On March 19, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced that Canada would cease all future arms exports to Israel, insisting, “It is a real thing.” In my report on her move (Canada Halts Military Shipments to Israel, a Permanent Ban May Follow), I noted that while the US military aid this year is pushing $5 billion, including the scheduled $3.8 billion, the volume of Canadian arms sales to Israel was $14 to $18 million annually, and since October 7, 2023, has jumped to an estimated $20 million.
That’s still not a lot of maple syrup.
According to Defense News, on March 20, a senior official with the Canadian government’s Global Affairs told the Parliament’s upper house it is unclear how exactly Joly’s motion would impact defense exports to Israel.
And this week, Christyn Cianfarani, President of the Canadian Association of Defense and Security Industries, emailed Defense News, saying “For companies to be able to comply with changes to those rules, they need to know what the changes are. The government has a responsibility to quickly publish the exact details of any changes to its policy surrounding exports, and that hasn’t happened yet.”
Canada’s defense manufacturers are not just confused, they are angry. Here’s why: according to a Canadian government ranking of the top 12 non-US destinations necessitating export permits for military goods and technology, Israel stands at the forefront. In 2022, Canada issued 315 permits for the transfer of such goods to Israel.
Turns out those $20 million Israel forks over each year put a lot of Canadian bacon on the tables of defense industry employees. To put this in perspective: during the initial stages of the Gaza war, Canadian arms exports to Israel totaled 20.96 million, meaning that Israeli defense imports from Canada between October and December 2023 surpassed the total for the entire year in 2022.
Defense Minister Bill Blair did not make matters any clearer when he told reporters that export permits for military shipments to Israel have been temporarily suspended, and couldn’t say when they would be lifted.
According to The Maple, Canada’s military export categories to Israel include “bombs, torpedoes, rockets, missiles, other explosive devices and charges and related equipment and accessories, and specially designed components.”
The permits included “Aircraft,” “lighter-than-air vehicles,” “unmanned aerial vehicles,” “aero-engines and aircraft equipment, related equipment, and components,” “ground vehicles and components,” and “fire control, and related alerting and warning equipment.”
Apparently, $20 million will get you a lot of toys in Canada.
