A leaked Liberal caucus briefing document obtained by The Maple warned that regulating the flow of Canadian-made military goods to the United States might upset the Americans, resulting in economic blows to Canada and damaging geopolitical alliances.
The briefing was prepared in response to Bill C-233, a private members’ bill sponsored by NDP MP Jenny Kwan, who also obtained a copy of the leaked document ahead of a recent debate in the House of Commons.
Bill C-233, dubbed the “No More Loopholes Act,” proposes amending federal export law to prevent certain countries from being exempt from permitting requirements, and introducing additional regulations and reporting measures for Canadian military exports.
Most military exports to the United States currently do not require permits, and researchers have warned that this serves as a backdoor by which Canadian-made military goods are ending up in Israel, which is committing a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
A recent report, co-authored by the Palestinian Youth Movement, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, Arms Embargo Now and World Beyond War, identified hundreds of shipments of Canadian-made F-35 fighter jet components, other aircraft parts, and explosives and flammable materials to U.S. facilities that supply the Israeli military.
The report also highlighted 433 shipments of Polish-made TNT routed through the Port Saguenay, Quebec to U.S. army ammunition plants that make bombs used by Israel in Gaza.
The report stated that “by deliberately exempting U.S.-bound arms from export regulation and allowing Canadian infrastructure to transport weapons, Canada is circumventing its obligations under international law.”
The Mark Carney government has not disputed the report’s findings.
Israel’s genocide in Gaza is not the only reason for concerns about unregulated military exports to the U.S.
The arms monitoring group Project Ploughshares found that Canadian-made sensors were used by the U.S. to conduct illegal airstrikes on small boats in the Caribbean Sea in September.
“Because of a decades-old agreement between Canada and the United States, most military goods that Canada sends to its southern neighbour [...] bypass the very export controls designed to prevent Canadian technology from contributing to such abuses,” the Project Ploughshares report noted.
This week, The Canadian Press reported that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, the vanguard of President Donald Trump’s brutal roundup of immigrants, plans to buy 20 Canadian-made armoured vehicles.
Bill C-233 states that closing export permit exemptions would more closely align Canada with its obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty, which prohibits exports of military goods if there is a substantial risk they could be used to seriously violate human rights or international humanitarian law.
But the leaked Liberal caucus briefing note denounced the bill as “misguided” and claimed it would “weaken our alliances, and decimate our defence industry.” The note read:
“Our general exemption with the U.S. is not a loophole — it reflects a unique geopolitical relationship rooted in shared security commitments, continental defence, and decades of military integration. Imposing the bureaucratic red tape envisioned by this legislation would undermine these efforts and make both countries less secure against threats to sovereignty and stability.”
The briefing note also claimed that treating exports to the U.S. as a loophole could “strain diplomatic relationships” and “invites reciprocal action.”
“Such retaliation could dismantle trade, strip Canadian firms of near-equal treatment with American counterparts and force the relocation of business lines outside Canada—including by U.S. contractors who dominate our production and export capabilities. Lost business would be nearly impossible to recoup in other markets.”
The note claimed that Canadian military exports to the U.S. are permit-free “based on the U.S. being a NATO ally with a very similar approach to export controls, and the practical reality that our defense [sic] industries are deeply integrated and interdependent.”
The note also claimed that the regulations proposed by the bill would disrupt “Canadian Armed Forces’ (CAF) ability to procure essential materials needed to meet NATO commitments.”
Kwan, who also obtained a copy of the leaked briefing note, refuted the document’s claims during a House of Commons debate on November 19.
She said: “We cannot continue to call for peace while profiting from war crimes, and we cannot condemn atrocities abroad while quietly enabling them through our exports.”
“History will judge us not by how we defended industries or alliances, but by whether we defended humanity.”
The briefing note’s tone is more blunt than Liberal MP and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Rob Oliphant’s rebuttal against the bill during the debate.
Oliphant praised Kwan for her “ongoing and very steadfast commitment to strengthening oversight and to bringing peace in our world.”
He added: “Bill C-233 as it is drafted, while perhaps well-intentioned, would risk undermining Canada’s security, international security, our defence industry and our international partnerships at a critical moment.”
“Canada has one of the strongest military export control systems in the world, and considerations for human rights are at its very core.”
Oliphant repeated the briefing note’s claim that the U.S. exemption is not a loophole, but not the document’s warnings of reciprocal actions by the U.S. or its claims about the U.S. having a “very similar approach to [Canada’s] export controls.”
The Maple emailed Oliphant’s office for comment on the briefing document, but did not receive any response.
Conservative MP Michael Chong objected to the bill on similar grounds, warning that it might create “some conflict between Canada and the United States” and highlighting how it might impact F-35 fighter jet supply chains.
Israel has extensively used American-made F-35s, which contain Canadian-made components, in its genocide in Gaza.
Project Ploughshares recently published a document debunking and clarifying some of the common talking points used against Bill C-233.
