Foreign Affairs Committee on Aug. 4th, 2022

[The Vice-Chair, Bloc, Stéphane Bergeron]

I return the chair to you, Mr. Morantz.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

May I have the chair back, Mr. Bergeron?

Thank you very much, Mr. Bergeron.

Mr. Zuberi, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you.

Thank you to the ministers for being here today.

I'd like to first put forth a question to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

We've been hearing a lot of rhetoric from opposition members about what's been happening with respect to the turbines and the Ukrainian government.

Has this recent incident caused any true strain in the relationship between the Ukrainian governments and us?

Could you please give your comments on this?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

I think we've been actively engaged with the Ukrainian government.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

We can't hear you.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Can you hear me now?

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

We can hear you clearly in the room.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Sameer, can you hear me?

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Marty Morantz]

Mr. Clerk, what is the status of our communication?

[The Clerk]

It's good now.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

It's good now?

[The Clerk]

Yes, thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Marty Morantz]

Go ahead.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Of course, we've had many conversations with the Ukrainian government, and there is a very open channel of communication.

I speak to the chief of staff to President Zelenskyy, Andriy Yermak, very often. I also speak with my counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign affairs minister. As you also saw, the Prime Minister has had many conversations with President Zelenskyy.

Of course, this was a very difficult decision. Some of you have heard that, and I've said it many times. I truly feel it and believe it because Jonathan and I spent spent a lot of time on this issue.

That being said, we announced something very important today, which is the resumption of Operation Unifier with 225 CAF members going to train Ukrainians as they're fighting a very existential war.

We will continue to have strong sanctions and to make sure that we send heavy artillery. We also want to be there with humanitarian aid and to provide the right support to Ukrainians in these difficult times.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you.

I'd like to ask you a second question.

You mentioned the importance of keeping the alliance together in response to the Russian invasion.

Can you talk about the challenges you foresee as we enter a new phase of the war?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Thank you for the question, Mr. Zuberi.

I think we have to make sure that there is no fatigue in terms of supporting Ukraine during this war.

We already know that the news about Ukraine is still important, but it is not as important as it was at the beginning of the war. There are other issues we have to deal with. So we need to make sure that Canadians are still interested in this issue and that they stay informed. The same is true for citizens of other countries, whether they are Americans, Germans, French or English. It is important that there be strong support within our democracies.

We will continue to work with Ukrainian organizations. I would like to welcome Ms. Chyczij, who is with us today. We will continue to work with the various regional organizations as well, and of course we will be there to support them.

As I mentioned earlier, there may be further sanctions and assistance announced shortly. We continue to provide our support.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you, Madam Minister.

Minister Wilkinson, given the current situation in Europe and Canada's standing as a net energy exporter, with regard to our providing energy to become the energy provider of choice to Europe, what are we doing either unilaterally or with America to position ourselves as such?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

Certainly, Canada is looking to ensure that we are participating in helping our European friends as they transition off Russian oil and gas. I spoke earlier about the incremental 300,000 barrels of oil and gas that we committed to work with the industry to ensure that that is achieved by the end of the year, and we are on track to do that. We are working on LNG opportunities on the east coast, and we have a couple of opportunities on the west coast that will also help with increasing supply in the world.

We're also very focused on hydrogen, which is going to be the energy carrier of the future as we move to transition to address the climate issue while ensuring that we actually have reliable sources of energy. Canada is blessed with the opportunity to produce hydrogen in different kinds of ways—derived from natural gas, derived from electricity and electrolysis—in a manner that we can be a hydrogen superpower to the world as we move forward. We are looking at all of those things, the short-term opportunities to assist and the longer-term opportunities to be a dominant player on a go-forward basis.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you for that.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Marty Morantz]

Thank you, Minister.

It looks like we have time for one more five-minute session.

Mr. Genuis, you have the floor.

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

No, I think the Bloc....

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

A point of order, Mr. Chair.

I don't think it's our turn.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Marty Morantz]

Okay.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Perhaps it's the Green Party's turn?

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Marty Morantz]

Thank you, Mr. Bergeron.

This is the advice I've received from the clerk. Perhaps the clerk could clarify.