Personally, I'm all for aiming to stop dealing with Saudi Arabia as much as possible, and Canada taking a stand - but that's not what's happening. What has happened was that an empty utterance was put up on the internet, one that Canada could attempt to back up in some way, and what is the result of it at this point? It isn't Canada taking a stand - it's Saudi Arabia taking a stand and Canada displaying, quite clearly, that Saudi Arabia is willing to take a stand and Canada is not.
Think about it. Canada now has the opportunity to take a genuine stand and drop Saudi oil, along with any other Saudi products we buy. It wouldn't have a huge impact on SA, but it could be done and it would show we're not just all talk. Instead, we aren't doing that - we're continuing to buy their oil after our uttered platitude, putting money in Saudi pockets. Saudi Arabia on the other hand? They've ejected our diplomats, are calling back their students, have cut investments, are no longer buying products from us... They've stripped a huge portion of what we get from them away, and we've done virtually nothing to retaliate. It's all good and fine to paint this narrative of us standing up to the bully in some small way where no-one else does, but it's pure fiction. Our empty platitude without anything to back it up, paired with their quite decisive response from SA, enables them as bullies. The writing on the wall is quite clear - Canada talks but doesn't act, and Saudi will smack you around if you step out of line. This does nothing but reveal the emptiness behind Canada's moralizing.
Simply put, if we are going to talk virtuous, we need to be able to back it up in the face of a bully or we simply enable and strengthen that bully. We have done nothing at this point, in this exchange, but show that our morals are all talk, Canada will not respond in any meaningful way, and don't mess with Saudi Arabia. Honestly, it would have been simply better, in virtually every way I can conceive of, if we didn't go making moralizing statements that are ultimately empty. That being said, it will certainly buy votes, and I can't help but think that was the only real goal behind it, since it doesn't seem that there is any intent to actually back up the moralizing. I am more than a bit ashamed over this incident, if there is no decisive response taken in the near future. I'm holding out some hope so, Trudeau, prove me wrong!