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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 40

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 3, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 40 - Mar/3/22
Mr. Gabriel Ste-Marie (Joliette, BQ)
  • Mar/3/22 12:13:36 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague for his very good and very heartfelt speech. In his opinion, why is the government refusing to sanction Russian oligarchs who have direct or indirect interests in western Canada's oil sands?
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Context: House Hansard - 40 - Mar/3/22
Mr. Charlie Angus
  • Mar/3/22 12:13:56 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague and say, “Welcome to the petrostate.” Remember how the Conservatives, who are all really upset about Communist China, actually sold off sections of the oil patch to state-owned Chinese companies because as long as it was Chinese companies owning them, they did not mind. Now, we have the Liberals talking about sanctions but refusing to go after these key oligarchs. This is the face of the petrostate between Conservatives and Liberals. We need to have better accountability.
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Context: House Hansard - 40 - Mar/3/22
Ms. Melissa Lantsman
  • Mar/3/22 12:43:51 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I hope I did not hear a suggestion or an implication that we would support any of the oligarchs he just named. Yesterday in question period my colleague named some of those oligarchs directly in asking the Prime Minister about this. I am also glad that the member who asked me that question will never be in charge of Canadian foreign policy, because there is a lack of realization that energy policy is often used as a foreign policy tool. If the members from that party cannot understand that, then I am glad they are sitting where they are sitting.
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Context: House Hansard - 40 - Mar/3/22
Mr. Gabriel Ste-Marie (Joliette, BQ)
  • Mar/3/22 12:58:10 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have a question for the parliamentary secretary. Why does his government refuse to impose immediate, concrete sanctions on the Russian oligarchs who have interests, who have direct or indirect stakes in the development, production and transportation of Canadian oil? Is it for lack of courage?
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Context: House Hansard - 40 - Mar/3/22
Mr. Arif Virani
  • Mar/3/22 12:58:38 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question from the member for Joliette, and I can assure him that we have already imposed sanctions on over 400 individuals. That is the first thing. Second, our sanctions are aimed at Putin himself, as well as the people, leaders and politicians around him, but they are also aimed at the oligarchs. It is not true to say that we have not targeted the oligarchs. We have done just that. I fully agree that the assets of Russian oligarchs must be targeted here in Canada. We need to do it in a comprehensive way in order to cripple and effectively suffocate the Russian economy.
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Context: House Hansard - 40 - Mar/3/22
Mr. Brian Masse (Windsor West, NDP)
  • Mar/3/22 1:17:06 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the unfortunate timing of this debate is that it shows our allies not that some of the members in the Canadian Parliament have attacked them but that we are now potentially divided on this. I would like to ask the member about the oligarchs. Other countries are seizing private property and freezing assets. Canada has been very remiss on this. It goes even deeper, because it shows how we are a pariah internationally, known as a snow-washing state. Perhaps one of the things we could see unified coming out of this is getting at not only uncollected taxes as revenue but also the snow washing that takes place with international money. Could the member comment on that? When will Canada act on the oligarchs as other countries have?
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Context: House Hansard - 40 - Mar/3/22
Mr. Jagmeet Singh (Burnaby South, NDP)
  • Mar/3/22 2:32:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we need to stop the war in Ukraine and to do that we need to put pressure on President Putin where it counts, and that is his wealth. We know his wealth is held in the hands of Russian oligarchs like Roman Abramovich, so will the Prime Minister commit to specific targeted sanctions to sanction the wealth and assets of these Russian oligarchs that are held in Canada?
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Context: House Hansard - 40 - Mar/3/22
Mr. Jagmeet Singh (Burnaby South, NDP)
  • Mar/3/22 2:33:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we must stop the war in Ukraine and, to do so, we must put pressure on President Putin where it counts, namely, on his wealth. We know that his wealth is in the hands of Russian oligarchs like Roman Abramovitch. Will the Prime Minister commit to putting in place sanctions against Russian oligarchs in Canada?
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Context: House Hansard - 40 - Mar/3/22
Hon. Anita Anand (Minister of National Defence, Lib.)
  • Mar/3/22 2:33:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I have already said, we have already imposed sanctions against President Putin himself and on key members of his inner circle, the oligarchs close to his regime and members of the Russian Duma. We will continue to exert maximum pressure on the Putin regime with our allies.
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Context: House Hansard - 40 - Mar/3/22
Mr. Francis Scarpaleggia
  • Mar/3/22 4:14:02 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that is an interesting question. It is difficult to know who is investing in what in the Canadian economy. However, there are other measures we can take if we find that some people, like Russian oligarchs, are profiting in a bad way from a project in Canada. The government also has other measures to deal with such dangers, such as the Sergei Magnitsky Law. The identity of business owners is a complex matter. I think we need to separate the two questions because, if we do not, it becomes far too complicated. However, we have laws at our disposal that could apply in such a situation.
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Context: House Hansard - 40 - Mar/3/22
Mr. John Williamson
  • Mar/3/22 4:42:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada and its allies are looking for ways of preventing the oligarchs from profiting from our economy. I agree with my colleague. Canada’s plan must emphasize our industry, our workers and the resources we can sell to our friends in Europe.
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Context: House Hansard - 40 - Mar/3/22
Mr. Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay
  • Mar/3/22 5:13:52 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we absolutely agree, 150%. That was one of the points we made earlier during question period. That is part of our position. We have to work on that. Also, if there are going to be sanctions against Russia, and there must be sanctions when such an aggression is committed, these sanctions have to be better targeted. I gave the example of Russian oligarchs investing in fossil fuels in western Canada. If we promote fossil fuels in this region, we are serving the interests of the Russian oligarchs. Therefore, we could also have the courage to do what Europe has done and seize those assets as well.
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