So That's Why Obama Brought Trudeau to Washington

The day began with a elaborate bit of bilateral cinematography: a military brass band, a cannon salute and hundreds of flag-waving onlookers greeting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in town for the first state dinner involving a Canadian in 19 years.

  Huffington Post 3/10/16

You had to wonder at the time what was coming. Well, I wondered, anyway.  I figured the purportedly liberal Trudeau had to be told who he wasn't going to get away with being.

Here it is...

Canada’s foreign affairs minister signed off on export permits for a controversial $15bn weapons deal with Saudi Arabia, a spokesperson for Stephane Dion confirmed to Middle East Eye. “The Minister of Foreign Affairs has signed the export permit for Light Armoured Vehicles … to be sold to Saudi Arabia,”

[...]

"The decision to authorize export permits for the Saudi arms deal despite its obvious incompatibilities with Canadian export controls is disconcerting and disappointing," Cesar Jaramillo, executive director of anti-war group Project Ploughshares, told Middle East Eye.

[...]

A Canadian minister would not normally sign export contracts himself, but a memo from Global Affairs Canada obtained by The Globe said: “This exceptional measure is warranted by the high public profile and dollar value of these proposed exports.”

  Middle East Eye

Yeah, and something Obama said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had insisted his Liberal government was bound to uphold the controversial weapons contract, which was signed under the previous Conservative government.

The Liberals have essentially described the contract as a done deal, and Trudeau defended it by saying that “a change of government does not endanger everything that was previously signed”.

[...]

But Canadian laws require that an export permit be secured before any transaction is carried out. The Conservatives only approved minor permits for the export of technical data, The Globe reported, meaning that approval for the main permits fell to the Liberals.

[...]

Canadian weapons export controls require Ottawa to closely monitor exports to countries with a persistent record of human rights abuses, unless the government can demonstrate “that there is no reasonable risk that the goods might be used against the civilian population”.

[...]

Earlier this year, Amnesty International called on weapons exporting countries – including Canada, the US and UK – to stop arming Saudi Arabia and accused them of “aiding a campaign that’s bombing, killing and starving civilians [in Yemen]".

So maybe Mr. Trudeau is just a pretty face after all.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.