44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 20, 2024 02:00PM
- Mar/20/24 7:14:10 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, like my colleague from the Conservatives, I was at the foreign affairs committee this afternoon as we met with Ukraine's ambassador to Canada. One of the questions I asked her, which I will ask the member as he is a member of the government, was around the loopholes we see within our arms export regime. One thing that I think we all learned in November 2023 was that detonators were going through Kyrgyzstan and being used in Russian mines against Ukrainian people. The last thing I think Canadians want to know is that Canadian parts and components are being used in the very weapons that are being used against Ukrainians.
The New Democrats have long called for the closing of loopholes within our arms regime, and the government has not taken steps to do that. Is there any plan from the government to stop the loopholes that allow dual-use goods to be made into the weapons being used against our allies?
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- Mar/20/24 8:16:18 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it is an honour, as always, to stand in this place and represent the people of Edmonton Strathcona. I am from Edmonton Strathcona, and at the very beginning of my political career, I became a member of the Canada-Ukraine parliamentary association. I followed in the footsteps of Linda Duncan, the member of Parliament for Edmonton Strathcona before me, who was also the vice-chair of the parliamentary association, the Canada-Ukraine Friendship Group.
Of course, we have a very large Ukrainian population, but as I have said many times before, those of us in Edmonton all feel like we are bit Ukrainian. As one can appreciate, Heather McPherson is not a terribly Ukrainian name, but I know my way around perogies and feel very connected to the community. I am very proud of our caucus. I am very proud of the New Democratic Party for standing in solidarity steadfastly with the people of Ukraine.
We know Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, who are fighting against Putin and the brutal invasion by Putin and the Russian Federation, are not just fighting for themselves. They are fighting for us. They are fighting for freedom, for democracy and for the international rules-based order, and we need to do everything we can to support them.
That is why a little less than two years ago, I brought forward a unanimous consent motion in this House declaring what Russia is doing in Ukraine as a genocide. We were able to get unanimous consent to support that call. We were one of the very first countries in the world to have its Parliament declare that a genocide was taking place. I am extraordinarily proud of the New Democratic Party and being able to bring that motion forward.
I am also very happy that we were able to bring a motion forward just this February, which we were able to get unanimous consent for, that talked about reaffirming Canada's support for sanctions against Russia, providing military and financial assistance to Ukraine and conducting a security guarantee agreement with Ukraine. We are here today for that security agreement.
It is wonderful to stand in this place and know that New Democrats all across this country are supportive of the work happening in Ukraine. However, I have to say that I have some concerns about the support we have seen from the Liberals and the Conservatives.
As my colleague from London—Fanshawe mentioned beforehand, the Liberals are very good at making promises; they are not very good at keeping them. We have seen time and time again the Liberals promise aid, sanctions and enforcement, promise all of these pieces that have never come to fruition.
I went to Ukraine a year ago. I stood in Irpin and saw what the Russian Federation had done. I saw how it had targeted civilian infrastructure. I know that many mines in that country need to be cleared, and we need to support Ukraine so it can rebuild. However, at the same time as we know these needs are so great, this year the Liberal government cut official development assistance by 15% and has indicated that there will be further cuts in the budget we will see in April. This is not going to help the people of Ukraine. It is not going to help people around the world who are suffering because of the food scarcity caused by this war.
Then we look at the Conservatives. I am very disappointed in their failures to support Ukraine. They will stand in this place and will tell us they are supportive of Ukraine, but actions mean more than words. It is easy to say things. However, when they vote against things like funding for Operation Unifier and things like the fair trade agreement that the President of Ukraine asked us to move forward with, those actions speak much louder.
I do not want to stand in this place and claim it is all Conservatives. I know there are members of the Conservative Party who still believe in working together with all parties across this floor to support Ukraine. I know they are there. I hope they will be able to convince their leader to go from the position he has taken to the position we have held for a long time, all parties within this place, of supporting Ukraine.
As I said, I am proud to be a New Democrat. I am proud that we are supporting Ukraine. However, there is more we can do. There is more we can do to help it rebuild and demine and to make sure it wins. We can make sure it gets tools quickly and urgently.
We need to stop announcing and we need to start delivering, and New Democrats are here. We stand with Ukraine. We remain standing with Ukraine.
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- Mar/20/24 8:22:31 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I think maybe the member needs a glass of water. He seems quite upset.
What I will say to him is that what we brought forward, as New Democrats, before the further invasion by the Russian Federation, was looking for peace. We were looking for a peaceful resolution. This happened before the invasion that we saw, the extension of the invasion by the Russian Federation. Of course, we are New Democrats. We are always looking to lessen the loss of life. That is in the very nature of what we do.
