Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is defending a contract that is expected to bring thousands of jobs to London.

Harper is under fire for Canada's support of a nearly $15-billion deal to build military vehicles for Saudi Arabia.

The contract involves London-based General Dynamics Land Systems and some 3,000 employees at the company.

Speaking on the campaign trail in Quebec, Harper says Saudi Arabia's violations of human rights are not being ignored.

"All of our partners and allies were pursuing that contract - not just Canada. So this is a deal frankly, with a country, notwithstanding its human rights violations - which are significant - this is a contract with a country that is an ally in the fight against the Islamic State. A contract that any one of our allies would have signed.

"It is the largest contract in Canadian history, some 3,000 direct jobs in the London area, and look, we express our outrage and disagreement from time to time with the government of Saudi Arabia for their treatment of human rights, but I don't think it makes any sense to pull a contract in a way that would only punish Canadian workers, instead of actually expressing our outrage against some of these things in Saudi Arabia."

He says that if Canada pulled the contract, it would only punish London-area workers.

The issue first surfaced during a discussion on military missions in Syria in Iraq at Thursday's French-language debate, when Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe asked Harper to explain why Canada is selling military vehicles to Saudi Arabia.

Harper called Saudi Arabia an ally and the contract one of the biggest in Canadian history, and when pushed on the country's human rights record, added, "It's not right to punish workers in a London plant for that. That doesn't make sense."

With files from The Canadian Press