44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 3, 2022 10:00AM
- Mar/3/22 10:05:47 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the third report of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, entitled “Situation at the Russia-Ukraine Border”.
The committee wishes to advise the House that it condemns the unwarranted and unprovoked attack on Ukraine that was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, a clear violation of international law. It also calls on the Government of Canada to support Ukrainians and people residing in Ukraine who are impacted by this conflict, to ensure that it is prepared to process immigration applications on an urgent basis without compromising needs in other areas and to take steps to ensure rapid entry to Canada for all who wish to come.
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- Mar/3/22 10:26:02 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, Parliament certainly stands to condemn Vladimir Putin for his unprovoked illegal attack, and we certainly stand with the people of Ukraine, but what I find really disturbing and appalling at this time is the crass exploitative attitude of the Conservatives to try to take a humanitarian disaster and use it to promote the pipe dream of spending billions of taxpayers' dollars on pipelines.
They could have talked about the need for Parliament to stand together and take on Russian disinformation. They did not do that. They could have talked about the food crisis we could start to see if we see wheat exports in Ukraine cut off. They could have talked about refugees, but they are not interested in that. I expect a lot from many of the Conservative backbenchers, but I expect more from this member.
Does he not know that Quebec has already shut down LNG pipelines? If he is going to get to tidewater, does he not have a map of Canada? Quebec says it will not allow LNG exports. That would actually undermine our world obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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- Mar/3/22 10:31:13 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is my honour today to second the motion brought forward by my colleague from Halton Hills. I stand firmly with the rest of my party in condemning the actions of Vladimir Putin and the Russian regime against our allies in Ukraine, our democratic friends in Ukraine. Here in Canada, there are 1.3 million Ukrainian descendants. They are one of our most important allies in the world, and we need to stand with them strongly at this point in time and make sure that we speak and act accordingly so that this does not continue, as much as we can.
The other day I heard from a friend who has a cousin who is in Ukraine. She was here in Canada for 20 years, but she chose to go back to Ukraine because she retired. She had an inheritance there in a small house that she got from her family, so that is where she retired. That house was destroyed earlier this week by a tank. Her name is Luda and now she is in hiding. Luda's family is asking that we quickly allow 200,000 refugees to come from Ukraine, at least temporarily. We have seen the backlog at the border with Poland. They are not going to be able to shelter all of these refugees alone. We need to help. Canada needs to help and quickly.
Rex Tillerson, former head and CEO of Exxon Mobil Oil, one of the world's largest oil and gas producers, said in 2014, when Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine, that they didn't take sides in international conflicts. That is an absurd statement. We need to know what side of humanity we are on. There is no commodity, no dollar earned, that is more important than the lives that are being trampled on by Vladimir Putin. Rex Tillerson's words represent the decline of western values to the point where nothing matters more than money. This needs to change immediately. The evidence is clearly at our doorstep.
I have heard the meek calls from world leaders saying we cannot disrupt Russia's oil and gas exports for various reasons. First, it will cause a spike in oil prices that will cause financial hardship in the world.
That is ironic considering the intent of all of our various tax measures on the oil and gas industry: excise taxes, royalties and carbon taxes. That one is going to escalate by 25% in less than a month in Canada. These are all designed to do exactly that: to make the consumption of hydrocarbons more expensive so that people believe that the expensive alternatives are more palatable. I suppose the message is to make it more expensive just on our own terms, but inaction to disrupt Russia's trade in oil and gas in the world is going to have some financial consequences on those countries that have chosen to have the resources supplied by Russia. This will cause inflation. There is no doubt. Just as every other input increasing prices in oil and gas impacts inflation. We are experiencing significant inflation.
Second, Europe's economy is dependent on the supply of Russian natural gas. That is also a choice that has been made, in spite of the danger that was always evident of having such a large portion of energy supply coming from an unpredictable and despotic regime. Yes, jobs will be impacted.
Third, Europeans will freeze at the end of this winter. Yes, the absence of natural gas delivery to Europe will cause some discomfort, some of which we have already seen as energy prices have skyrocketed in Europe this year. Europe is entering a period of energy poverty, and it has always been looking for a quick fix. It turns out that the impacts of being overly reliant on Russian gas supply is not the quick fix that leaders without foresight envisioned or ignored, with its own consequences.
