Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ambassador, thank you for appearing today. I hope that you're staying safe, knowing how dangerous things can be even in Kyiv. Pat and I have been there and heard the air sirens and seen the damage that has been done in the city, never mind outside the city.
First of all, on behalf of the Conservatives, we thank all those Ukrainian heroes who originally took to the streets of the Maidan, and then went to the front line in Donbas, and who now are fighting for the very existence of Ukraine and, as you said, are protecting Canadians here at home as you deal with the Russian invasion and protecting NATO's eastern flank.
Conservatives support Ukraine. We support Operation Unifier. We started Operation Unifier. We support the delivery of weapons and military kit. We started that process back in 2015. We've been calling for the government to send lethal weapons since 2018, which didn't happen until the hot war and full-scale invasion happened in 2022. We know there's probably more that we can do, including providing more munitions, more sniper rifles, made right here in Canada, both by Colt and by PGW in Winnipeg.
I know both organizations have already supplied sniper rifles and machine guns. We also know that we have surplus kit here that we can use. I know Ukraine is getting armoured ambulances from Canada that are being built at GDLS in London, but that will be done after the Canadian armoured ambulances are finished off and supplied to the Canadian Armed Forces. This means that our existing fleet of armoured ambulances, which are LAVs that are still in running condition, should be donated to Ukraine.
Would you agree that that would be a welcome donation to support the Ukrainian armed forces?