- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Liberal
- Thunder Bay—Rainy River
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 64%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $144,359.62
- Government Page
- May/23/24 2:06:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last Saturday night, Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk defeated much bigger fighter Tyson Fury to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, the first in 24 years. Ironically, Fury himself first became a champion in beating another Ukrainian fighter, Wladimir Klitschko, the brother of the current mayor of Kyiv, Ukraine.
As Ukraine continues to defend itself against a much larger Russian invader, it has been struggling to hold the front line in recent weeks, largely due to a shortage of ammunition, which is thankfully starting to arrive from the United States. Saturday was a great victory for Usyk, a great victory for boxing and, most of all, a great victory for Ukraine, as Usyk showed the world how, with sufficient heart, strength and intelligence, a smaller fighter can always defeat a larger one.
Slava Ukraini.
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- Mar/20/24 9:16:40 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I would like to thank the member for his compassion for the Ukrainian people.
As to what Canada has to do at the moment, certainly, it has to hope for a good result in the upcoming election in the U.S. We certainly fear what is going to happen should Trump be re-elected.
What the member said earlier about the effects on children was very apropos for me, because the harm caused by this invasion will go on for years. The effect on the education of children is something that we are going to feel for years.
The fact that the Republicans are blocking this is absolutely terrible in my mind. The reality is, perhaps, that we in the western world, parts of NATO that are not the United States, need to contemplate the possibility that we will have to do far more on our own. At some point in the future, should Trump be elected, we may need to do things without the support of America. I certainly hope that Canada would be willing to make the commitment that is needed to continue support of Ukraine against Russia with or without the United States. However, I would certainly like to see the United States continue its historical role in promoting and supporting the international legal order.
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- Mar/20/24 9:08:11 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I will be sharing my time with the Minister of International Trade.
I think it is really unfortunate that I am here yet again to talk about Ukraine and the war and using those two words in the same sentence. I wish, when I thought about Ukraine, my thoughts would be limited to growing up with my baba in Fort William. We would sit on the front steps of her corner store. She would bribe me with Coca-Cola and chips to get me to sit and listen to her Ukrainian hymns and stories about the old country.
I wish my thoughts of Ukraine were limited to thinking about my family in Odessa, which I visited, and visiting the village of my baba, which was near Horodenka in Chernivtsi, or the village of my dido, which was near Kamyanets-Podilskyy.
Instead, here we are talking yet again about the war, an unprovoked attack by the Russian state, led by Vladimir Putin, in complete and utter disregard for the most fundamental principles of international law. In starting this war, Putin has committed what is known in international law as the crime of aggression, which in the words of the Nuremberg judgment is “the supreme international crime...[as]...it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole”, the evil being all other international war crimes.
I would love to talk more about how the invasion has affected the international legal order, which grew out of the horrors of the Second World War, and how the resulting international trade rules have brought prosperity to millions of poor people around the world. However, time is limited, there is a war on, so let me talk about some of the specifics and highlights of the agreement.
In 2024, Canada will provide $3.02 billion in macroeconomic and military support to Ukraine. The agreement states:
In the event of renewed Russian aggression or attacks against Ukraine following the cessation of current hostilities, and at the request of either of the Participants, the Participants will consult within twenty-four...hours to determine measures needed to counter or deter the aggression.
There is a section of the agreement that commits both countries to establish closer defence industrial partnerships. In that, there is an explicit recognition of the acute need for ammunition in Ukraine.
There is talk of the need for Canada to continue to support demining. As a doctor who has operated on land mine injuries, that is really important to me.
Canada, in this agreement, commits to supporting Ukraine in making sure it holds Russia to account for war crimes, including in front of the International Criminal Court.
Lastly, the agreement commits Canada to working with other countries to establish a compensation mechanism whereby Russia would pay for the damages done to Ukraine.
I read a quote earlier about how starting a war is the supreme international crime. That quote came from the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. There were eight judges on the tribunal; two of them were Soviet judges. As we all know, both Russia and Ukraine were part of the Soviet Union. It is ironic that Russia not only committed the supreme international crime but also committed it against its own brothers and sisters in Ukraine.
It is also ironic that two of the judges on that tribunal were American. The United States is the historic champion of the international legal order. However, right now, we are seeing the United States struggle in order to continue to finance military assistance for Ukraine; much assistance has been absolutely crucial in preventing a Russian victory.