There are many consequences, but for succinctness let us put three consequences briefly together. Higher costs for hydrocarbon energy is something that we in the west have been manipulating higher through government action for years, but higher costs suddenly will cause inflation, hardship and choices. There is also economic displacement. European factories will need to adjust and some will shut down as the cost of energy becomes prohibitive. Again, we in the western world have been offshoring our jobs for years to parts of the world with lower environmental standards and lower labour standards. On heating for homes, there is going to be some discomfort.
Let us compare these three hardships that I have just outlined here to what Luda is experiencing in Ukraine right now.
A country is being destroyed. There is no economy or jobs that will matter in the midst of a shelling war. Luda's home was destroyed by a Russian tank. The juxtaposition is stark and the world is soft-pedalling our response to Russia because we need its oil and gas. The irony is stark. Where do we draw the line here, after Ukraine, when Poland or Moldova is in Russia's sights? We need to collectively act now and ensure the entire world rejects Russian commodities. Such is the cost of tyranny, which we have been ignoring for years. The Canadian government has been a willing part of this abject shift. Dollars have flown to Russia because of the government's regard for Canada's resource industry.
In the last seven years, oil production in Russia has gone up by a million barrels a day. Gas exports have gone up 35% from Russia. Disdain for Canadian resources has led oil and gas exploration elsewhere, including the world majors. Shell and British Petroleum have just recently decided they would extract themselves from Russia, losing $20 billion and $25 billion respectively in the process. However, the largest beneficiary, particularly for the flow of capital, has been Russia, which has profited with hundreds of billions of dollars because of choices such as the ones the Liberal government has made.
These are choices. All of these choices have consequences, the consequences of curtailing Canadian oil and gas development through various ill-advised methods has led to the void being filled by less transparent regimes, primarily Russia. Our naive policies have put hundreds of billions of dollars into the pockets of a despotic regime. This week I asked the government to actually curtail oil imports into Canada from Russia, and it said we had not imported crude since 2019. Subsequently it recognized there is more to oil than crude and did suggest, on which I think it will follow through, cancelling all crude oil imports. I hope that happens immediately.
We have helped finance, through this transfer of money, a military buildup in Russia. Our military has shrunk. We do not meet our international obligations from a military perspective. I remember a song by a Canadian band from when I was young. The gist of it was that if we choose not to decide, we still have made a choice. This is a choice we have made without any eye on the consequences here. When I ran for Parliament going on two and a half years ago, it was to get pipelines built. There is no better infrastructure for helping the Canadian economy and the world environment than Canadian pipelines delivering Canadian product to markets.
Canadian natural gas production has gone down in the last seven years. Russia's has gone up by 35%, again a juxtaposition that is stark. The west coast had 14 LNG facilities in line to be built in Canada. Now there is one that is being built. In the U.S., in the meantime, seven have been fully built and five more are being built. Think about how we do not get things done in this country anymore, things that will help the world from an environmental perspective, from an economic perspective and, of course, from a democratic perspective.
One of the issues on natural gas is that it is not just a fuel. It is also an input to fertilizer. Feeding eight billion people in the world requires natural gas fertilizer and that is going to continue to be necessary to prevent a crisis at some point in time in the future. Therefore, getting that natural gas to where it is needed for fertilizer is essential.
I spoke last night for 20 minutes with a gentleman named Karil. He is a temporary foreign worker from the Ukraine working in Alberta's oil fields. He was pleaded with me, and he ended up shouting at me and apologizing to me. I felt awful because he should not be apologizing to me. He is from Kharkiv and he has seen his city destroyed. He has seen his family displaced. They are looking for places to stay, and I say I am sorry to him that we cannot act more forcefully here in getting this under control.
We need to act. We need to act quickly and decisively, as soon as we can. Slava Ukraini.
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- Mar/3/22 10:52:51 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the Ukrainian government has approached us with many different asks, including support for lethal and non-lethal supplies, support through using sanctions against the Russian regime and supports for Ukrainians who want to come to Canada, and we have delivered. We have been there for Ukrainian people and for the country of Ukraine. I want to reiterate, in terms of working on severe costs to the Russian regime, that this unjustified and unprovoked act needs to be handled seriously. We are working with our NATO allies and our partners around the world.
