44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 3, 2022 11:00AM
- Oct/3/22 3:36:42 p.m.
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moved:
That the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development presented on Monday, September 26, 2022, be concurred in.
He said: Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague and friend from the riding of Wellington—Halton Hills.
Conservatives are seeking to have the House of Commons condemn the fake so-called “referendums” held in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine. I was pleased to put this motion forward in the foreign affairs committee, and I am pleased now to be seeking the concurrence of the House on this important matter.
It has been six months since the start of the further invasion of Ukraine by the Putin regime. This invasion has been horrific, but the response to it has been heroic. Ukrainians have inspired the world and caused authoritarian leaders everywhere to rethink their plans. Vladimir Putin is now both losing and trying to raise the stakes. The heroic Ukrainian people are defending their homeland against a conscript army that does not know why it is fighting or what it is fighting for. The Ukrainian advantage, in terms of purpose, spirit and morale, has led to victory after victory on the battlefield.
However, on the military side this conflict is far from over. Russia is still a much larger country with more people. Ukraine can win and push the Russian army out completely, but Ukraine needs more weaponry from Canada and other allies. While Ukrainians are fighting and dying, sending resources and weapons is the least we can do.
With the weapons they have today, Ukrainians are pushing back. In response, Putin is trying to raise the stakes by artificially labelling occupied Ukrainian territory as Russian territory and then positioning Ukrainian efforts to liberate territory as an attack on Russia itself. He is doing this while hinting that nuclear weapons would be used to defend the Russian homeland. This is the desperate, dishonest game of a regime that started an aggressive war and is now losing.
We all know that these so-called “referendums” are not real. They are being held at gunpoint with virtually no notice, in some cases nominally covering areas Russia does not even control. These events remind me of President Roosevelt's quip. He said, “What I cannot understand about the Russian is the way he will lie when he knows perfectly well that you know he is lying.”
The Putin regime is raising the stakes through nuclear threats, and it is raising the stakes in other ways, through escalating atrocities targeting civilians and through sharpening repression at home that includes conscription, especially targeting Russian minority communities. In response to this violence, this conscription and the threats of nuclear destruction, I call on the Russian people to take a stand against their failing leaders and the senseless destruction that is depriving them of their lives and their children. Ukrainians, Canadians and all of us hope for a day when a free, democratic and prosperous Russia will live in peace with all of its neighbours.
However, I want to return to the Canadian government's own record, when it comes to this war. It is a record, sadly, that is woefully inadequate. I am calling on the government to do more to take the steps that are required to stand with our Ukrainian allies.
There are various things we can do. Of course we can and should send weapons, more weapons, as President Zelenskyy has asked. We could have been providing more weapons, satellite imagery and other forms of support much earlier. In fact Conservatives were asking these questions and raising these issues all the way back to the current government taking power in 2015. We should have been imposing tough sanctions on Putin and his cronies prior to February. Indeed, the invasion of Ukraine started back in 2014, and we should have been tightening sanctions as the escalating threats of war came in prior to the beginning of the further invasion this year.
Weapons and sanctions are important steps we should have been taking earlier and we could be doing more of alongside our allies, but I want to say there is a special Canadian role we should be taking up in response to this invasion. Most of the world's democracies are much more densely populated than we are. Many of the world's democracies are small, densely populated nations, such as in Europe and the Asia-Pacific, with limited access to natural resources.
Canada has a unique place in the democratic world as a sparsely populated country rich in natural resources that can produce and export critical commodities, especially natural gas but also potash and other commodities the democratic world needs in order to be secure.
Sadly, we are living in the wake of seven years of failed energy policy under the current Liberal government. We have not seen not only the economic opportunities associated with our natural resource sectors but also the critical role those sectors can play in contributing to global security. We could have and should have been doing so much more to develop and prepare to export our natural gas to help our friends in Europe and also in the Asia-Pacific be energy secure and not have to be reliant on authoritarian countries such as Russia.
By failing to live up to Canada's responsibility as part of the community of democratic nations, we have left our allies vulnerable to the kind of pressure we have seen from Russia. Russia is funding its war in Ukraine through the export of its natural resources. Canada could be displacing and replacing that energy.
We are seven years behind, but it is now time for Canada to recognize the mistake, step up and take up its responsibilities to support Ukraine, through sanctions, weapons and playing that critical role of developing and exporting vital energy resources.
Rather than recognizing the potential, the opportunity and the responsibility that Canada has in the community of democratic nations, the approach of the government has to been to grant a waiver to sanctions to facilitate the export of Russian gas through a Russian turbine. Why are we allowing exemptions to our sanctions, as one witness told the foreign affairs committee, and allowing our sanctions to be like Swiss cheese, instead of standing firm on those sanctions, preventing Russian energy from being exported and offering our European friends alternatives?
