Foreign Affairs Committee on Feb. 26th, 2014

[Matthew Levin]

Thank you, Mr. Garneau.

You're absolutely right. That is now a key area of discussion internationally among partners and with the Ukrainian authorities. Ukraine is facing quite a difficult economic circumstance and especially in its external financing requirements. It clearly requires large-scale international financial assistance, and in Canada's view, but really in the view of all our partners, the IMF necessarily has to be a central piece of that response, partly because of the volume of financing that's required, but partly because that external financial support has to be associated with the sort of reforms that will make the Ukrainian economy sustainable and put it on a firm growth path going forward. Otherwise, that financial assistance will simply be lost.

In fact, Ukraine's track record with the IMF is not good. It had previous agreements where it hasn't been able to meet the obligations of the agreements to fulfill the reform requirements, and as a result, among other reasons, the Ukrainian economy has not performed well.

Canada is very supportive of a strong IMF program. We are in discussions at the IMF through the executive board of the IMF and in other fora. We're talking with our key partners on a regular basis about how best to move that forward quickly. It's recognized that this response has to be fairly quick, and IMF officials are already engaging with the new Ukrainian authorities, discussing the outlines of a potential support package.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you.

That's all the time we have. We're going to start our second round, which will be five minutes each. I think we'll have time for just this round, so three questioners. I'm going to start with Ms. Brown, then over to Madame Laverdière, and then back to finish with the Conservatives.

Ms. Brown.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Thank you for your presentations. It's very timely that you're here today. We are all watching what's going on in Ukraine very, very carefully.

I know that Canada has been present in Ukraine for quite some time. I actually have a list of all the projects we have ongoing in Ukraine, many of them focusing on governance. You talked about an independent judiciary being one of the very important things that we need to have there because that's part of the reforms that we need to see. I'm really pleased to hear you talk about an independent media.

Mr. Metcalfe, I think you're the one who spoke about that. You said that we're currently examining other possibilities to support free media. I wonder if you could expand on that a little bit. I was part of the delegation that went two years ago. One of the groups that we met with was the independent media who were expressing to our delegation the significant difficulties they have in garnering advertising dollars so that they can stay on the air. I supported an independent radio station financially just because I thought it was the right thing to do. I'm pleased to hear that we have some projects that we're looking at. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about that.

Mr. Levin, you talked about the IMF and a coordinated approach in helping Ukraine. Do the western allies all have the same objectives? Is there common ground that we're going to go forward on? I'll ask you both to address those.

[Dave Metcalfe]

Sure. As you mentioned, the media is very important in terms of advancing democracy. We have projects under way that we're looking to advance soon. We're also working with the journalists, but first in the immediate future is the protection of journalists. They've been targeted by the regime, by players in terms of cyberattacks and those sorts of things. It's about keeping their information safe and then allowing them the space to be able to report, turning on investigative journalism and how to actually report, not taking things at face value, but being able to report using web media, and being able to access citizens where their usual source of media may be influenced or jaded, I guess I would say.

Also, it's about working with them to use the public access to information laws and the promotion of ethical and professional standards and advancing those forward. As I was mentioning, a big part of that is protection of journalists and how they can protect their data and their information from cyberattacks. It's also included within that.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Is there a positive response to that?

[Dave Metcalfe]

A positive response from?

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

From the country as a whole or the journalists themselves.

[Dave Metcalfe]

As for the journalists themselves, I was there in November and I had a round table with a number of journalists, and that was key at the time, the protection of journalism. As I was saying, one of their top concerns was the cyberattacks they were experiencing. They were definitely appealing for more help in that area.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Is there any legislation that was introduced to give them any coverage?

[Dave Metcalfe]

That I can't speak to. I could get back to you.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

It would be interesting to know.

Mr. Levin.

[Matthew Levin]

Thank you.

On the second part of the question, there is a striking degree of consensus among the key international actors. The European Union has commissioned the key EU member states, Washington, and ourselves on the importance of an immediate engagement by the IMF, but recognizing that of course there does have to be a Ukrainian government in place to request that and to have the capacity to agree to a reform program with the IMF and then to implement it.

I think there is a very large consensus among key allies on that issue.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Is there anyone that you think would take the lead on this? Is this something you think the European Union is going to drive, or do you think we will all have equal parts?

You talked about $20 million in your remarks and how that is going to be directed towards capacity building. What will Canada's role be in all of this?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

You have about 30 seconds to answer that.

[Matthew Levin]

On the question of the IMF engagement specifically, I think that is by definition a multilateral thing. All of us who are significant members of the IMF who have seats on the executive board will play a role in making sure that it moves ahead in the right way and at the right speed.

In terms of how that links more generally to other support programs that countries put in place, Canada and others that align with it and are supportive of it, I don't know, Dave, whether on the trust fund part or the advice we're giving the government in terms of assisting its capacity to deal with the IMF—

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

That's all the time. You can maybe catch it in the second round.

Madame Laverdière, you have five minutes, please.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you all for being here.

I would first like to apologize for being a little late. I was held up in the House.

I too am very concerned about the financial support that Canada and other countries are able to provide to Ukraine. You talked about the issue of timing, meaning that we must wait for a proper government to be in place before the International Monetary Fund can proceed. So I am wondering what will happen over the next few weeks.

[Matthew Levin]

Thank you, Ms. Laverdière. I will answer in English, if you don't mind.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

No problem.

[Matthew Levin]

Of course one doesn't know exactly, but I think what is likely to happen in the very immediate future, and in fact I think it is happening as we speak. The parliament today nominated a new government. We expect that the members of the new government, including the finance minister, the central bank governor, will be officially in place as of tomorrow.

That is really an essential stage for the formalization of negotiations and agreement with the IMF. Ultimately the nature of IMF support requires it to be based on an agreement that a government undertakes with the fund as an organization.

Having said that, the discussions are already taking place. There have been people acting in positions, or at the deputy level in the key ministries, so discussions are already under way. One doesn't know how it will unfold, but it's very plausible to think that this process will unfold very quickly, because it does enjoy a very broad support from the international community and there have been initial signals from the Ukrainian government that they see this as indispensable.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Thank you.

I have another question, this time about visas.

You said that it was not possible to provide the names of individuals who are under a travel ban in Canada. However, when the sanctions were imposed on Syria, the name of the people affected by those sanctions were even listed in news releases. I am trying to understand the difference.

[Mike MacDonald]

I think the fundamental difference with sanctions, and DFAIT is the expert on this, so they can let me know if I misspeak.

Sanctions oftentimes are regimes that are taken by order in council, so the regulations are published. They're a public process. The travel limitations are an operational effort that departments, CIC and security partners and the CBSA undertake at an operational level. They are not public events.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Thank you very much.

I will be quick, since I have only one minute left. I am very happy to see that the director general of the Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force is here.

The elections monitoring mission was mentioned, but I was wondering whether the Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force has other commitments toward Ukraine? Could it potentially play a role in Ukraine?

Thank you.

[Tamara Guttman]

Thank you for your question.

The Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force has a number of mechanisms to support democracy and stabilization. We have the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives, which is currently being used in Ukraine for emergency medical assistance, but the amounts are not very high, between $5,000 to $25,000.

In terms of the Global Peace and Security Fund, we will see later—probably after the president is elected and the government is formed—what possibilities exist with respect to democracy, civic participation and security. That will depend on the needs, which will become clearer then.

We have possibilities that we will certainly be exploring. Most immediately our focus is on the elections, however.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you, Madame Laverdière.

We're going to finish up with Mr. Anderson. You have five minutes, please.