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A bill to tighten oversight of Canada’s arms exports was shot down in Parliament this week. 

Just 22 MPs voted in favour of Bill C-233, the No More Loopholes Act, a private member’s bill that would have heightened scrutiny of military exports, particularly those destined for the U.S. 

Meanwhile, 295 MPs voted against it, effectively killing the bill before it could advance to committee study.

“The Liberal government is rhetoric-driven with lofty ideals,” said Jenny Kwan, the NDP MP who introduced the bill, in a March 11 statement. 

“But when push comes to shove, there’s a lack of substance, misinformation and attachment to special interests.”

A gap in oversight

Introduced in September, Bill C-233 would have mandated export permits and human rights assessments for more military exports, regardless of their destination.

As Canadian Affairs previously reported, the bill targeted a long-criticized loophole in Canadian law, which allows many Canadian-made military components to be exported to the U.S. with minimal oversight. 

The bill was introduced amid growing concern over how the U.S. — which receives about two-thirds of Canada’s military exports — uses its arms.

The bill was supported by six NDP MPs, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May and 15 Liberal MPs, including former cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault and recent floor-crosser Lori Idlout.

Most Liberals, Conservatives and Bloc Québécois MPs voted against it, while 23 MPs abstained.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand criticized the bill shortly before the vote, saying it would “decimate Canada’s defence industry, would weaken Canada’s role in NATO and would jeopardize the capabilities of our Canadian Armed Forces.”

This view was shared by the Conservatives.

Tory MP James Bezan noted the defence giants Honeywell, General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin are major employers of Canadians. 

“Creating these jobs and keeping these companies here supports Canada’s sovereign capabilities to build weapons for ourselves,” he said.

MP Karim Bardeesy, the parliamentary secretary to the industry minister, further noted that Canada’s export controls are already “strict and robust.” 

Akaash Maharaj, a fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto, says the government seems to be relying on the U.S. to enforce its own export controls. But this is problematic, he says.

“Donald Trump has already withdrawn the United States’ signature from the Arms Trade Treaty, and [U.S. Secretary of War] Pete Hegseth has made it clear that the U.S. will not respect the laws of war in its conduct of military affairs,” Maharaj told Canadian Affairs in an email after the vote. The international Arms Trade Treaty sets global standards for the transfer of conventional weapons.

“Canada and the United States are clearly not adhering to the same values in the use and distribution of weapons,” he said.

The U.S. loophole

Kelsey Gallagher, a senior researcher at the non-profit Project Ploughshares, says Canada’s arms shipments to the U.S. face far less oversight than those sent elsewhere, allowing Canadian weapons to end up in the hands of human-rights violators.

“The US is not a State Party to the [Arms Trade Treaty] and therefore has significantly weaker safeguards when transferring military systems abroad,” Gallagher said in an email to Canadian Affairs.

“Canadian munitions have been exported to other states through the US that Canadian policy would have barred if they were exported directly.”

Yara Shoufani, president of the advocacy group Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, says the bill’s defeat will not end their push for stronger oversight of arms exports.

“This issue will remain a central issue for human rights organizations, constituents, and voters … [who must] continue to be vigilant in opposing all arms exports that risk ending up in the hands of war criminals and génocidaires,” she told Canadian Affairs in an email.

In a press conference ahead of the vote, Kwan framed the debate as a test of Canada’s values.

“The words that the prime minister spoke at Davos do not match his actions,” she said, referencing Prime Minister Mark Carney’s much touted speech at the World Economic Forum in January.

“He said that we can’t turn a blind eye to reality. Well, we are … We’re making exceptions whenever the government feels like it.

“The prime minister said, ‘We can’t go along to get along’ — well, we are going along to get along.”

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