Crass political gamesmanship and unbridled self-interest seem to have guided many American Republican congressmen to try to block the Biden administration's attempt to provide a further $60 billion in security assistance for Ukraine. This is an affront to the memories of those esteemed American jurists who sat at the Nuremberg trials and to the millions of people who fought and died on the side of the allied nations, both to fight the Nazis and to create the present international legal order.
Thankfully, we know that the war in Ukraine will eventually come to an end. Ukrainians will then be able to return to what they do best, which is to grow cucumbers, tomatoes, sunflowers and dill and, occasionally, to be able to sit down and calmly enjoy a nice glass of horilka. Unfortunately, that day will not come soon enough.
Slava Ukraini.
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- Dec/14/23 2:19:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Ukraine is running out of ammunition. President Zelenskyy was in the United States this past week, pleading for more military assistance. However, he was blocked by politicians on the American far right. It is important to realize that Russia did not just attack another country; it launched a full-scale assault on the international legal order. That is because the heart of that order and the UN Charter is the principle of non-intervention. One country cannot just attack another country.
Russia must not and will not win anything, as any such victory moves us dangerously closer to the world as it was prior to World War II: a world where, basically, “might is right”. Voting against assistance for Ukraine, as a certain party in the House has done repeatedly over the last week, shows not only a lack of empathy for the suffering of the Ukrainian people but also a disregard for the principles that have basically kept our world safe since 1945.
This Christmas, let us unite in support of Ukraine. Merry Christmas.
Slava Ukraini.
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- Dec/12/23 12:43:19 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member spoke of the principled approach of the Conservative Party to the agreement, so let us talk about principles.
This is not about the carbon tax, but today the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition. Today, President Zelenskyy is in Washington, D.C., desperate to get military support from the United States that is being blocked by the American far right. Today, more than ever, is a day when Ukraine needs the political support, and where is the Conservative Party? Conservatives voted against the free trade agreement today. On Friday, they voted against any military assistance to Ukraine. Today, of all days, is a day when Ukraine really needs political support around the world. Why do they continue to oppose support for Ukraine?
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- Nov/23/23 2:10:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this week, the Conservative Party voted against the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement, supposedly because it imposes a carbon tax on Ukraine. What is this?
There is, in the agreement, a tangential reference to carbon pricing. However, Ukraine has had carbon pricing since 2011, so what is the real reason the Conservative Party voted against this agreement? Perhaps it is because opposing further assistance to Ukraine has become a litmus test for the American far right politically. It may also be for the far right in Canada as well.
At a time when thousands of Ukrainians are risking their lives fighting this war, including some of my relatives, fighting in the best interests of their children, to have one of the main political parties in Canada take a position that seems to be paid out to the interests of the American far right, rather than—
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- Feb/16/23 2:08:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is coming up to one year since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Tens of thousands of soldiers have died and Ukrainian civilians have been targeted, left in the cold, tortured and murdered. The big question is, “Why?”
Russian leaders like Putin and Lavrov, standing on marble floors, wearing their ties and their shiny shoes, spout endless lies in an attempt to legitimize the killings. The only people buying into these lies are gullible fools or those who profit from the Russians. The war goes on because it is not the rich Russian leaders or their families who are dying in the snowbanks of Ukraine.
Those who perpetrated the war will be brought to justice, and when that happens, I hope it is those who wore the ties and the shiny shoes who will particularly get the harsh justice.
Slava Ukraini.
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- Mar/1/22 2:06:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Vladimir Putin has chosen to walk in the footsteps of Joseph Stalin. Stalin once said that a million deaths is a statistic; a single death is a tragedy. Certainly, behind the statistic we are seeing coming out of Ukraine, there are a lot of tragedies: a mother and father being told that a child has died and a child finding out that their father will never be seen again. Ukraine, of course, has borne the vast brunt of the suffering, but let us not forget the Russian mothers and fathers who are hoping that their sons and daughters come home from Ukraine. All this tragedy has been perpetrated by Vladimir Putin and his supporters.
To all my family back in the Ukraine, many of whom are waiting with their guns for the Russians to come, to their families who are praying and hoping for them, to all the Ukrainians and to the many Russians who oppose Vladimir Putin, I support them, my family supports them and Canada supports them. In fact, all good people in the world support them and the House supports them.
Slava Ukraini.
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- Feb/28/22 8:10:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, absolutely, the Russian people are not our enemy. The enemy is Putin. There are very many good Russian people. There are many people in Russia who are suffering, seeing their kids going off to fight a war that they themselves do not want. Certainly they are on our side. They are not on Putin's side.
