Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Minister Joly, I think one of the difficulties we have here is that the European Union, along with the NATO alliance, is providing billions of dollars in cash, weapons and munitions to Ukraine to defend themselves. At the same time, it is paying hundreds of billions of dollars to Russia, which they are using in turn to fund their war effort. Canada, by returning this turbine, becomes complicit in a situation where we're aiding the European Union and essentially funding both sides of this war. Canada should never, ever be in a position like that.
The talking points I've been hearing over the last couple of days from you and Minister Wilkinson are that, well, now we're calling Putin's bluff. But that wasn't what you said in early July when you made the decision. There was no talk about calling a bluff or playing a game with Mr. Putin. No. What you said was that returning the turbine was integral to Germany's economy and its citizens, as the country is currently heavily dependent on Russia energy. That was what you said. You didn't tell the Canadian people that you did it to call anyone's bluff until I think yesterday, when I read your comments in the Globe.
So it's just not fair at all to say that this is about calling Mr. Putin's bluff. In fact, it stretches credulity, in my mind, to say that your conversations with the Germans back in early July or June, whenever you were meeting, were about calling Mr. Putin's bluff. They were about encouraging domestic supply. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress has said that your rationale also makes no sense. We'll hear from them later. It's been known for years that Mr. Putin uses energy as a foreign policy tool to punish enemies. It was entirely predictable that Russia would continue to use energy as a weapon after Canada acquiesced to Russian blackmail, essentially.
The reality is that this was a terrible decision that puts Canada in a terrible spot. It doesn't help Germany, and it makes Canada look weak in the eyes of the Russians. Isn't that right, Minister?