Evidence of meeting #15 for Foreign Affairs and International Development in the 41st Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was crimea.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Alexandrine Latendresse NDP Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
I don't know if Mr. Okhrimtchouk has some...with his background in military?
Parish Priest, Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada, As an Individual
I was a soldier so I don't know how valuable I am from a tactical standpoint, but yes, I do believe it was planned. It was planned because he told Yanukovych.... By giving the money and please remember that the people who were in power in Ukraine—prosecutor general, president—when the grant from Moscow comes in, it's filtered into their pockets. Whatever crumbs are left go to pay salaries and stuff like that, so a grant comes in and so on. As an outcome, after the events hopefully that will unfold right now, it would be good to have the monitoring tools as well. But yes, it was planned before.
The most important point is that Russia said they'd protect not only the ethnic Russians but also Russian-speaking people. Czech Republic announced today that they will terminate or limit the visas to Russian-speaking people because....
Let's think about the worst scenario. The west says to heck with it, Ukraine will be invaded, we don't have to care about anything else, so get gas to the border of Ukraine with the western union. In Czech Republic there is a large population of Russian-speaking people so what would prevent them from going further?
Canada is one of the largest immigration communities of Russian-speaking people. People who come to our church speak in Russian.
You know my rationale, right? You can make up excuses all you want; well, somebody on Scott Street told them that they shouldn't wear a scarf, but they should wear something else. It's a democratic country, we can say it, you don't have to agree with me.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Thank you. That's all the time.
Gary, you had a quick question. Lois, do you have a question as well? No.
Gary, you have a quick question to finish up.
Conservative
Gary Schellenberger Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
Thank you very much.
On the weekend I spent the biggest part of the time going back and forth between Russian television, RT out of Washington, and CNN, and it was like watching two different football games, just exact opposites.
One thing I did see though was that the governor of Crimea—I think he's a governor or whoever is over that particular area—was interviewed and he said that he took charge of the area. He asked President Putin to come to help the Russian people.
The other thing, in my understanding, is that there was going to be a referendum held in the Crimea in May. Would that be along with the election? Is that a referendum for separation? They've moved it ahead to March. Is it going to be a fair referendum with a bunch of Russian troops in the area?
President, Ukrainian World Congress
I think your last words answer the question. How can you seriously have a referendum with military troops on the ground?
One thing that is telling though—and I can provide the site to you—is how swiftly Russians in the Crimea put their names on the petition that I read, which said, “Please leave. We do not need your protection. We live well here”.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Thank you.
Thank you very much for coming in today. We appreciate your testimony.
With that, we are going to adjourn the meeting.
The meeting is adjourned.