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With Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe raising the issue of the $15-billion sale of Canadian Light Armored Vehicles to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the leaders’ debate Thursday night, that brings into focus the contributions that foreign military sales offer to the Canadian economy versus the social and moral challenges often associated with such activities. Nowhere is this contrast more striking perhaps than the current context of Saudi Arabia’s role in the region and its current military campaign in Yemen.

Stephen Harper was quoted in Rivière-du-Loup on Friday saying that “this is a deal, frankly, with a country (that) 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.”

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This is a misleading statement by the prime minister given the role Saudi funding has played in supporting ISIL. In Yemen the Saudis are deliberately arming Yemeni tribes known to be sympathetic to Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (much to the angst of the U.S.) in order to fight the Houthis (perceived by the Saudis to be an Iranian proxy group). The Saudi support of Wahhabism is one of the main drivers of conflict and terrorism throughout the region and beyond.