44th Parl. 1st Sess.

June 1, 2022 02:00PM

Mr. Damien Kurek (Battle River—Crowfoot, CPC)

Jun/1/22 10:15:27 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is, as always, an honour to enter into debate in this place, especially when it comes to important issues such as the motion we are discussing tonight. Before I get into the substance of my defence for this motion, I would like to highlight a couple of things. The fact is that over the past number of months, we have seen the security situation of our world evolve dramatically. In the circumstances that I and many of the younger individuals in this place grew up in, I do not remember a time, other than on maps that maybe were not quite up to date that we had in our social studies classrooms, when there was a Soviet Union. I know from those who may have a little more grey hair than I do the stories and the geopolitical reality that existed prior to the dramatic changes that took place at the end of the eighties and the beginning of the nineties. Over the past number of months, we have seen a dramatic change. The peace and security of our world and the rules-based international order have truly been put at risk. When Russia invaded the sovereign country of Ukraine, I would suggest it sent a shock wave across the world that a red line had been crossed. Debate has taken place in this place, and in parliaments and legislatures around the world, including, I would note, the Parliament of Ukraine. It has continued to function under what are circumstances that I am sure many of us within Canada's House of Commons, Canada's Parliament and many western democracies could hardly imagine. It has continued to function and ensure that, in the midst of what seem like insurmountable odds, democracy matters. It has continued to show that the rules-based international order matters. As we are specifically discussing tonight a motion that supports the entrance of Finland and Sweden into NATO, the treaty alliance that has demonstrated over its history that it has played a key and pivotal role in ensuring peace and security around the world, that peace and security, as I mentioned before, have been threatened. I would note that my great uncle Ted gave something to me when I was 10 or 11 years old. He was a professor at the University of Toronto, who is now retired. He would visit us back home in east central Alberta. I would have a million questions when he would come during the summer, often spending a number of weeks. I would ask him questions about anything and everything. He happened to be a professor of Hebrew history, but was a very knowledgeable man on many subjects. In particular, one summer he brought a piece of the Berlin Wall and explained to me the significance of that piece of concrete, crumbling as it was. When I got elected in 2019, I went, as I am sure many of us do, to the box where many things from my childhood and my past were stored and I got that old piece of concrete that was wrapped in plastic. I took it out and was able to get it put into a display. On that, I got a plaque with President Reagan's famous words asking Mr. Gorbachev to bring down that wall. That piece of the Berlin Wall sits in my office today as a constant reminder that this rules-based international order is not something that we can take for granted and that we have to continually and earnestly defend the peace and security that makes up our national democratic institutions. However, it is also a reminder that the world has enjoyed an unprecedented period of peace over the past seven decades or so, and of the significance of the disruption that is possible in light of what the developing circumstances are with Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. I certainly did not imagine, when I was elected to Parliament in 2019, that within a number of years we would be debating a war in Europe. The dynamics have certainly changed when it comes to where we find ourselves today. That is why it is so fitting to be able to debate and discuss what I hope will be an expedient admission of Finland and Sweden to NATO. Only three months or so ago, even the talk of these two countries joining NATO would have been something that would have garnered international headlines and would have been called a provocation. We see how, in light of the circumstances our world finds itself in, that it appears to be, and I would suggest is, a necessity for the security of those two countries and the western world. To provide context, although Finland and Sweden are not currently NATO members, I would like to note in the House this evening that they are active participants in the upholding of, as I have referred to, the international rules-based order. They have been collaborators with NATO and many of our objectives throughout the course of NATO's history. It is those things that I would suggest build a perfect resumé for what should be a speedy admission. For other countries that are now tasked with evaluating whether or not they should support these two countries' admission, if we look at their history I would suggest that their record speaks very strongly in favour of their expedient admission. My speech up to this point has talked a lot about the impacts of this motion and the results it would have on the world, but it has specific relevance here at home as well. When it comes to domestic impacts, we think about northern sovereignty and how we share thousands of kilometres of our north, although not a land border, with our next-closest neighbour, Russia. Certainly since I have been elected, and as someone who has followed closely the situation in our north, there is without a shadow of a doubt threats that are current and present that we need to take as a country in terms of bolstering our military. The previous speaker from Manitoba spoke very eloquently about ensuring that we have the military requirements, about meeting our 2% target and about those sorts of things. However, we have to be able to respond in a way that will ensure our national sovereignty: not just the thousands of kilometres of Arctic tundra in our north, but the fact that our sovereign borders do border, although by sea, a nation that has shown itself unwilling to abide by the common precepts of what national sovereignty should look like. I would call as a challenge to all parties in the House, and especially the government and members of the cabinet, that I have heard a lot of tough talk over the course of the past number of months regarding the situation in Ukraine, but that has to be followed up by equally significant and tough action. Tough talk without action makes good headlines, but does not actually help the people of our nation, the people of Ukraine, the people of Finland or Sweden and it does not keep them any safer. As I come to the conclusion of my speech, I would simply appeal to this place and to members of NATO that we look toward an expedient admission of Finland and Sweden to NATO for the peace and security of both our nation and the alliance that has helped provide peace and security over the past seven decades in our world.

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