On August 3, the government of Canada issued a statement of concern about the way that Saudi Arabia was treating a number of its citizens who had been agitating for further human rights inside the most Islamically conservative jurisdiction on the planet.
The Saudis immediately reacted by banning our ambassador, pulling their diplomats and students out of Canada, and threatening trade deals – steps that will hurt our medical system and might lose Canadians billions of dollars. It appears that insisting that other countries follow Canadian morality comes at a high cost.