[LINK] "London, Ont. defends Saudi arms deal as integral to region’s economy"

[rfmcdonald]

Saudi Arabia might have a horrific human rights record and Canada's arms deals with that country are being criticized, but as Richard Blackwell notes in The Globe and Mail Saudi human rights are irrelevant in the southwestern Ontario city of London. There, in that partly deindustrialized region, the Saudi deal offers hope.

Political and business leaders in London, Ont., are standing by the company that makes the combat vehicles Canada is selling to Saudi Arabia, describing it as a pivotal component of the region’s effort to become a major hub for defence-industry manufacturing.

General Dynamics Land Systems Canada (GDLS) builds the light armoured vehicles (LAVs) at a plant in London that employs 2,100 people, including 650 engineers, and that makes it an “anchor to the defence-industry cluster in Southwestern Ontario,” Mayor Matt Brown said.

Like other members of the business community, Mayor Brown did not want to weigh in on the politics of the contract, which is now under close scrutiny following Saudi Arabia’s mass executions on Jan. 2 that included a prominent Shia Muslim cleric. The focus instead is on the benefits for a region that, until recently, had suffered from years of a weak economy and severe job losses.

For Southwestern Ontario, the success of companies such as GDLS is seen as key to continuing the economic momentum recently gained as a result of the low dollar and stronger exports to the United States.

But the economic gains go beyond Southwestern Ontario, because GDLS buys components across the county, said Kapil Lakhotia, president of London Economic Development Corp., which is responsible for drawing investment to the region.

“GDLS is critical to the London regional economy, it is certainly an important part of our growing defence sector, and [its work] has a variety of positive economic impacts throughout Canada,” he said.