As for war crimes, I would take a step back further and even suggest this. What really galls me is the fact that Russia continues to sit on the Security Council and is the president of the proceedings dealing with what is happening in Ukraine. When they are part of the decision-making body in the UN, I think we have to fundamentally start looking at some of the underpinnings of the UN, including Russia, which is clearly not in favour of globalization and the world order, and its position in the international legal order.
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- Feb/28/22 8:06:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, indeed hindsight is 20-20. I think most of us a month ago, two months ago, six months ago, would not have predicted that Putin would actually have gone into Ukraine.
As to the situation right now and whether we should cut off Russian supplies of oil and gas to Canada, I personally support that idea. However, the devil is always in the details. What is an alternative right now? We certainly do not want people to be unable to heat their houses or to see businesses closing down in Quebec because they do not have access to heat or oil. I think our government has already said and made clear that all options are on the table. This is certainly something we have to consider.
Certainly we need to go on an economic blitzkrieg against Russia. We have to go on multiple fronts against Russia just like Russia went against Ukraine. We ought to harm Russia economically however we can, whether it means imports, exports or financial connections, absolutely everything. We go after Russia.
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- Feb/28/22 8:00:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, many Canadians have a connection with Ukraine. There are a lot of new immigrants from Ukraine in Canada, and first and foremost my thoughts are with them, because they have immediate family and friends in Ukraine. I can certainly imagine what it is like for them every time they hear the phone ring, wondering who is calling and about what.
There are many other Canadians like me. I spent the first number of years of my life living with my parents and grandparents in a part of Fort William, which is now Thunder Bay and which has a large Ukrainian-Canadian population. My baba was from near Horodenka and my dido, or grandfather, was from Kamyanets-Podilskyy. I spent many summer evenings as a child sitting with my baba on the steps of her corner store, which actually was not on the corner, partly because baba used to brazenly bribe me with Fudgesicles and Creamsicles from the store in order to get me to sit with her. She would sit for hours singing old Ukrainian hymns and telling stories about what used to happen in the old country. That was in between going in and out of the store and selling people cigarettes and candy.
Because so many of my early memories revolve around Ukraine and Ukrainians, even though I do not speak Ukrainian and even though I have only visited Ukraine once in my life, I feel very much that Ukraine is part of my soul.
Of course, people do not have to be Ukrainian in order to sympathize with what is happening in Ukraine or with Ukrainians. We all see the pictures, but the pictures are only a very small part of what is happening in Ukraine. Certainly, we have statistics, contested statistics, about the number of deaths and injuries, but let us remember what Joseph Stalin once said, which is that a million deaths is a statistic and one death is a tragedy. Certainly, for each statistic, every death is a tragedy; it means a phone call to a parent telling them a child will not be coming home or that a child will not have their parent coming home as they told the child they would.
All of this tragedy is the direct and total responsibility of Vladimir Putin and the people who support Vladimir Putin. It is Vladimir Putin who decided to walk in the steps of Joseph Stalin. Ukrainians and Russians are, in fact, brothers and sisters, but this is brother killing brother. The only brother who kills his brother is a madman like Putin, but let us not forget, in this immense human tragedy worthy of Dostoevsky, the suffering of many Russians as well, many of whom are dying fighting their brothers and sisters in Ukraine. Let us also not forget about the mothers and fathers of Russian soldiers who are anxiously awaiting their children's return from Ukraine.
As a doctor who has certainly dealt with death and has worked in places where I saw a lot of trauma, including close to war zones, I can absolutely tell members that the suffering of a parent losing a child or the suffering of a child losing a parent are exactly the same. It does not matter whether one is from Ethiopia, Haiti, Thunder bay, Ottawa, Ukraine or Russia.
In my allotted time I could have talked about more lofty issues, such as the fact that this invasion presents an existential threat to the international legal order, which it certainly does; how that international legal order grew, in no small part, out of the Second World War; and the fact that in so many ways the UN charter and international legal order were the result of the Second World War and the sacrifices so many Russians and Ukrainians made in that war. I also do not have too much time to talk about what we can and cannot do, other than to repeat what a number of people in our party have said, which is that all options remain on the table.
To my family in Ukraine, some of whom, as I speak, are waiting with guns for the Russians to come; to their parents who are worried and praying for them; to the people of Ukraine; to the very many good Russian people: I support you, my family supports you, the Canadian people support you, good people all around the world support you, and certainly this Parliament supports you.
Slava Ukraini.
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