Canada planning to sell guns and military equipment to developing countries to maintain domestic arms industry
Lee Berthiaume,
Postmedia News
05 January 2014
The end of Canadian combat operations in Afghanistan and deep cuts to defence budgets in the United States and other allied nations are driving the federal government to look to developing countries as potential buyers of Canadian-made guns and military equipment.
The past few years have seen the government add Colombia to a list of countries to which Canadian defence companies and others can sell military weapons and equipment, and look to add a number of others such as India, Kuwait, Brazil, Chile, Peru and South Korea as well.
Yet while many have believed the move towards selling military goods to developing countries, some with questionable human rights records, was intended to expand Canada’s share of the global arms trade, it appears the actual reason is to help the $12-billion industry through tough times.
A secret briefing note presented to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird in June says the plan to add Brazil, Chile, Peru and South Korea to the Automatic Firearms Country Control List was a direct response to reduced demand for Canadian-made weapons in “traditional markets” such as the U.S. and Britain.
“This request comes after the conclusion of Canada’s combat role in the NATO-led mission to Afghanistan, and when demand from traditional markets for defence products has significantly decreased, forcing the Canadian defence industry to look for new market opportunities,” reads the document, obtained by Postmedia News.
The U.S. and British governments, in particular, have drastically slashed defence spending in an effort to get their books in order.
Colombia aside, it remains unclear whether any of the four countries will end up being added to the list.
But the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries, which represents more than 975 defence-related companies, says about half the sector’s revenues come from foreign sales.
“We are supportive of government efforts to reduce barriers in this sector in the full knowledge that these transactions are governed by a rigorous export controls process explicitly designed to safeguard against their inappropriate use or sale,” association president Tim Page said in an email.
The sector says it is responsible for about 109,000 jobs in Canada.
Steve Staples, president of the Ottawa-based Rideau Institute and a frequent critic of military spending, questioned the moral and economic rationale for supporting the arms industry’s efforts to expand into developing countries, some with less-than-stellar human rights records.
“Rather than helping companies chase arms deals from questionable customers, the government should be helping these companies refocus their business away from declining defence markets toward more promising commercial markets,” he said.
The Conservative government has been promoting Canada’s defence industry as an economic priority, in large part because it hopes doing so will help offset the thousands of manufacturing jobs that have been lost in other sectors.
In addition to looking at developing countries as potential customers, the government has ordered Crown corporations and agencies such as the Canadian Commercial Corporation and the National Research Council to focus on developing and selling defence goods.
It has also advocated a “Buy in Canada” approach for new military equipment, and is working to remove restrictions on the transfer of hundreds of military-related goods.
But in a recent analysis, Kenneth Epps, senior program officer at arms-control group Project Ploughshares, found that the Canadian defence industry’s two largest customers – the U.S. and Canadian governments – have significantly scaled back orders.
At the same time, many other Western governments have been aggressively supporting their own flagging defence sectors following reduced demand and budget cuts, and targeting the same non-traditional markets as Canada.
The Swedish-based Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported last year a “new sense of urgency” in the pursuit of new export markets.
But while the government and arms industry say new markets will bolster Canadian jobs and prosperity, arms-control advocates worry about Canadian-made weapons being used to suppress democratic and human rights, or contributing to ongoing or emerging conflicts.
Canadian-made light armoured vehicles of the type used by Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan were sold to Saudi Arabia several years ago and later used in 2011 to help crack down on protesters in neighbouring Bahrain.
And the addition of Colombia to the firearms control list in December 2012 was followed several days later by the sale of 24 similar armoured vehicles for $65 million despite concerns about human and labour rights inside the Latin American country.
Baird spokesman Rick Roth would not say if the government was planning to add more countries to the firearms control list anytime soon, despite having held several consultations over the past two years.
He said the government “rigorously assesses all exports of military goods and technology on a case-by-case basis and are only approved if such exports are consistent with Canada’s foreign and defence policies, including human rights.”
But Staples said the Saudi and Colombian examples, the Conservative government’s high-profile refusal to sign on to an international treaty aimed at curbing the illicit sale of arms and ammunition, and a lack of transparency on Canadian arms sales in recent years doesn’t inspire confidence.
“Canada’s policy on controlling arms exports is being driven by the companies that build and sell the weapons,” he said, “rather than a proper analysis of the potential harm that these weapons may cause when they are used by foreign militaries and police forces.”
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