Thank you, Madam Chair.
Despite the fact that everything Mr. Seeback just said about the price on pollution in Canada is patently incorrect, the Conservatives' issue with the carbon tax is just another red herring. We've hit a new low when Conservatives are trying to avoid talking about a motion by starting to actually talk straight to reporters in a committee meeting and telling reporters what they should be reporting on.
We've hit a new low, because Conservatives are now in a position where they are having some serious buyer's remorse over the way they voted on this. These four members have now voted—not once, but twice—against Ukraine, just moments ago.
As I was sitting here, Madam Chair, because I had a lot of time to think about this during the last hour or so, I was thinking that Mr. Genuis and all the Conservatives were talking about supporting Ukraine by providing weapons. It's funny, because in the 2022 budget the Government of Canada put $500 million into supporting Ukraine with weapons, and every single Conservative member voted against it. I know it's easy to say, well, it's the budget, so they had to vote against it. That kind of does make sense. I can understand that.
Do you know what I did, Madam Chair, in the time I was sitting here? I went back and looked to see how Mr. Seeback, Mr. Genuis, Mr. Baldinelli and Mr. Martel spoke on the budget of 2022. They all spoke to the budget. Well, I should put it this way: None of them spoke about the weapons that we were providing to Ukraine in the budget. Even if they had supported the weapons going to Ukraine, in which the government invested half a billion dollars in the last budget, you would have thought that at least one of them who was so passionate about the issue would have stood up during that time of the budget and at least said, “You know what? I don't support the budget, because I can't, because I'm in the opposition, and that's just what we do. However, I want to say that I support the aid going to Ukraine.”
They didn't. Why didn't they, Madam Chair? It's because the issue right now about how we should be talking about ammunition and weapons is a red herring. That's it. They're looking for justification to prove to the over two million Ukrainian Canadians why they voted against it before and why they're doubling down on it now.
I got a real kick out of it when I heard Mr. Genuis earlier say, “what Ukraine needs”. Actually, what Ukraine needs is for Conservatives to start listening to the Ukrainian President when the President tells them that they need this trade agreement. What Ukraine needs is for Conservatives to listen to the Ukrainian Canadian Congress when they say what they need. What Ukraine doesn't need are people like Vladimir Putin or the Conservatives who tell them what they need.
Do you know who else tells—