We found out, coming into this summer, that the government had granted an exception to their sanctions, allowing the export of a Gazprom turbines. We got various explanations from the government as to why this was. First, it said it was vitally necessary for European energy security. Then it became clear that Russia was not even planning on using this turbine, that this was a tool to demonstrate the lack of resolve on the part of the Canadian government, but at the end of the day, the gas is still not flowing. There goes that excuse.
Then the government said it granted this exception to call Vladimir Putin's bluff. It continued to allow the export of those sanctions even after it had already become clear, so the explanation about calling his bluff just does not make any sense.
Then, in court filings, we saw that the government was actually invoking jobs and industrial activity in Montreal, near the minister's own riding, at Siemens Canada facilities, as an explanation for why it had pursued this policy. This is a crying shame, that we find out now that the government was granting a waiver to sanctions on these Gazprom turbines, not because there was any strategic reason to do so, but because the minister thought it was going to be in the interests of economic activity in an area close to her riding. That sends a terrible message to our Ukrainian friends who are fighting and dying for their freedom. We should be standing with them, not granting exemptions to our sanctions.
Our response has been lacking, and I call on the government to stand with the Ukrainian people, send the weapons that are required, end this policy of putting holes in their own sanctions, and condemn these referendums at this critical time.
I want to conclude on a personal note. This motion today is deeply personal for a member of my own staff. Daryna, who is working for me right now in our Conservative lobby, was born in the city of Zaporizhzhia, the administrative centre of the Zaporizhzhia region, and has lived there most of her life. Seventy percent of that region is occupied by Russian troops, but the administrative centre, where she and her family live, is under the control of Ukraine. The house where her parents live is 30 kilometres from the front lines.
Two days ago, Russian troops shelled Zaporizhzhia. At least 30 people, all civilians, were killed in a parking lot, and more than 70 people were injured. Later that afternoon, Putin signed a decree on the annexation of the Zaporizhzhia region to Russia. In other words, he decreed the annexation of a region where he does not even control the administrative centre. As Daryna put it to me, Putin killed 30 civilians in a land not under his control and then announced its ascension to Russia, allegedly at the will of the people who live there.
There are many women and men in Canada today who, like Daryna, are up late at night, waiting for news to confirm that their families are okay. While so many remain in harm's way, Canada's government must step up to condemn these fake referendums and rescind the Gazprom turbine waiver. The government must step up to reform our energy policies so Canada can take up its responsibilities in the world to supply our democratic allies with the energy resources they need, supply Ukraine with all the weapons they require, and help the refugees, who are contributing to Canada and supporting these efforts in so many ways.
Slava Ukraini. Heroyam slava.
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- Oct/3/22 3:46:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for many years now, since the invasion of Crimea, in a very apolitical fashion, we have tried to deal with supporting Ukraine in very tangible ways. This is going all the way back to 2014.
Over these years, I have witnessed widespread support coming from all sides of the House. It concerns me that the member, with some of the assertions he has made, would try to make it more political.
From the official opposition's perspective, do they feel it is important that the government continues to speak with one voice in condemning Putin and supporting solidarity for Ukraine, whether it is with sanctions, weapons or financial support? Is this not the right thing to be doing, to continue to work with our allied countries?
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- Oct/3/22 4:01:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when it comes to holding a referendum where people are cheated, that is always an extremely sensitive subject, especially for us.
With respect to President Putin's nuclear threat at a time like this when our environment is already not faring so well, the member said that we are unable to respond. We need to respond, not with a nuclear threat, but in other ways.
I would like to know what diplomatic means could bring the allies together to prevent the disastrous use of nuclear weapons.
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- Oct/3/22 4:02:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from the Bloc Québécois for her question. In my opinion, diplomacy does not work with Russia. The only approach that works with Vladimir Putin is military action. That is clear. We used a lot of diplomacy before the war in Ukraine, but that did not work. Now, we are in a situation where military intervention is the only way to convince the Russians to end the war in Ukraine.
At this point, unfortunately, kinetic action as opposed to diplomacy is the only way forward to contain Vladimir Putin and his nuclear threats. Because he has been unclear in his nuclear threats, it is not possible for us to respond in any way, because he has not laid down the red lines for exactly what would constitute the trigger for using a tactical nuclear weapon.
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- Oct/3/22 5:03:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member talked about the fact that western countries and Ukraine tried using diplomacy before the war started to try to stop Russia from attacking Ukraine. The Ukrainian government was telling us the whole time that the attack would come, that war would be declared by Vladimir Putin and the oligarchs.
