SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 20

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
January 31, 2022 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 20 - Jan/31/22
Mr. Tom Kmiec (Calgary Shepard, CPC)
  • Jan/31/22 7:47:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would prefer to make a comment rather than ask the member a question. He explained his position very clearly as well as that of the Bloc Québécois. I would therefore prefer to comment on the narrative. I am a Canadian MP and I am of Polish descent. I was born in Poland and lived the history of eastern Europe. I would say that when we talk about NATO moving its borders closer to Russia, it means that countries like Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Lithuania, Estonia and others asked of their own accord to become members of NATO to escape the oppression from Moscow and the Russian federation. It was a choice, not just in terms of foreign policy, but a choice made by these peoples to escape from those who occupied their countries and who were part of the Warsaw Pact. When we talk about the history, we can say that NATO is not the aggressor, but rather the one who accepted new members that wanted to be part of an alliance that would defend them. I think it is important to point that out. It is not the Russian interests that should prevail, but the interests of these Eastern European peoples and countries.
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Context: House Hansard - 20 - Jan/31/22
Mr. Tom Kmiec (Calgary Shepard, CPC)
  • Jan/31/22 8:09:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will just respond to some of the member's comments. I do not know if I will have a question. It is more just a commentary. She compared the Russian Federation and President Putin with a bully. We know that bullies only respond to strength, not to more talking. At this point, more talking without some type of action, without a response that strengthens Ukraine's capacity to defend itself, is just going to encourage President Putin and the military to keep preparing for war. They have been moving troops into Belarus on this fake training exercise, so they have this longer undefended border that they could invade through. Other countries are already contributing firearms and weapons to Ukraine, whether Turkey, Latvia, Estonia or Poland. They have been providing arms to Ukraine. We know they need to defend themselves. They need the means to try to equalize the huge differences in forces between an all-weather, very professional combat force in the Russian military, and Ukraine, which is still trying to pick itself out of fighting an endless war with Russian separatists, supported by the Russian Federation. More talk is not going to achieve this. The bully is not going to go away. The bully is getting more arms, more people and more weapons, and it is delivering more crushing blows to the Ukrainian government.
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Context: House Hansard - 20 - Jan/31/22
Mr. Tom Kmiec (Calgary Shepard, CPC)
  • Jan/31/22 8:16:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that was what I would term a strong endorsement of support for Ukraine and for ensuring its territorial integrity. I am of Polish origin. Many eastern Europeans fled to Canada over the last century. They usually came here in different waves. Eastern Europe is still a troubled region, typically because of the Russian Federation and the different names that it has been known by. The member talked about doing everything possible and about all the options out there. I want to remind him that countries such as Turkey, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Poland are sending arms to Ukraine. Could the member comment on that, and on whether the Government of Canada will be doing that as well?
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Context: House Hansard - 20 - Jan/31/22
Mr. Tom Kmiec (Calgary Shepard, CPC)
  • Jan/31/22 8:27:29 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I want to thank the member for what I also think is a speech in strong support of the right of Ukraine to its self-determination and its borders. I mentioned there is a series of countries that have offered and already transferred weapons and arms to Ukraine in an effort to try to bolster its military forces to act as a deterrent to the Russian Federation potentially invading different parts of Ukraine and prolonging the war it has been fighting with them for several years. Will the member perhaps explain the Government of Canada's delays in sending arms from Canada to Ukraine in support of our allies to ensure they can defend themselves against Russian aggression?
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Context: House Hansard - 20 - Jan/31/22
Mr. Tom Kmiec (Calgary Shepard, CPC)
  • Jan/31/22 9:00:49 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I would like to thank the minister for taking part in this debate and explaining Canada's humanitarian help to Ukrainians. I talked about civic institutions and how important it is build them in Ukraine, and one of things the minister mentioned is media. We know that there is a large disinformation campaign being run by the Kremlin through different outlets, and closer to home we have one of these outfits operating right here in Canada, which is called “Russia Today”. It is a 24-hour, pro-Putin, pro-Kremlin, pro whatever the Russian government thinks it wants to spew into our airways, and it gets carrier rights. While we are also helping overseas to try to limit the damage that these disinformation campaigns can cause to sap the morale and strength of civic society to resist in these types of situations, I wonder if the minister would agree that Russia Today does not belong on Canadian airways either.
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Context: House Hansard - 20 - Jan/31/22
Mr. Tom Kmiec (Calgary Shepard, CPC)
  • Jan/31/22 10:22:03 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I would like to thank the member for a great intervention in this House. I had the honour of serving with the member at the foreign affairs committee a few Parliaments ago. There is a lot of wisdom in the words he brings to the House, and that it is in our national interest to ensure that the Government of Ukraine remains independent, has territorial integrity, and is able to stand up to Russian aggression. I want to add a few things to what he said. In 2015, when Russia attacked Ukraine, it used about a dozen battalion tactical groups. Today we are talking about up to 76 battalion tactical groups amassing on the border. The types of troops being amassed at the border of Ukraine are what indicate that Russia is serious about entering Ukrainian territory and staying in Ukrainian territory for whatever purpose, for whatever length of time. I wonder if the member could expand on the comments he has made on what this would mean for our national interest, as well as for the national interest of NATO allies in the region.
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Context: House Hansard - 20 - Jan/31/22
Mr. Tom Kmiec (Calgary Shepard, CPC)
  • Jan/31/22 10:33:25 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I would like to thank the member for her contribution to this debate. I guess I am going to sound a softer tone, but I am always worried that when we do comparisons to World War II we are not getting it right. This is not the Soviet Union anymore, but it is still the same type of Russian leadership that we are seeing. Its default stance is to be hyper aggressive towards its neighbours. We saw it do this to Georgia. It feels like just a few years ago, but it has been over 15 years since that particular conflict happened. Since then, it has created two of these autonomous, separate kinds of republics that nobody else recognizes. I wonder if the member would comment on what the possible interest would be for the Russian federation in trying to either dismember Ukraine or destabilize it, because we in Canada, as many cabinet ministers have been mentioning, have been contributing a lot to the humanitarian and civil institutions' strengthening effort in Ukraine.
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Context: House Hansard - 20 - Jan/31/22
Mr. Tom Kmiec (Calgary Shepard, CPC)
  • Jan/31/22 10:50:44 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I will speak in French as a sign of respect for our country's languages. I want to comment on the debate over whether Ukraine's allies could supply weapons to Ukraine in an attempt to make Russia think twice before deciding to invade. I believe that this would make a difference in diplomacy. Just look at President Trump's meeting with President Putin in recent years. I think that did a lot of damage to diplomacy in Europe and America. It was a huge victory for Russia, which broadcast propaganda around the world, including here in Canada, via Russia Today, a 24-hour propaganda channel. We cannot forget that Russia has already fought two wars in Chechnya, sending 50,000 troops to fight each of those wars. Now, there are nearly 130,000 troops on the Ukraine-Russia and Belarus-Ukraine borders, and those soldiers are not normally there. These are tactical combat units deployed from all across the Russian Federation. I think we need to be cautious in our diplomacy and avoid playing into the hands of Mr. Putin and the Russian Federation, which is preparing for a larger war while we spend our time talking. Dialogue can have a diplomatic role in a war that might happen later, in a few weeks or months. We do not know. That is up to them. We must remain vigilant so we can recognize when an adversary is using our time and our focus on diplomacy against us.
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