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- Mar/3/22 10:56:17 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member opposite has a very important question. I hope to answer the member in French one day, but I am still learning.
I think it is really important that we see the motion at hand and the importance of standing with Ukraine. Just this morning, the Minister of National Defence said we are providing additional lethal weapons to Ukraine, including up to 4,500 M72 rocket launchers, up to 7,500 hand grenades and up to $1 million to Ukraine to purchase high-resolution satellite imagery for the Ukraine military to monitor movements of Russian forces in its territory.
It is important that we continue to focus on the needs of Ukraine. We continue to stand with Ukraine and its people, and we will continue to do what we can with our allies and partners around the world.
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- Mar/3/22 11:41:26 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, one minute is not a lot.
I can say that no one, except for the Conservative Party, believes that the solution to Europe's dependence on Russian oil would be to increase its dependence on Albertan oil.
Here is some food for thought: Is this about doing something for Ukrainians or for Albertans?
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- Mar/3/22 12:06:48 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think this is the first time the Crimean War has been referenced in this chamber in a very long time.
One of the things that has been the most gratifying for me over the course of this debate has been the unanimity, where this House has found total agreement in terms of support for Ukraine. I worry that in this motion we have two propositions that are clearly supporting Ukraine and that everybody in this House would agree to. However, the third, regardless of my own personal opinion on the issue, will divide us. There are clearly members who will vote no.
The hon. member spoke of Russian disinformation. Does the hon. member believe that the House voting against this motion, which has two statements of principle and support for Ukraine, could be used by Russia to claim that Canada's Parliament voted against Ukraine?
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- Mar/3/22 12:10:42 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, if we look at what is happening in Europe now, the discussion is clearly about the need to get off Russian energy. They are talking about doing this through improving the electricity grids and making sure that their non-renewable and nuclear options are in place.
I do not see any of that from this Conservative party, a party that is trying to exploit a humanitarian crisis right now, at this time, in order to sell this false pipe dream that we could in six months, a year or two years, build a pipeline from the west to Atlantic Canada to capture a market, when there are already at least 12 other LNG projects sitting on the sidelines across North America and the European stock in clean energy is going up. All of this is predicated on the usual Conservative scheme of saying, “Let us take billions in taxpayers' money and try to drive it through.”
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- 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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- Mar/3/22 12:30:14 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, in his speech the member spoke about the dangers of having Russia as a direct neighbour to Canada. One of the reasons why that threat is increasing is because the Arctic is far more accessible than it ever was before. However, it is far more accessible because of climate change and the world's dependancy on fossil fuels.
Therefore, I would like the member's thoughts on how the Conservatives think part (c) of this motion is at all helpful. He talked about the increasing dangers of the accessibility to our Arctic by our Russian neighbours, when it is the climate crisis that is part of the growing tensions between our countries.
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- Mar/3/22 12:43:01 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Thornhill for her speech.
The Bloc Québécois obviously stands with the people of Ukraine. The Conservative Party does as well. The Conservative Party also supports economic sanctions, but today we learned that there are allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin here in Canada. These are people who have shares in the oil industry. These are people who supply most of the steel for the Trans Mountain pipeline project.
Does my colleague from Thornhill agree that these same sanctions should apply to people who support the Russian president from within Canada?
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- 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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- 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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- Mar/3/22 12:59:26 p.m.
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Qujannamiik, Uqaqtittiji.
Firstly, I am finding it fascinating how the Conservative agenda is touting the protection of global interests to a transition to non-emitting sources of energy in its motion. While I agree that we all need to address the climate crisis, this is not one of the ways to do it.
Secondly, I agree to some extent with the Conservatives that Ukraine is not the only nation facing aggression. Indeed, a charter plane carrying two Russian nationals was grounded in Yellowknife. They were on their way to Resolute, which is a community in my riding.
I realize this case is on the fringe of this important issue of Russian aggression. Will the Liberals commit to both a just transition and defending all Canadians, including those in the north who are so often left behind?
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- Mar/3/22 1:01:27 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, on February 24 we saw the president of Russia invoke and provoke a war on the people of Ukraine. It was completely unprovoked and unjustified. Moments later, reactions from the world were almost unanimous, including that of the Prime Minister of Canada, in condemning it. There was a sense that people, whether they were those of Ukrainian heritage from around the world, their friends and allies, or people in general, understood that this was wrong.
