Madam Chair, I should say that I am sharing my time with the member for Orléans.
It is a real privilege tonight to be a part of this debate. I was hoping, as I prepared for it, that it would be a time where we, from all parts of the House, reflected on the importance of engaging with Ukraine and for Ukraine and of standing firm with Ukraine, leaving some of the other parts aside for tonight.
It is no secret that I travel the world a lot. The question of Ukraine and Canada's support for Ukraine comes up often, whether I am in the global south, eastern Europe, western Europe or other parts of the world. I often talk about the fact that it is a surprise to people how much Canada and Canadians are concerned about Ukraine. I think that is because, when they look at Canada, they think we are nice people, but they do not always get the fact that we are committed every day to the values and purposes that we want to uphold.
When it comes to Ukraine, there are three factors, I think, at least in my head. One is that we are affronted intellectually at Russia's aggression, its inhumane activity and its lack of understanding of the sovereignty of another country and the international rules-based order. Russia was a G8 member. It is now out of that group, but it is a permanent member of the Security Council and we expect more from it. We have seen the disastrous effects of the war, Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. It affects us and affronts us intellectually, but it is more than that. It is also in our hearts.
The other part of this is at the level of our hearts. As has been said in the House, we all know Ukrainians. If we are not of Ukrainian background ourselves, we have friends and family who are deeply affected personally by this conflict and we want to share with them, at a very emotional level, the disaster that is confronting their country of origin.
It is also a strategic issue. The reality is that, when many people look at the globe, they see Moscow over here and Ottawa over here, and they think we are very far away. Strategically, if we look at the globe on our toes and look down, we can see that we share a maritime border with Russia in the Arctic, which is already a fragile area. I am not saying that we are preparing for Russia to invade us at any time, but we are sensitive to the strategic importance of Canada maintaining its sovereignty. When we see an affront to the sovereignty of another country, we react.
It is intellectual, it is our hearts and it is also about Canadian sovereignty, so we are engaged. Tonight, we will say, once again, that we are committed not just yesterday, not just today, but also tomorrow. We will see this war through until the end. We will only stop when we come to peace, and that peace will only come when it is done on Ukraine's terms. That is our commitment and we will continue to do that.
I want to commend the previous Conservative government, which very early on, with the illegal invasion of Crimea, took steps to engage in that fight and set the stage, which we were then able, when we formed government in 2015, to continue. We began by training troops to get Ukraine ready because we knew that it was not the end of the story. The story was still continuing. As we progressed through those years, we also began to look at Ukrainian reform to help Ukraine get ready to be a part of the European Union and to become a part of NATO, which Canada has always been committed to. Ukraine is a country that we want to have as an ally, fit and ready to be a part of the groups that we are a part of, because our security is related to their security.
With the illegal invasion two years ago of Russia into Ukraine, we saw the disaster that happened. I would commend the documentary film 20 Days in Mariupol to everyone in this place to see the disaster that the Russian troops, Putin's troops, brought onto the innocent people of Ukraine. That is why we have been awakened to this disaster, which has been caused by Putin's aggression and his failure to understand their sovereignty.
We have continued for two years, but not perfectly. I am very clear that our operations have not been perfectly done, but we are a leader among nations in the world in our support for Ukraine financially with sovereign loans, with engagement and with military equipment. We are continuing to support them and to listen to them in everything that they are asking us to do. That is acknowledged daily by Ukrainian politicians, by members of Parliament and by the government itself.
Now we get to tonight's take-note debate looking at the Canada-Ukraine strategic security partnership. This is a 10-year commitment, starting with over $3 billion this year, on engaging the readiness, adaptability and resilience of Ukraine to fight for itself. It is a political document. It is military document. It is a security document. It is about co-operation and engagement. It shows our commitment to Ukraine, and we will continue to do that.
I look forward to questions. I feel like I am just starting.