Flit

Our role in Bahrain

Ceasefire.ca is pointing to some video of "Canadian-made" Light Armored Vehicles being involved in the Saudi suppression of Bahrain's pro-democracy protests. It does regrettably tend to put Canada's support for "Responsibility to Protect" policies in the Middle East these days in something of a different light. And yes, at around 2:30 in the video you see the distinctive boat hulls of LAVs, most with the 90mm main gun armament that is unique to the Saudi variant. Made in Canada? Yes, most likely.

General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (prior to 2003 the Canadian subsidiary of the defense division of General Motors) has been involved in equipping the Saudi military with LAVs for years, and continues to be, with the latest $2.2 billion sale of 724 brand new LAV-IIs starting delivery this year. This is not, however, an issue that any party courting the Ontario auto union vote is likely ever to bring up to the public, so this shouldn't be an issue, at least until one of the Saudi drivers runs over a news crew or something.