The Russian government is not interested in diplomacy with the west. We have seen its illegitimate referendums. Nevertheless, just after his speech in the capital, President Putin said that he would now be ready to negotiate with the government in Kyiv.
I do not really have a question. I just wanted to point out that throughout the last year, and even since 2014, the Russian government has been almost entirely uninterested in diplomacy in any efforts to find a peaceful solution to the problem between Ukraine and Russia. I think it is important to recognize that we are not dealing with a reasonable person on the other side, and that only Ukrainian military forces can ensure Ukrainian sovereignty.
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- Oct/3/22 5:47:44 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to follow my colleague from Etobicoke Centre, who is deeply invested in this incredibly important issue and has spoken very eloquently on this in the past.
Let me start by saying that Canada condemns, in the strongest terms, President Putin's illegal, unprovoked and unjustifiable war against Ukraine, its people and its democratically elected government. With each day that passes, we witness the further devastation caused by his cruel disregard for human life and rejection of international law.
Let me remind everyone that President Putin's war is a clear contravention of article 2, section 4 of the UN Charter. It is also an attack on democracy, freedom and human rights. Any pretense to the contrary was completely discarded by the sham referenda and illegal attempt at annexation that Moscow just organized. Putin is bent on military conquest, pure and simple, a delusional desire for imperial expansion, regardless of the wishes of the Ukrainian people or the human costs. Canada rejects these fictional referenda results and rejects Russia's attempt to annex Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, just as we continue to reject Russia's attempt to annex Crimea.
The unfolding humanitarian crisis has brought growing numbers of civilian casualties, damage to civilian infrastructure and evidence of war crimes and other atrocities. With thousands of casualties and millions displaced, this tragedy will only worsen so long as Putin persists in pursuing a path of violence and aggression. Ever since before President Putin's invasion, Canada and the international community have been united. We offered Putin's regime every opportunity to engage in good-faith dialogue over our mutual security concerns. At the same time, we made clear that Canada and our partners would impose consequences and costs in response to any further aggression, and this is what we have done.
Let me be clear. Canada's response has been swift and firm. There must be accountability, and Canada is doing its part. In coordination with our like-minded partners, Canada has imposed a broad range of sanctions and other economic measures that are increasing the pressure on the Putin regime. Our sanction regimes can support numerous objectives, such as facilitating a path to peace or putting an end to impunity for foreign officials and states responsible for atrocities, human rights violations or acts of significant corruption. We are bringing their full weight to bear in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Canada's priority is to hold President Putin and his accomplices, including officials from Belarus, accountable for their actions. We are accomplishing this in close coordination with trusted partners, including the U.S., the U.K., the EU, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Collective action has been key to putting effective and impactful economic measures in place.
Since January 2022, Canada has announced severe and hard-hitting sanctions against over 1,400 individuals and entities in Belarus and Russia under the Special Economic Measures Act. In total, since 2014, we have sanctioned more than 1,800 individuals and entities. We have implemented numerous restrictions in the trade, finance, defence, transport and energy sectors. We have also banned the provision of vital services to key sectors of the Russian economy.
In response to President Putin's unilateral recognition of independence of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, two integral regions that belong to Ukraine, the Prime Minister announced our first round of sanctions against all members of the Russian State Duma who voted in support of this action. We also imposed prohibitions on certain transactions and activities in these regions. Following the September 2022 annexation votes, we have extended these measures to the remainder of the Russian-occupied regions and imposed further sanctions, including against the so-called leaders of the puppet regimes Russia has put in place.
Immediately following President Putin's invasion of Ukraine, Canada increased the pressure by sanctioning key members of Putin's inner circle and close associates who also benefited from his regime. Canada also stopped the issuance of new export permit applications and cancelled valid permits for controlled military, strategic and dual-use items to Russia.
As Russia continued its military attack against Ukraine, Canada expanded our sanctions, including sanctioning President Putin himself, his family members and his business, military and political allies. This includes the defence minister, foreign minister and all members of the Russian Security Council. It also includes Russian oligarchs, financial elites and their family members as well as major Russian energy companies such as Gazprom and Rosneft.
As a result of Belarus's clear complicity in Russia's unacceptable actions, Canada has expanded our sanctions against the Lukashenko regime. To date, Canada has listed 159 individuals and 39 entities under the Belarus regulations.
To limited President Putin's ability to fund his war and Russia's access to the global financial system, we sanctioned core Russian banks and financial institutions, and Canada announced a dealings ban on the Russian central bank, the Russian National Wealth Fund and the Russian Ministry of Finance.