Today, and this week, we are honouring the work of the Right Hon. Brian Mulroney. I would like the members from the Conservative Party to perhaps reflect upon some of the legacy that Brian Mulroney brought forward. He was not someone I agreed on everything with, but I will say that his support for South Africa, going against the United States at the time, against an apartheid regime was extraordinarily important.
I wonder why they found it impossible for them to actually support sending humanitarian aid, perhaps going against the United States, and stopping the selling of arms to Israel, who is using them against civilians. I wonder if this particular version of Conservatism, which I think perhaps the Right Hon. Brian Mulroney would not be as impressed with, would have the courage the former prime minister had in terms of standing up for human rights. We are not seeing it from this particular opposition.
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- Mar/20/24 8:25:45 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it is something that I have been appalled by and that many Albertans I know have been appalled by.
We heard from the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan. We did not hear a single peep from him when Danielle Smith stood with Tucker Carlson right before Tucker Carlson went and did an interview in Moscow with Putin and used Russian propaganda. Frankly, I am surprised he was not standing with Tucker Carlson as well, because that is what we have come to expect from this particular member.
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- Mar/20/24 9:33:37 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, one thing we know Ukraine will need going forward is the ability to rebuild its country. We know the damage that has been caused by the Russian Federation, by Vladimir Putin, in this illegal invasion of Ukraine.
The current Liberal government has cut official development assistance by 15% and has indicated that in the next budget, it will cut that by even more. However, the leader of the Conservatives has said that he would also cut it. In fact, there are members of the Conservative Party who have said they do not think we belong in the United Nations anymore.
As we try to build a rules-based international order that involves engaging with other countries, being part of multilateral institutions and playing a role on the world stage, how does the member think Ukrainians should see the Conservatives' stance that they would cut foreign aid and step back from the multilateral institutions that are so important to us?
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- Mar/20/24 10:06:51 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, as I take part in this debate this evening, it strikes me that actions are more important than words. We hear words from the Conservatives saying that they support Ukraine, yet their actions with regard to votes do not align with that.
This member is a member of the government. Recognizing all the announcements the government has made on supports for Ukraine is one thing, but the actual delivery of that aid has trickled. A fraction of what the government has promised to the people of Ukraine has actually been delivered, and Vladimir Putin is counting on that. He is counting on the world to lose interest, to look away and to be distracted. Russia is counting on the fact that it can outlast the patience of western allies.
When we dribble aid to Ukraine instead of giving it the tools it needs to win this war, we are playing into Putin's hands. Announcing things is great, but we have seen a fraction of that actually delivered to Ukraine. When will all of it get to Ukraine?
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- Mar/20/24 10:22:52 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, my colleague spoke about the terrible decision made by the current government on the sanctions waiver for the turbine. For me, that was a horrible decision that was made by the government. In fact, it was me that called for an emergency debate in the summer, so that we could actually look at that issue and examine that quite closely. That was something that the Government of Ukraine had asked for.
Of course, the Government of Ukraine, President Zelenskyy, has also asked for the Parliament of Canada to pass the free trade agreement. We just heard his answer on the free trade agreement, but during his speech he also talked about the need to rebuild Ukraine. One of my deep worries that I have right now is that the government has cut development assistance and the money that we use to help our allies around the world. The government has indicated that it will be cutting further. The implications for Ukraine are quite dire, but the implications for other countries around the world are also dire.
I know that my colleague knows an awful lot about international development. Does he agree with his leader, who has made it quite clear that he wants to cut foreign aid even further? In fact, other members of his party have said that they would like to take the Government of Canada out of the United Nations. These are not serious foreign policy places to be. As a member of the opposition who wants to be the government, I am quite concerned when I hear things like that from his leader.
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- Mar/20/24 10:28:36 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I have a very short question for the member.
He just talked about how he is deeply worried about the children who have been stolen by Russia, and I understand that, because for me, that is one thing that makes it very clear there is a genocide happening against the Ukrainian people. However, I wonder why he is not able to see that the 13 innocent children who have been killed in Gaza or the children who have died in other places around the world matter just as much.
For me, a child is a child is a child. I look at every single child and I think about their human rights and why they deserve to be reunited with their families, why they deserve to live and why they deserve to thrive. I wonder why he feels that Palestinian children are Hamas instead of just children.
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- Mar/20/24 10:42:54 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I just want to illustrate that when the Conservatives accused members of the House of supporting Hamas, that was a very different thing, because Hamas is an illegal terrorist organization. We actually do not have that designation right now, and maybe we should, for the Russian Federation, and we certainly do not have it for the People's Party.
I think we can say that many members of the Conservative Party have shown they are much closer in values to the PPC than they are to perhaps a progressive conservative movement. I think it is fair for the member to say that. However, when there is a member who calls somebody out for being associated with an illegal terrorist organization, that is a very different thing.
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