© Dave Chidley/Globe and MailLight Armoured Vehicles are parked on the lot of the General Dynamics Land Systems factory in London, Ont., on Wednesday, April 13, 2016.
It's a first for Canada, according to IHS Jane's, the defence industry publisher that tracks military spending. Canada was previously the sixth-largest weapons vendor to Mideast countries. The United States is No. 1.
Canada has also vaulted to sixth overall among all arms-exporting countries, based on rankings released by Jane's this week. This means only five countries are currently selling more weapons and military equipment.
IHS Jane's analyst Ben Moores said he suspects Canada has never ranked so highly among all arms-exporting countries and that it certainly hasn't held that position in the past 15 years.
The Trudeau government, asked whether it took pride in Canada's expanded role as a weapons seller and would feature this achievement in trade promotion materials, referred the questions to a department of Global Affairs bureaucrat. The civil servant instead said Ottawa hopes to toughen screening of weapons sold to foreigners.
"The government of Canada remains firmly committed to introducing more transparency and rigour in export controls," spokeswoman Rachna Mishra said.
The Trudeau government gave the green light for the $15-billion sale of fighting vehicles to proceed to Saudi Arabia, a country regularly ranked by watchdog Freedom House as among the "worst of the worst" on human rights.
Comment: Perhaps the backlash against the Saudi's indiscriminate targeting of civilian infrastructure is gaining traction: Bipartisan group of senators moving to block sale of US tanks to Saudi Arabia over human rights concerns in Yemen