The Liberal government is cheering a new deal that will see Bombardier sell business jets to a company controlled by Saudi Arabia.

“Bombardier’s agreement with Saudi Arabia’s The Helicopter Company for up to 60 business jets is another global win for Canadian aerospace,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand said on X Wednesday. 

“Another vote of confidence in Canadian workers producing world class aerospace products,” said Maninder Sidhu, minister of international trade.

“This builds on the $600 million in commercial deals I secured alongside Canadian businesses during my trade mission to Saudi Arabia earlier this year.”

The Helicopter Company is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which counts Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud as chairman of the board.

“We are honored that The Helicopter Company has selected Bombardier to support its future fleet ambitions,” Bombardier CEO Éric Martel said in a press release published by PIF. 

Anand’s office did not respond to questions from The Maple. 

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Bombardier did not directly address questions about Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses. 

“Bombardier serves customers in more than 120 countries around the world and complies with all applicable laws and regulations in the jurisdictions where we operate,” the spokesperson said.

“We conduct business in accordance with those frameworks and with the principles outlined in our Code of Ethics.”

Top Customer of Canada’s

Under Prime Minister Mark Carney, Canada is increasingly doing business with the repressive Middle Eastern Kingdom across multiple different sectors.

Besides the United States, Saudi Arabia is Canada’s top customer for military and defence exports, receiving $1.2 billion in military goods from Canada in 2024 and $403 million in 2025.

“Canada’s arms exports to Saudi Arabia, which are largely, but not exclusively, [light armoured vehicles], have faced intense scrutiny by the Canadian public and civil society,” peace advocacy organization Project Ploughshares said in 2024. 

“This is not only due to the Saudi government’s troubling human rights record, but also because of Saudi Arabia’s deployment of Canadian LAVs in the Yemeni civil war, a conflict that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 377,000 people.”

Saudi Arabia is widely known to be a human rights abuser. In 2025, the country executed a record 322 people, including a journalist and people convicted of non-violent drug offenses, according to Human Rights Watch. 

The country also denies basic rights to women, legally obliging them to obey their husbands in order to receive their financial support and to have sex with them on demand unless they provide a “legitimate excuse.”

Saudis Join War on Iran

This week, Saudi Arabia directly participated for the first time in the United States and Israel’s war of aggression in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia and the U.S. together bombed militias in Iraq that they say are backed by Iran on Tuesday.

“U.S. and Saudi fighter aircraft struck multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq in a strong response to over 30 [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps]-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours,” said the American military’s central command on X.

An Iraqi paramilitary group said at least 20 of its members were killed in the strikes.