Canada, Syria, and Suncor Energy

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says Canada has not blocked Suncor Energy Inc.’s operations in Syria because the natural gas it extracts is used solely to generate electricity for civilian use. It would be “negative, not positive” to cut off hospitals and families, he added.

This is, at best, is a dubious claim. Suncor’s partnership in Syria is with a state-owned company. Revenues go to the regime. Some of those revenues may be used to keep the lights on in hospitals. Some may be used to massacre peaceful protesters. Canada isn’t allowing Suncor to continue working in Syria out of humanitarian concerns. 

Suffice to say, Syrians opposed to al-Assad’s regime don’t buy Baird’s explanation. Here’s Faisal Alazem of the Syrian Canadian Council speaking on CBC Radio’s The Current: “By proxy, here we are implicated in the salaries of militia thugs who propagate terror in Syria.”

I’ve written in more detail about DFAIT’s tawdry spinning on Suncor and Syria here.