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As Canada’s relationship with Saudi Arabia remains on the rocks, ex-foreign affairs minister John Baird appeared on Saudi state TV over the weekend to denounce the Trudeau government for its “gratuitous attack” on the Saudi regime.

“For Canada to treat a friend and ally this way has been incredibly unhelpful,” Baird told the English-language arm of Al Arabiya, the Saudi-owned equivalent of Al Jazeera.

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Photo by Al Arabiya

Baird added that the best way to resolve the crisis would be for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to fly to Riyadh to apologize in person to the Saudi royal family.

“I think the Canadian government is only beginning to understand how offensive their conduct has been to the Saudi government,” he said. “This is giving Canada a bad reputation.”

On Aug. 5, Saudi Arabia abruptly suspended diplomatic relations with Canada in reaction to a tweet by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, in which she called for the release of imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi.