Based on his actions and words, Yemeni life matters little to Mark Carney. He supports monarchist/Zionist/US domination of the region.
Late Saturday evening the prime minister posted, “The Houthi attacks on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and in particular the strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, are abhorrent.
There can be no justification for attacks on civilian infrastructure.… Canada condemns these reckless acts of violence in the strongest possible terms.”
Carney was responding to Ansar Allah strikes on Riyadh’s airport that reportedly killed a dozen and injured many more. It’s reasonable to criticize the substantial loss of life. But Carney hasn’t said a word about hundreds of Saudi strikes on Yemen, which have killed far more civilians.
Two days earlier, Antiwar.com’s Dave DeCamp reported, “Saudi airstrikes hit a passenger vehicle in Yemen’s southwestern Taiz province on Thursday, killing at least two civilians and wounding six others, as civilian casualties continue to mount in the US-supported bombing campaign.” The Yemeni Health Ministry reported that a pregnant woman also lost her baby and two girls were injured in the attack.
Two days before, 14-year-old Athir al-Amri was killed by shrapnel when the Saudis hit next to her school bus in eastern Sana’a. Two classmates were also wounded, including one gravely.
According to a Drop Site News article quoting a spokesperson for the health ministry, Al-Amri was the 83rd civilian killed in Ansar Allah-controlled areas since the escalation began in September. The worst incident took place on September 7 when 35 civilians, including a child, were reportedly killed by a Saudi strike on a prison in the northern al-Jawf province.
Over the past six weeks, the Saudi-led coalition has reportedly launched 2,000 airstrikes on its southern neighbour. On October 5 the media reported that 100 Saudi fighter jets carried out over 150 strikes across Yemen while on Sunday Ansar Allah said the kingdom “launched 124 airstrikes in the past 24 hours.”
Montreal-based flight simulator company CAE has trained Saudi pilots in numerous locales. It trained them at a facility in Abu Dhabi and a US base in Pensacola, Florida. Saudi pilots have also trained at NATO’s Flying Training in Canada, which was run by CAE and the Canadian Forces in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Millions of dollars in Canadian-made rifles and billions of dollars in Canadian built armoured vehicles have been shipped to the monarchy as the Saudis killed tens of thousands of Yemenis between 2015-2022. (The United Nations Development Program put the Yemeni death toll at 377,000 due to direct and indirect consequences of the war as well as the Saudi blockade.)
While it has received far less attention in recent years, arms shipments continue to the kingdom. The largest non-US recipient of Canadian arms, $1.3 billion was sold to the Saudis in 2024 and another $400 million in 2025.
On Friday the Globe and Mail published a guide for capitalists looking to profit from the violence headlined “Bet on These Defense ETFs Amid Escalating Yemen War”. The Report on Business article noted, “The conflict in Yemen has spilled across Saudi Arabia’s borders once again. Houthi rebels recently struck two airports inside the Kingdom, including an attack on the airport serving the Saudi capital that witnesses described as triggering an evacuation.
“Riyadh’s air defenses were tested in real time, underscoring a longstanding challenge for defense planners: the drone and missile threat from Yemen remains persistent, increasingly sophisticated and far from resolved.
“For investors, this is a relevant signal. Escalating attacks of this kind tend to accelerate demand for weapons systems like interceptors, precision-guided munitions, radar, and integrated air and missile defense architectures, designed to stop them.
“Naturally, defense majors that already hold direct weapons agreements with Saudi Arabia stand to see order growth, expanded backlogs, and stronger revenue visibility as the Kingdom is likely to replenish and upgrade its defensive stockpile. Against this backdrop, defense-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which provide exposure to multiple prime contractors, offer a diversified way to capitalize on rising demand without betting on a single name.”
Throughout the 2010s Saudi war on Yemen the Canadian Embassy’s website claimed, “the Saudi government plays an important role in promoting regional peace and stability.” It’s been updated. Now the section on bilateral relations starts off noting, “Canada and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have enjoyed positive relations for over 50 years, grounded in shared interests in achieving economic growth, diversifying their economies, enhancing regional and international security, and establishing the foundations for global peace.”
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