44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 20, 2024 02:00PM
- Mar/20/24 7:40:58 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, Canada has certainly given plenty of aid to Ukraine, but it has largely been humanitarian aid. That aid is obviously necessary, but right now, the issue is military assistance. Ukraine's security is seriously threatened by Russia. Ukraine needs more military aid, more ammunition and more military equipment. In my opinion, the Canadian government must take action now to give Ukraine help in this area.
There are four things we currently have, as a country, in our Canadian forces. We have surplus equipment that we can give to Ukraine now. We have asked the government to send that now. The biggest crisis in Ukraine right now is a security crisis. In my opinion, it is bigger than the humanitarian crisis.
122 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/20/24 8:02:20 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, in fact, it is even worse than that. Some 58% of the aid has not been delivered. I am not very good at math, but if my calculations are correct, that means that only 42% of aid has been delivered so far.
My colleague has asked me a question I simply cannot answer. It is like trying to fit a round peg in a square hole. He has asked me to explain the inexplicable. Why has Canada not kept its word? Why has the Canadian Armed Forces equipment we promised to Ukraine not been delivered? Is it because we no longer have it? Is it because, when we promised it, we thought we still had it?
It has gotten to the point where we are asking ourselves these kinds of questions because it is so incomprehensible. It is one thing to have to buy equipment on international markets and wait for it to be ready. However, not even being able to deliver what we had in stock and had promised to deliver is completely incomprehensible. It raises other questions. Was the equipment not in good condition? Did we no longer have the equipment? In short, why was this equipment not delivered?
I am answering my colleague's question with a question, because I do not have the answer to his question.
223 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/20/24 8:10:55 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, I appreciate the member's emphasis on the importance of the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement, but my question is in regard to the amount of aid. Today, the Prime Minister of Ukraine indicated that close to an additional $2 billion arrived in Ukraine, which ultimately brings aid closer to the $7-billion mark. It is important that we provide all forms of support for Ukraine.
I wonder if the member can provide her thoughts on that issue. I am talking about everything from humanitarian aid to military aid to cash in hand. All of this is really important, and Canada does have a very strong and prominent role to play.
113 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/20/24 8:13:44 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, I know my hon. colleague cares a great deal about those in his community who are fighting for their relatives, family members and the Ukrainian diaspora.
I too have that in London—Fanshawe. In greater London, there are about 10,000 Ukrainians, and they have said the same thing to me. They are very concerned about this wavering of support they are starting to see and the lack of support for the free trade agreement with Ukraine.
I am so proud of the incredible work of the local Ukrainian council and the Ukrainian Centre. There is also the Canadian Ukrainian Logistics Division, which continues to go to Ukraine to deliver much-needed aid: helmets, boots, tourniquets, just name it. They have spoken to me about how concerned they are.
I can only say that I do not understand it. I hope the Conservatives see reason and come back to the solidarity that we all need to see for Ukraine.
162 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/20/24 8:35:06 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, I heard my colleague opposite say earlier that Canada has been a leader in helping Ukraine. In reality, we rank roughly eighth on the list of countries supporting Ukraine, even though Canada is home to the largest population of Ukrainians outside of Ukraine. It seems to me that we could be doing a little more, especially since, as my colleague from Montarville said in his brilliant speech, barely 42% of the support and aid Canada committed to sending has been delivered to Ukraine.
It is all well and good to say that we are going to supply 1,000 F-18s, but if we have no intention of doing so, it is just talk. It feels a bit like the government is posturing, like this is all for appearances. The government is displaying its good intentions and virtue signalling by announcing major support for Ukraine, but if it does not deliver that assistance, it is pointless.
I would like to hear my colleague explain where we are at with the distribution of the assistance promised to Ukraine. How is the government going to do better, as the international community is increasingly calling for, in terms of military and humanitarian support for the current conflict in Ukraine?
208 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/20/24 8:46:27 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, I have a great deal of respect for my colleague, but I have to smile a bit because from day one, Canada has been firmly committed to providing help to Ukraine. I mentioned the training to help Ukrainian soldiers, the new co-operation agreement and the aid for rebuilding Ukraine. We recently announced $40 million to provide Ukraine with artillery ammunition during the 20th Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting. The Minister of National Defence is collaborating and conferring with our allies and partners to help Ukraine.
I absolutely do not agree that we are not providing help to Ukraine. We will continue to do so. Yes, sometimes there are challenges, but from the very beginning, our intentions of supporting Ukraine have always been very sincere.
128 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/20/24 9:02:01 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, we are supporting the government for all of the military aid that has been provided to this point in time. I also appreciate the fact that every loan done under the Harper government that was offered to Ukraine to help with its economy, its government and the military has already been repaid. Ukraine has been honouring the loans that were provided from Canada and other nations.
However, the member is right: There have been a lot of announcements, and one is not going to win a war on paper; one actually needs to deliver. All we have to do is look at 14 months ago. The Government of Canada announced, with great fanfare, that we were going to send over a NASAMS air defence system. That still has not been ordered. As for the $406 million, who knows where it is? The NASAMS is still either in the United States or not even built yet. There are a lot of questions around where the contract is. Ukraine needs that air defence system today. It needed it when it was first announced. It does not need it 14 months from now.
We also know that when President Zelenskyy was here, the government made a bunch of fanfare about sending over 50 new light armoured vehicles. I can say that the contract with either GDLS or Armatec in London has not been signed. We do not know that they are actually going to purchase these. This was, again, announced six months ago, and we have not even put a pen to a contract to allow our own Canadian industry to build the light armoured vehicles.
As I mentioned, Ukraine was burning through over 8,000 rounds of howitzer artillery shells on a daily basis. Canada has not even increased our production here, for our 155-millimetre shells built in Montreal, one iota. We are still building, today, 3,000 a month. That does not give Ukraine enough for even half a day. Canada and our allies need to step up, to really ramp up production. We have to get on a war footing and we have to make sure we support our Canadian defence industry so it can deliver the equipment, weapons and munitions needed by the Ukrainian military to defend its sovereign territory.
Finally, as we have been calling for, we have a lot of equipment that is being disposed of. We—
404 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/20/24 9:15:04 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, we are all saddened by the news that Ukrainian children are trying to learn, struggling in this conflict, in bomb shelters. In places like Kharkiv, they have to go hundreds of metres underground to actually get the schooling that has been so cruelly interrupted by this massive invasion by the Russian dictatorship.
I think it is appalling to all Canadians to see a dictatorship that sees human beings simply as objects and tries to bulldoze over the Ukrainian people in order to take Ukraine, destroy its democracy and occupy the entire country.
Sadly, in the United States, the Republicans, the far right elements, are refusing to provide aid to Ukraine. To what extent does my colleague think Canada needs to step up additionally, given that the conservative Republicans have absolutely refused to support Ukraine and are siding with the Russian dictatorship? What does Canada need to do now to reinforce the supports for Ukraine, its democracy and its people?
161 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/20/24 10:22:52 p.m.
- Watch
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.
269 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/20/24 10:58:56 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Chair, we are talking about rebuilding Ukraine. We are talking about the support Canada should be providing.
After listening to everything that was said this evening, especially by my colleagues from the Bloc Québécois and my colleague from Montarville, who gave an excellent speech with a lot of detail on the percentage of the aid Canada promised that has been delivered to Ukraine and on the delays in delivering that aid, is my colleague satisfied with the Government of Canada's response and support with respect to Ukraine? Does he, like me, think that we should get going and do more?
106 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
