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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also raised concerns about extrajudicial killings while visiting the country in November, specifically those related to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s violent crackdown on illegal drugs.

Champagne said the deal, which was quietly finalized in December, was conducted through a memorandum of understanding between Canada and the Philippines signed by the previous Conservative government in 2012.

“At the time, the understanding suggested that these helicopters were for search-and-rescue operations,” he said during a hastily called news conference outside the House of Commons.

“The moment that I saw a statement by a senior military official in the Philippines which indicated otherwise, I immediately asked the Canadian Commercial Corp. for a review.”

Champagne added that neither he nor any other ministers were asked to authorize the contract.

The company has so far remained tight-lipped about the deal, including whether it conducted any human-rights assessments before completing the contract.

But it’s not the first time the Crown corporation, whose role includes selling military goods to other countries on behalf of the government, has facilitated the sale of arms to a country with a questionable human-rights record.

Most notably, the company was at the centre of the multibillion-dollar deal involving the sale of light-armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia, which was finalized by the Harper government and since supported by the Liberals.