In a statement, Rachel Small, an organizer with World Beyond War, told The Maple: “The real issue here is that Canadian weapons are continuing to be used in the most horrific war crimes on the planet.”
“Canada’s current arms export controls are clearly not sufficient to stop this. That is the problem Bill C-233 is designed to address.”
“The Canadian government has spent the last year and a half promising that Canadian weapons aren’t being used in Gaza. That’s just been revealed to be a lie, in explicit detail, in our report. The Canadian government seems to be desperately trying to ignore this.”
This summer, the same coalition of civil society organizations published a separate report that exposed hundreds of military exports shipped directly from Canada to Israel.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand called the report “flawed” and disputed three claims — including one that the report did not make.
She claimed: “We will not allow Canadian-made weapons to fuel this conflict in any way.”
However, Anand’s statement did not deny that some direct military exports to Israel were continuing, as shown by public data, export permits released by Global Affairs Canada and shipments exposed in the report.
The authors of the report accused Anand of deceiving Canadians about the reality of Canada’s ongoing arms trade with Israel.
Alex Cosh
Meanwhile, the Carney government has not disputed the latest report’s conclusion that Canadian-made military goods — including weapons that could be used in Israel’s genocide in Gaza — are ending up in Israel via the U.S.
When asked for comment on the new report by CBC News in November, GAC repeated its past statements that since January 2024 it has not authorized new export permits for military goods that the department believes could be used in Gaza.
GAC’s statement, however, concerns only direct exports to Israel, and not exports shipped via the U.S.
The Maple contacted GAC asking if it disputes that Canadian exports, including weapons that could be used in Gaza, are being shipped to Israel via the U.S.
The department said it is “aware of the report and is reviewing it,” before repeating its previous statements. The Maple followed up with the department again 10 days later, but received no response.
Shifting Narrative
Last year, the Liberal government explicitly claimed that no Canadian goods that Israel could use in Gaza were being exported, either directly or via third countries.
The new report states that 150 shipments of explosives and flammable materials were sent from General Dynamics - Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GDOTS) facilities in Quebec between November 2023 and October 2025 to U.S. army plants that make bombs, artillery shells and tank rounds for export to Israel.
The Maple emailed GDOTS asking about the report’s findings, but did not receive any response.
In August 2024, The Maple reported that GDOTS was named by the U.S. as the primary contractor in a “possible” high-explosive mortar cartridge sale to Israel.
After initially dismissing concerns about the contract, then-foreign affairs minister Mélanie Joly said: “We will not have any form of arms or parts of arms be sent to Gaza, period. How they’re being sent and where they’re being sent is irrelevant. And so therefore my position is clear. The position of the government is clear, and we’re in contact with General Dynamics.”
It is unclear whether or not Joly actually got in touch with GDOTS, however. The Maple filed an access to information request with GAC last year requesting records of communications between Joly, or any other senior government official, and GDOTS.
In a response letter, GAC said “no records related to your request exist” between August and December 2024.
The request specifically sought correspondence with any government official ranked assistant deputy minister or higher, and any GDOTS representatives or American government officials regarding the potential sale.
The officer tasked with managing The Maple’s request wrote in a follow-up email: “I can confirm that the wording of your request was clear and would include within its scope correspondence to/from the Minister of Foreign Affairs.”
GAC did not respond to questions sent from The Maple in July asking if Joly or anyone from her office was ever in contact with GDOTS regarding the possible mortar cartridge sale as she claimed, or if the sale was ever blocked.
GAC spokesperson John Babcock sent a generic statement via email, which said: “Due to commercial confidentiality, Global Affairs Canada does not comment on the specifics of individual export permit applications or transactions, including end use.”
Following a month of further enquiries, Babcock directed The Maple to Anand’s previous statement regarding military exports from Canada to Israel. Anand said: “No mortars have been shipped from Canadian manufacturers to Israel, either directly or indirectly, since before permits were suspended [last year].”
The question, however, was regarding mortar cartridges and components, not fully assembled mortars.
The Maple also emailed Joly’s MP office for comment in July. Joly was shuffled out of her foreign affairs role in May. No response was received.
Questions about another arms contract in which Israel was named as an end user have also remained unanswered.
After the mortar cartridge contract came to light last year, Project Ploughshares found that the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), a Crown agency that works with Canadian arms companies, signed a contract amendment with the U.S. government to supply the Israeli military with up to $78.8 million of artillery propellants.
GDOTS is the sole-source supplier of the artillery propellants in question.
The contract amendment was signed two weeks after Joly claimed she planned to contact GDOTS regarding the potential mortar cartridge sale.
Amid confusing denials from federal officials and the CCC, there is no evidence to date that the federal government ever intervened on the artillery propellant contract.
“What we’ve seen from this government over the past few months is a deep commitment to build both foreign policy and economic policy for Canada based almost entirely on ever-increasing militarization and warmongering in lockstep with the U.S.,” said Small.
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