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You would think that the Liberals, who are bringing our CF-18 jets home, and want Canada to prioritize training and humanitarian aid, would frown on trade with countries that commit such atrocities. You would be wrong. Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion has defended the deal to sell $15 billion in light armoured transports to the Saudi government. In an interview in early January with Rosemary Barton on CBC’s Power and Politics, Dion stated that, “We’ll review the process by which these contracts are assessed in the future. But what is done is done and the contract is not something that we’ll revisit.”

But what about the ATT? Typically, once a government says it intends to comply with a treaty, it does so, even before it signs. Not this time. According to Global Affairs spokesperson Francois Lasalle, “In order to accede to the treaty … Canada must ensure that it has put in place domestically all legislation or regulations that would be required to ensure that we can fully meet the obligations of the treaty. Officials are currently undertaking internal legislative and policy reviews in order to identify those changes that might be necessary for Canada to accede to the ATT.”

Does this mean the federal government won’t respect other agreements until it puts pen to paper? What about the Paris Accord on Climate Change, concluded on Dec. 12, 2015? Will Ottawa not act to achieve its goals until it actually signs? That will have to be done in New York somewhere between April 22, 2016 and April 21, 2017. Until then, will the Prime Minister use the excuse “Gee, we haven’t signed it” to give carbon emitters a free pass?