local defence giant

THE RIDING

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One of three stand-alone London seats, the riding is up for grabs with no veterans running following the retirement of 13-year New Democrat MP Irene Mathyssen. Shaped like a reverse-L, the riding takes in old swaths of the city’s east end and newer areas along its northern fringe and runs south to the Hwy. 401. It includes residential areas, industrial zones and the area around the London airport.

HOTTEST ISSUE

Signed by the former Conservative government, and continued under the Liberals, Canada’s $15-billion deal to supply armoured military equipment to Saudi Arabia, with a London defence giant in the riding at the centre, has come under harsh national scrutiny. General Dynamics Land Systems Canada is building the equipment for the largest industrial deal in London’s history. Hundreds of workers at the plant rely on the contract, which NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has said he would scrap. Saudi human rights abuses, including in nearby Yemen and the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Kashoggi, have left many critics questioning the contract. Justin Trudeau’s Liberals said they’d review the deal and have so far stood by it. Singh has suggested the equipment could still be built, but go to another buyer.

ALSO IN PLAY

A rare parent-child act is in play for the New Democrats, with Lindsay Mathyssen trying to hang onto the seat her now-retired mother took from the Liberals in 2006. The Liberals are countering with a new candidate, Mohamed Hammoud, whose controversial nomination came after the party nixed a bid for a repeat run by Khalil Ramal, a former Liberal MPP who ran federally in the riding in the 2015 election.

WHO’S RUNNING: