Canada is looking into ways to cancel a giant 2014 weapons deal with Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Sunday, as criticism mounts over the kingdom’s role in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the Riyadh-led war in Yemen.
“The murder of a journalist is absolutely unacceptable and that’s why Canada from the very beginning had been demanding answers and solutions on that,” Mr. Trudeau said Sunday in an interview with CTV. “We inherited actually a (Can)$15 billion contract signed by (former Prime Minister) Stephen Harper to export light-armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia,” he said. “We are engaged with the export permits to try and see if there is a way of no longer exporting these vehicles to Saudi Arabia,” he added.
The penalty for breaking the contract could exceed Can$1 billion, Mr. Trudeau had said in an interview with CBC Radio in October.