Canada also sanctioned the major Russian banks and worked with our like-minded partners to remove them from the SWIFT payment system. Together with the U.S., U.K., EU and others, we are further isolating Russia economically. This will significantly restrict its ability to send money in and out of the country and effectively pause Russia's major imports and exports. We have also worked together to restrict the export of advanced goods and technology to Russia, which will degrade its long-term capabilities.
We continue to expand this list. Canada has implemented a ban on various Russian petroleum products, including crude oil. We have also prohibited all Russian-owned or registered vessels from entering Canadian waters and docking in our ports. In coordination with several European countries, Canada closed its airspace to Russian and Belarusian aircraft operators.
Last but not least, we removed Russia and Belarus from the most-favoured-nation tariff treatment, effectively imposing a 35% duty on virtually all imports from these two countries.
Canada is united with our partners and allies and we will continue to work in coordination to sanction targets that have the greatest impact on the Russian government. We consult with Ukraine, the G7 and other partners to jointly identify further targets. We are committed to building on existing economic measures for as long as President Putin persists with his unjustifiable war and until a peaceful solution is reached.
We will continue to use every opportunity to press Russia to leave Ukrainian soil. Our actions will undermine the Russian regime's means to finance this senseless war, weaken its military capacity to fight it and further isolate it from international communities.
Canada will continue to support Ukraine as it defends itself against President Putin's aggression. Sanctions are only one of the tools we are using, but they are an important one and we will continue to use them to maximum effect. The brave people of Ukraine have the right to live in peace and the right to conserve their history, identity, freedoms and democracy.
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- Oct/3/22 6:16:28 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this is my first opportunity to enter into this debate having listened to it all afternoon. I want to thank the hon. member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman and many members of this place, such as the member for Wellington—Halton Hills and the member for Etobicoke North. We heard many strong denunciations. The member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount spoke too. We, here, are quite united in condemning what Putin has done.
There seems to be some uncertainty and cautions are being expressed about who committed the sabotage under the Baltic Sea in three separate places of the Nord Stream pipeline, which led to methane releases.
Does the hon. member have any conclusive areas to point us to in explaining that sabotage?
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- Oct/3/22 6:17:18 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, there is no evidence yet to determine who did it. There are only a few countries that have the capabilities to fire upon a pipeline that deep in the sea. As the member said, it was in three places.
It would not surprise me if it was a false flag operation done by Russia itself. It has already rejected the turbines from Canada. They were erroneously provided back to Gazprom and have been able to pump more natural gas from Russia into Germany and the rest of Europe. I would not be surprised if Vladimir Putin, who is famous for doing false flag operations, actually orchestrated this one as well.
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- Oct/3/22 6:18:08 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will begin my remarks with a message for Vladimir Putin. It is the same message that the Right Hon. Stephen Harper delivered when he met with Mr. Putin at the G20 in November 2004, following the annexation of Crimea. The message is this: “You need to get out of Ukraine.”
At the time, Vladimir Putin denied the presence of Russia in Crimea. Now, almost eight years later, there certainly can be no denial. Canada did not buy his lies then, and in the wake of sham referendums last week, we do not buy them now.
I want to thank the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development for their fourth report. It is a brief report but carries great significance. It reads as follows:
That the committee condemns any attempts to hold referendums in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine; any such referendums have no legitimacy, the committee maintains its belief that Ukrainian national boundaries recognized at the time of the Budapest Memorandum remain Ukraine’s national boundaries today, and the committee report this motion to the House.
I fully endorse the report from the committee and call upon every member of the House to do the same. We must send a strong and clear message from the Canadian House of Commons that Russian aggression in Ukraine is not acceptable. We must be unified in condemning the sham referendums held by Russia in the illegally occupied regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
For our part, Conservatives will not now nor ever recognize these regions as Russian territory. Rather, these referendums have only served to redouble our commitment to Ukraine sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. It should be noted that these referendums took place amid a collapsing western front as Ukrainians continue the brave defence of their homeland once again.
However, the Russians are doubling down and are sticking to their dangerous military doctrine, namely the doctrine to escalate to de-escalate. The Russians have already raised the stakes by threatening the use of nuclear weapons should they be attacked in these occupied regions. These threats are not acceptable. The world has known the horrors of nuclear warfare and must not be subjected to it ever again. NATO has indicated that conventional forces will be used in response to such an attack in Ukraine.
The Putin regime is even targeting its own civilians by sharpening repression at home, including conscription of minority communities. This sounds a lot like actions I learned about in Soviet studies courses during my undergraduate time. This territorial grab harkens back to, pick one, the Soviet days or the Russian imperial days.
