[NYTr] Canada's Arms Export Business Booming

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[The tardy report referenced covers only 2003-2005. 2003 sales topped
2004 and 2005, but sales to the biggest customer, the US, are not
included, nor sales to Pakistan! - NY Transfer]

sent by mart

[Canada's Disgusting and 'Bloody' Shame: 
Business is 'booming'....literally! - Canada's war industries record
highest-ever arms sales.-mart]


CBC news - Dec 21, 2007
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2007/12/21/arms-exports.html

Arms exports reached record levels in 2003: report

CBC News

A new report by the federal government shows that in 2003, Canada's
arms exports reached the highest level ever recorded.

The report, covering three years from 2003 to 2005 and released this
week, revealed that sales of military exports hit more than $700
million in 2003.

But the report doesn't include sales to Canada's biggest customer, the
United States. According to industry experts, if those sales were
included, Canada's arms exports would have topped $2 billion in 2003.

More than 500 Canadian companies and tens of thousands of employees
make military products across the country — everything from bullets and
rockets to light armoured vehicles.  

Arms control expert Ken Epps, of the arms control group Project
Ploughshares, said Canada is shipping arms to questionable places.

"Sales to countries that are involved in armed conflict or where there
are human rights concerns are still continuing," Epps said.

He pointed out that Colombia, China and Saudi Arabia were among the
countries receiving military goods.

Epps also complained that the report is a step backward in terms of
transparency because it doesn't provide as much information as past
reports.

For example, sales dropped substantially by 2005 to $320 million, but
Epps said that figure doesn't include shipments worth $250 million to
Pakistan's military in 2004 and 2005.

"There were sales during the period of the report of helicopters to the
Pakistan military, and those do not appear in the report. That is, in
our interpretation, because they are dual-use items and are not listed
as military goods."

The report states for the first time that the sale of military goods to
Pakistan has been banned since 1998.

Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier wasn't available to comment on
the helicopter sales, which took place under the former Liberal
government.

Bernier promised to release the report in October after a CBC
investigation raised questions about Ottawa's silence during a period
of increased arms exports.

It's not clear when the report for 2006 sales — which is usually tabled
in Parliament by now — will be made public.