Why does Stephen Harper seem more engaged in Libya’s would-be revolution than he was in Egypt’s? The answer is simple. Oil.

This also explains, incidentally, the curious nature of Ottawa’s economic sanctions against the Libyan regime of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Canadian firms — most notably Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin and Calgary-based Suncor Energy — are not permitted to engage in financial transactions with the Libyan government. But they are allowed to continue operating commercially in Libya.

Given that both deal only with the oil-rich regime (Lavalin is building pipelines, a prison and an airport; Suncor has government concessions to drill for oil) it’s not at clear what these so-called sanctions mean in practice.

Nor is it clear that Ontario automaker Chrysler, which is backed in part by money from the Gadhafi regime’s Libyan Investment Authority, has to do anything differently.

But then Libya has always been tricky for Western countries.

Yes, its long-time leader is a monster. Over his 42-year rule, Gadhafi has supported terrorist groups ranging from the Irish Republican Army to the Italian Red Brigades to the Palestinian Abu Nidal faction.

He has also engaged in terrorism of his own, famously sending agents abroad to assassinate political opponents.

In 1984, Libyan diplomats shot and killed a British police officer monitoring a peaceful demonstration outside Gadhafi’s London embassy.

In 1986, terrorists using Libyan-supplied explosives blew up a disco in Berlin. Two years later, Libyan agents blew up an airplane over Scotland.

Still, no one is perfect. And there was all that oil. Although Libya accounts for only 3 per cent of global reserves, its low-sulphur crude is in high demand for diesel and jet fuel

So, eventually, everyone made up. Gadhafi handed over his airline bomber for trial, paid compensation to some victims and promised to do better.

He even pledged to give up weapons of mass destruction that he may or may not have possessed.

In return, Western leaders flocked to Libya looking for deals. Britain’s Tony Blair snagged concessions for BP and Shell. Paul Martin, then prime minister, made a pilgrimage to plead for Canadian firms.

Alas, the ever-unreliable Gadhafi remained just so. In 2009, he abruptly nationalized the Libyan operations of Canadian oil company Verenex. That same year — angered by Ottawa’s threat to rebuke him publicly during a planned stopover in Newfoundland — he cut Suncor’s production quota by 50 per cent.

When the wave of Arab unrest hit Libya this year, Gadhafi — unlike Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak — didn’t have many friends.

The fact that Libyan rebels have taken over the oil-rich eastern part of the country (and resumed exports) has made the West’s shunning of Gadhafi easier.

British and German military transports have already flown missions into some of Libya’s oil fields. The French have promised to use their military to deliver humanitarian aid to rebels. Britain’s prime minister says he may give them arms. Italy has abrogated its non-aggression pact with Libya. The U.S. Mediterranean fleet is steaming toward Tripoli. Canadian transport planes are standing by in Malta and a Canadian frigate is on the way from Halifax.

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All are claiming to act on behalf of democracy and human rights. But if that were true, no country — including Canada — would ever have had anything to do with Gadhafi.

The real reason is oil and the money oil brings. When he controlled Libya’s oil, Gadhafi was the man. Now that he no longer does, he is expendable.

Thomas Walkom's column appears Wednesday and Saturday.

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