Today, the Carney government joined the Conservatives and the Bloc to defeat Jenny Kwan’s No More Loopholes Bill — legislation that would have stopped Canadian weapons sent to the U.S. from being used to fuel the genocide in Gaza.
It’s a deeply shameful vote that suggests they would rather appease Trump than protect vulnerable civilians.
But this moment also shows why voices like Jenny Kwan and her colleagues in the NDP caucus matter so much. They continue to champion human rights, peace, and international justice with courage and persistence, even when few others in Parliament will.
Millions of Canadians share that vision. They want Canada to be a force for peace, not a junior arms dealer.
This is exactly why our country needs the NDP.
#cdnpoli #gaza #NDP
I’m not sure it’s about “appeasing Trump”, so much as “making money”. Defense contracts pay well, and there is a significant portion of the Canadian manufacturing industry that relies on that income.
The unfortunate truth is, no matter who you sell weapons to, they are eventually going to be used to kill people. That’s what they’re for.
Technically, Canada isn’t “selling weapons to Israel”. We’re selling weapons components to the US. What they do with that, is out of our control. If Canada wants to stop that from happening, we would need to cut off all defense contracts with the US…which would tank our entire manufacturing industry.
If your industry knows the weapons it is building will most likely be used for genocide (which, considering the US is now fully fascist and at Israel’s beck and call, puts the likelihood at near 100%), then I’d consider it deeply unethical to continue selling those weapons to the US.
It is not unlike IBM continuing to assist the Nazi’s with their computers. Yes, saying no would be a financial hit, but like… Take the hit? It’s supporting genocide otherwise. And if that industry would collapse if it decided not to support genocide, then maybe they should find a different way to make money, otherwise that industry shouldn’t exist.
Now imagine if all that labour and resources that go into weapons industry was instead directed towards things like building affordable housing, infrastructure, providing healthcare, and so on.
Nobody is forcing Canada to produce weapons that are used predominantly to massacre civilians either. Meanwhile, I’d much rather have a bullshit office job than have blood of children on my hands. But I guess some people are just utterly depraved.
They’re literally working in the industry of murder. Also, thought you just literally claimed that these skills were exclusive to people murdering industry. Turns out they could be applied to productive purposes that actually benefit people in Canada. Who knew!
They work in high-tech manufacturing. The majority of which is not exclusively defense tech. They make all kinds of stuff, including defense tech. The money made from those contracts, supports an entire industry that also makes everything else. Without it, there would be no Canadian domestic manufacturing industry left.
And seriously…where do you think the money for all that comes from? Do you honestly think that foreign countries that are currently buying Canadian armored vehicles are just going to switch over to investing in Canadian healthcare? Or housing? It’s weird that you think Canadians can just reallocate that money to other things. You want to stop the manufacturing industry from taking those contracts…that money doesn’t get used for other things. It simply disappears from our economy altogether, and all those workers that relied on it, lose their jobs.
There’s absolutely no reason why labour and resources allocated to filling military contracts couldn’t be directed towards productive purposes. And seriously, what do you think money is exactly? It’s just an allocator. We have a fiat currency last I checked, and our government can issue as much currency as it wants. That’s where money comes from in case you didn’t know. We don’t have to be selling armored vehicles to other countries at all. Our government could be creating crown corporations and hiring workers to build things people in Canada need.
The whole context of this discussion here is literally about using this industry for other things. 🤦
Ok. You clearly don’t understand how the economy works. Canada doesn’t have a central economy. The money comes from contracts paid by other countries that order goods from Canadian businesses. If you cancel those contracts, the money gets cancelled along with it. And that’s not even counting the lawsuits that would inevitably be filed by the countries that just got shafted.
The Canadian government can’t just “print money” to make up the difference, and then tell those private companies that they’re now making different things. Most of the technology involved is not transferable. Billions of dollars worth of equipment designed for making those things, would be wasted. And then on top of that billions more would need to be invested in new equipment designed for the new products you think they should be making instead.
