The House of Commons overwhelmingly rejected a New Democrat bill that would have imposed new restrictions on Canadian military sales to the United States, though a small group of Liberal MPs broke with their own government to support the proposal.Blacklock's Reporter says MPs defeated Bill C-233 by a vote of 295 to 22, despite 15 Liberals siding with the NDP in backing the legislation. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand had urged government MPs to oppose the bill, calling it “ill-conceived” and harmful to Canada’s defence industry and international alliances.“It’s a bill that is ill-conceived,” Anand told reporters. “It does not take into account Canada’s trading relationships and the importance of upholding our agreements with our NATO allies.”“The future for our government will be forward leaning in terms of our foreign policy, but this bill is ill-conceived,” she added. “It’s expansive. It undermines our trade relationships around the world and it is for that reason we will be voting against the private member’s bill.”The proposed legislation would have amended the Export and Import Permits Act to require Canadian manufacturers to obtain federal permits when selling military systems or components to the United States.Currently, most defence exports to the U.S. are exempt from permit requirements. New Democrats argued that exemption has allowed Canadian-made military goods to be transferred onward to Israel without Canadian oversight..Despite the government’s opposition, several Liberals publicly considered supporting the measure. Liberal MP Ben Carr, chair of the Commons industry committee, said caucus members had discussed the bill ahead of the vote.“I am certainly aware there are colleagues who are having conversations and reflecting on what they want to do,” Carr said.Liberal MP Karim Bardeesy, parliamentary secretary for industry, initially told reporters he intended to vote for the bill before reversing course after Anand warned government MPs during Question Period that cabinet opposed the measure.“The government opposes this bill,” Anand said in the Commons. “Canada has one of the strongest export regimes in the world with human rights considerations applied to every single permit issued for military goods.”“The changes proposed in this bill would decimate Canada’s defence industry, would weaken Canada’s role in NATO and would jeopardize the capabilities of our Canadian Armed Forces,” she added. “This bill does not close a loophole. It creates new vulnerabilities. It is irresponsible to propose a bill like this.”Fifteen Liberal MPs ultimately voted in favour alongside the NDP, including Fares Al Soud, Sean Casey, Michael Coteau, Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Greg Fergus, Steven Guilbeault, Lori Idlout, Iqra Khalid, Chi Nguyen, Aslam Rana, Gurbux Saini, Kristina Tesser Derksen, Patrick Weiler, Salma Zahid and Sameer Zuberi..Saini said after the vote that MPs must sometimes act independently of party leadership.“We are able to vote our own conscience,” he said. “That’s what led me to believe that was the right thing to do.”Fourteen other Liberal MPs did not participate in the vote, including Sima Acan, Bardish Chagger, Sophie Chatel, Karina Gould, Wade Grant, Will Greaves, Ahmed Hussen, Tim Louis, Alexandra Mendes, Taleeb Noormohamed, Marcus Powlowski, Abdelhaq Sari, Amandeep Sohi and Gender Equality Minister Rechie Valdez.
