Thank you, Chair.
Good morning, Ambassador. Welcome. Thank you for coming.
I'm sorry about the little problem with your mike last time. We would have loved to hear from you.
Many of us are committed. As we well know, the Prime Minister said, “for as long as it takes”, “whatever it takes”. However, Canada is not the most armed nation in the world. We don't have the largest army. We don't have a lot of capacity to send as many arms as say, the U.S.
However, we've been sending arms, economic aid, training and humanitarian aid. With anything that we can do, Canada has been there.
However, it would seem to people like me, who have lived through it, that there's a fear that Ukraine—because of what's happening in Gaza right now and the other areas of conflict around the world—may eventually end up to be another Vietnam, which would be an absolutely horrifying thought.
We all saw last fall that Ukraine had moved forward and done a great deal of harm to Russia and taken some things, but we can say that right now there are only about 500 square miles of Ukrainian territory that have been recaptured.
I hear what you said that Ukraine is looking for, and I think that's really important. What do you see as a big problem?
One thing we have been counting on is sanctions. I am told that in fact Kazakhstan has allowed itself to become a hub for arms, food, trade and all sorts of things coming from Iran, India, China and other areas, bypassing Europe's sanctions. Is that going to have an impact on Ukraine's ability to move forward? Is that a real problem? Are we concerned about that?
Second, I wanted to ask what is going to happen if we don't hurry, as a Parliament, and okay this trade deal that we're trying to do with Ukraine, because that's part of the economic strength that Ukraine is trying to muster for itself. What are the impacts if that doesn't happen? It's being stalled, as we well know, by the Conservatives.
Can you answer those two questions, please?