This isn’t just some switch you flip, because the government has decided something. It takes years to make these kinds of changes…and in the meantime, all those companies that have agreed to deliver on their contracts are still legally obligated to deliver on those contracts.
I’m not sure it’s about “appeasing Trump”, so much as “making money”. Defense contracts pay well, and there is a significant portion of the Canadian manufacturing industry that relies on that income.
The unfortunate truth is, no matter who you sell weapons to, they are eventually going to be used to kill people. That’s what they’re for.
You don’t see any difference in selling weapons to Israel vs selling them to Ukraine?
Technically, Canada isn’t “selling weapons to Israel”. We’re selling weapons components to the US. What they do with that, is out of our control. If Canada wants to stop that from happening, we would need to cut off all defense contracts with the US…which would tank our entire manufacturing industry.
If your industry knows the weapons it is building will most likely be used for genocide (which, considering the US is now fully fascist and at Israel’s beck and call, puts the likelihood at near 100%), then I’d consider it deeply unethical to continue selling those weapons to the US.
It is not unlike IBM continuing to assist the Nazi’s with their computers. Yes, saying no would be a financial hit, but like… Take the hit? It’s supporting genocide otherwise. And if that industry would collapse if it decided not to support genocide, then maybe they should find a different way to make money, otherwise that industry shouldn’t exist.
Now imagine if all that labour and resources that go into weapons industry was instead directed towards things like building affordable housing, infrastructure, providing healthcare, and so on.
Completely different kinds of industry. Swapping out those investments would put tens of thousands of hard working Canadians out of jobs.
Ah, yes those poor workers making weapons that are used to murder innocent civilians across the globe. My heart bleeds for them.
No one is forcing weapons buyers to use them.
Not everyone has a bullshit office job.
Nobody is forcing Canada to produce weapons that are used predominantly to massacre civilians either. Meanwhile, I’d much rather have a bullshit office job than have blood of children on my hands. But I guess some people are just utterly depraved.
Yeah, all those monsterous welders, machinists, fabricators, and foundry workers. They are literally the worst kinds of people. /s
They’re literally working in the industry of murder. Also, thought you just literally claimed that these skills were exclusive to people murdering industry. Turns out they could be applied to productive purposes that actually benefit people in Canada. Who knew!
They work in high-tech manufacturing. The majority of which is not exclusively defense tech. They make all kinds of stuff, including defense tech. The money made from those contracts, supports an entire industry that also makes everything else. Without it, there would be no Canadian domestic manufacturing industry left.
And seriously…where do you think the money for all that comes from? Do you honestly think that foreign countries that are currently buying Canadian armored vehicles are just going to switch over to investing in Canadian healthcare? Or housing? It’s weird that you think Canadians can just reallocate that money to other things. You want to stop the manufacturing industry from taking those contracts…that money doesn’t get used for other things. It simply disappears from our economy altogether, and all those workers that relied on it, lose their jobs.
There’s absolutely no reason why labour and resources allocated to filling military contracts couldn’t be directed towards productive purposes. And seriously, what do you think money is exactly? It’s just an allocator. We have a fiat currency last I checked, and our government can issue as much currency as it wants. That’s where money comes from in case you didn’t know. We don’t have to be selling armored vehicles to other countries at all. Our government could be creating crown corporations and hiring workers to build things people in Canada need.
The whole context of this discussion here is literally about using this industry for other things. 🤦
Ok. You clearly don’t understand how the economy works. Canada doesn’t have a central economy. The money comes from contracts paid by other countries that order goods from Canadian businesses. If you cancel those contracts, the money gets cancelled along with it. And that’s not even counting the lawsuits that would inevitably be filed by the countries that just got shafted.
The Canadian government can’t just “print money” to make up the difference, and then tell those private companies that they’re now making different things. Most of the technology involved is not transferable. Billions of dollars worth of equipment designed for making those things, would be wasted. And then on top of that billions more would need to be invested in new equipment designed for the new products you think they should be making instead.
This isn’t just some switch you flip, because the government has decided something. It takes years to make these kinds of changes…and in the meantime, all those companies that have agreed to deliver on their contracts are still legally obligated to deliver on those contracts.