In Canada, there was a great feeling that we needed to come together to recognize just how important it is to speak with one voice in solidarity. I would suggest that a good part of the condemnation of what the Russian president had done to the people of Ukraine was here in Canada, from the people of Canada, particularly from the Prime Minister of Canada.
On February 28, the member for Etobicoke Centre, who happens to be the chair of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group, sought unanimous consent for a motion which detailed how the House, “Condemns this unjustified and unprovoked attack, which was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, as a clear violation of international law, the UN Charter, and the rights of Ukraine to sovereignty, territorial integrity, freedom and democracy” and “Stands unwavering and united in our solidarity with the people of Ukraine.”
We have seen other members in the House, myself included, by way of Standing Order 31, talk about the importance of solidarity and how important it is that we let Ukraine know in a very clear fashion that it has a friend in Canada. Members will recall that we had take-note debates, which were supported by members on all sides of the House. We had not one but two. Earlier today, we had a member stand in this place and ask for unanimous consent to recommend to the city of Ottawa that the street the Russian embassy happens to be on should be renamed after the President of Ukraine. I hope to see that happen. Maybe other urban and municipal areas across Canada will take note of recognizing that hero.
I do not want to claim to really appreciate the degree of bravery the people of Ukraine have demonstrated to the world by standing up for Ukraine, democracy, freedoms and the many things that come with that. They are stepping up to the plate to the greatest degree. Lives are being lost. I hope we continue on in recognizing those heroes, and that we continue on in a unified front, as much as possible, to support solidarity.
I raised this issue earlier today in a form of a question. The Conservative Party knows that the resolution they brought forward is not going to receive unanimous support. There is no way that it will get the unanimous support of the House.
I will read what is in the motion itself. It is asking for the House to “(a) condemn President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation for their unprovoked, illegal attack and invasion of Ukraine; [and] (b) stand with Ukraine, the people of Ukraine and Canadians in the Ukrainian community”. It then goes on to—
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- Mar/3/22 2:13:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, many of my constituents in York—Simcoe are hearing from family in Ukraine who are suffering as the Russian invasion continues. A letter shared with me reads, “I write this with a heavy heart. We are experiencing more bombing and more communities are being levelled to the ground. Chaos is spreading and many people are dying. The beautiful Saint Sophia Cathedral here in Kyiv is older than Russia itself. How long until a missile destroys it? We're terrified because we don't know where Putin will target next. I'll be hiding in my bathroom trying to sleep tonight. I hope my mother and sister and I can evacuate tomorrow. There are thousands of us trying to flee. I don't know how I can leave my husband, my brother, my father behind.”
These words remind us that the people of Ukraine who live in Berehove, Crimea and Bravia are no different from people who live in Canadian towns such as Bradford, Georgina or East Gwillimbury. Our hearts are with them right now.
Slava Ukraini.
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- Mar/3/22 2:22:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there is a massive disinformation campaign about the situation in Ukraine on Facebook, Twitter and all social media.
I receive messages every day that are full of false information about Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine. Too many Canadians are subjected to these messages, some of which repeat word-for-word the Russian ambassador's statement. This Prime Minister stated in October that disinformation is a threat to democracy.
Why does the Prime Minister continue to tolerate the presence of Russia's chief propagandist in Canada? Will he expel the Russian ambassador to Canada, yes or no?
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- Mar/3/22 2:28:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, according to the former lieutenant-general and former Liberal MP, the only thing that will stop the Russians is deterrence.
Russia has 40 nuclear-powered icebreakers in the Arctic, while Canada has none. Russia has 18 military bases near the Arctic, while Canada barely has one. The Russian ambassador, who is the chief propagandist for the Putin regime, is still here in Canada.
What exactly is Canada doing to deter the Russians and the Putin regime from coming here to Canada?
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- 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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- Mar/3/22 2:50:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government stands with Ukraine and Ukrainian people. We will not let the Russian aggression go unpunished.
That is why our government took swift and decisive action to ban Russian flights from entering Canadian airspace. That is why our government took decisive and swift action to ban Russian ships from entering Canadian waters. Our government will do whatever it takes to stop the unprovoked Russian aggression against Ukraine.
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