Juno News - December 03, 2018


Will Justin Trudeau's finger-wagging be enough to take on Saudi Arabia？


Episode Stats

Length

3 minutes

Words per Minute

171.38953

Word Count

627

Sentence Count

23

Hate Speech Sentences

2


Summary

In the wake of the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a "frank conversation" with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince about human rights. Andrew Lutton asks if this was a good or bad thing.


Transcript

00:00:00.360 Questions still swirl about what exactly happened to Islamist apologist Jamal Khashoggi
00:00:05.560 in that Saudi Arabian embassy into which he went but never came out.
00:00:10.780 As many questions as are there still, we know a great deal of things with certainty now.
00:00:16.420 He died in a Saudi embassy at the hands of Saudi agents
00:00:20.000 and numerous intelligence reports suggest that the order for that assassination
00:00:24.020 went all the way up to the de facto head of the country, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
00:00:30.880 Canadians can rest assured though because Justin Trudeau is on the case.
00:00:35.080 Yes, Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada,
00:00:37.400 a country that is currently in the midst of a contract to sell billions of dollars in light-armoured vehicles
00:00:43.140 which are further being armed to, in some reports, actually use against civilians.
00:00:50.620 That Canada is on the case here.
00:00:53.880 Justin Trudeau said in Buenos Aires the other day that he had a, quote,
00:00:58.420 frank, unquote, conversation about human rights with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia
00:01:03.960 during which he also talked about the imprisonment of Raif Badawi
00:01:07.040 and what's happening at the hands of the Saudi regime to Yemen and Yemenis
00:01:11.640 and also the Khashoggi case and more broadly concerns about human rights.
00:01:17.360 So do you feel better?
00:01:18.220 Justin Trudeau has had a frank conversation.
00:01:21.120 You know, of all the things that Canada could do to flex some muscle against Saudi Arabia,
00:01:26.520 perhaps sanctions or stemming the flow of LAVs to them or severing diplomatic ties
00:01:34.260 or all of the different tools in the toolkit,
00:01:35.940 you know, a stern talking to from Justin Trudeau doesn't strike me as one at the top of the list.
00:01:41.480 And it reminds me a lot like sending Chrystia Freeland into the NAFTA negotiations
00:01:45.420 to talk about gender equality.
00:01:47.580 When Justin Trudeau shows up to the stern talking to,
00:01:51.440 this frank conversation with the Saudi Crown Prince,
00:01:53.940 I wonder if they can even keep a straight face.
00:01:56.600 This is an intellectual and diplomatic lightweight
00:01:59.440 that's telling them they've got to, you know, smarten up or else.
00:02:03.560 And I don't think even Justin Trudeau knows what the or else is.
00:02:08.020 Now, to be clear, I think that Canadians have mixed feelings on the Saudi Arabia deal
00:02:14.140 and it actually has a huge impact economically in my backyard, London, Ontario.
00:02:18.920 I was a critic of the deal when it was first proposed by Stephen Harper
00:02:22.200 and Justin Trudeau, however, made the decision to follow through on it.
00:02:27.020 So when Justin Trudeau said a couple of weeks ago that his hands are tied
00:02:30.180 because there's a difficult contract that Stephen Harper signed,
00:02:34.040 he's not being entirely honest here.
00:02:35.960 In fact, it was his government, and at the time it was Stéphane d'Yon
00:02:39.560 that made the decision to follow through on this
00:02:41.780 and actually sign the export permits to send this military equipment to Saudi Arabia.
00:02:48.060 No one in Canada, no one in the Prime Minister's office
00:02:51.220 can act surprised that the Saudi regime is one that would assassinate a critic of it.
00:02:57.380 The human rights record of Saudi Arabia is not a new problem.
00:03:01.700 It's not something we're just learning of now.
00:03:04.780 So for Justin Trudeau to pretend, much as many other Western leaders are,
00:03:09.320 that the Khashoggi case was just this complete anomaly, this outlier,
00:03:13.160 is proving them to be so blatantly and brazenly out of their comfort zone
00:03:19.560 and out of their league, and I would also say dishonest
00:03:22.760 when it comes to what's happening in the foreign scene.
00:03:25.700 I don't think Justin Trudeau's frank talking to will amount to any difference whatsoever,
00:03:31.180 but Canadians should be very wary that this is what constitutes diplomatic heft
00:03:35.480 to today's Prime Minister.
00:03:37.240 For the True North Initiative, I'm Andrew Lutton.