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Another day and another attempt by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to disentangle himself from what is rapidly becoming — if it isn’t already — the most toxic Canadian trade deal ever.

A major part of the problem is that the Liberals have tied themselves so closely to a progressive agenda and human rights that it is almost impossible to separate that from the $15-billion deal to sell light armoured vehicles to the Saudis.

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Standing up for human rights following the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul would seem to require cancelling the contract.

But ditching the deal would result in lost Canadian jobs and a bill to the taxpayer that Trudeau originally put at $1 billion and on Thursday said would now be “in the billions of dollars.”

Such a dilemma possibly accounts for why the prime minister’s position has evolved three times in three days.

On Tuesday, it looked like the deal might still go ahead because, as Trudeau said, “The contract signed by the previous government … makes it very difficult to suspend or leave that contract,” and “I do not want to leave Canadians holding a billion-dollar bill because we’re trying to move forward on doing the right thing.”