I have already been banned from Russia, something I wear as a badge of honour, so I will speak freely. The destruction that Vladimir Putin has inflicted upon Ukraine is nothing short of genocide. The horrific scenes of what Russia has left behind as Ukraine forces advance are nothing short of chilling.
I recall bringing my father-in-law, a man of Ukrainian descent, to the Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg. I vividly remember the look on his face when he saw the statue of the starving child, representing the millions who starved because of Joseph Stalin, the dictator who engineered a food shortage in Soviet Ukraine in the 1930s. His goal, like Vladimir Putin's, was to destroy Ukrainian ambitions for independence and ensure Ukrainian subservience. As a result, millions of Ukrainians experienced desperate hunger and died. Today we are witnessing the same aggression we saw from Stalin during the Holodomor, and it must be blunted.
Russia intends on using the so-called referendum results as justification for further aggression. They would have the world believe that they are defending what is theirs. However, Russia is the aggressor; Ukraine is the defender.
Canada will always stand against dictatorial aggressors and stand with those defending themselves. Canada must do more to support Ukraine. In the short term, we must ensure that Ukraine is well armed and has the weapons it needs to defend itself. President Zelenskyy has asked for more arms, and Canada should be a reliable partner.
We need to help Europe isolate Russia by supplying them with Canadian energy. We also need to remove our own domestic barriers to help Europe become energy independent from Russia. We should replace Russian oil and gas with a Canadian product that is produced with the highest environmental standards and respect for human rights.
The Prime Minister violated his own sanctions against Putin by sending back a turbine so that the Russians could continue to pump gas into Germany, so while the Liberals are against pipelines in Canada, they are in favour of maintaining the turbines for Russian pipelines that fund Putin's war. Meanwhile, we have 1,300 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that could be used to free Europe from its dependency on Putin. Plus, we have the ability to produce it cleaner than anywhere else in the world. We should use our resources to help our security partners in Europe.
We should also ensure that our own national security is fortified. Russia's extraterritorial target right now is Ukraine. What will Canada do when Russian turns its sights even further onto our Arctic and puts its 40 polar icebreakers against our one? Russia is aware that Canada has let its northern warning systems lapse, and NORAD modernization has to be elevated to urgent status, with the funds necessary to combat and detect modern warfare tactics and equipment.
Canada has chronically underfunded NATO, something that should be corrected immediately. We are well below the 2% commitment made years ago, and repeated currently. This is another case of too much talk and not enough action. European countries such as Germany, Sweden and Finland have moved swiftly to deal with present threats, and Canada needs to do likewise. We need to do likewise now.
Only now that Ukraine, especially its eastern oblasts, and parts of Europe are under threat is Canada starting to take its funding commitments seriously. These funding commitments mean better military equipment for our armed forces and mean helping with our flailing recruitment and retention. These funding commitments mean that Canada can continue to be counted on for the security of our own citizens as well as internationally. Right now, our allies are questioning our commitments and abilities. The Liberal government must get to work on these priorities right away. The path to greater support is clear. The only thing lacking is willingness.
Although the government's foreign affairs minister has stated that Canada is just a middle power that is good at “convening”, Canadians know that we are also proud and fierce fighters, trainers and peacekeepers. We have shown our mettle internationally since Confederation, particularly during the last century when we were called up to go above and beyond. Today, many Ukrainians fighting for their country and their families credit the Canadian Armed Forces for the calibre of critical military training they learned under Operation Unifier.
History will tell a very different story about Vladimir Putin than the one he tells himself. His legacy is one of lies, destruction, genocide and suffering. The world is uniting against him in a way not seen in a generation, demanding that he must withdraw from Ukraine and pay for his crimes. In the meantime, the House will condemn the sham referendums in Ukraine and give voice to those suffering under Putin's aggression.
Slava Ukraini.
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- Oct/3/22 6:29:35 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech. This debate is important because of the risk this situation involves. I will make three comments. My colleague can respond to any of them.
The current threat is not a reason to abandon the fight against climate change. Those are not my words but the words of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Then my colleague talked about her experience in her Soviet studies courses. When I was younger, I studied the Chernobyl accident and its effects. The risks of the nuclear threat are not to be trifled with.
Finally, I will conclude by reminding her of the importance of the coalition, as well as the importance of tackling disinformation, the kind of rhetoric that circulates, particularly in Russia, against the west. This kind of rhetoric is dangerous. As a former journalism student, I am particularly concerned about what is coming out in the media and the messaging coming from President Putin.
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