Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Of course, one reason to oppose the waiver was a concern about the economic benefit that comes to Russia any time you waive sanctions. We also heard clearly about the message it sends when countries talk a big game about sanctions, but then find exceptions here and exceptions there. The accumulation of exceptions leads to what one witness had described as kind of a sanctions Swiss cheese, where there are all sorts of holes and your sanctions regime is no longer effective.
These were some of the powerful arguments made. We had the opportunity, of course, to hear directly from the Ukrainian ambassador as part of that discussion.
We heard three distinct arguments from the government as to why they granted the sanctions waiver. First of all, they talked about how this was going to supposedly help get energy resources to Germany. That's obviously a moot point now in that the one turbine that was sent back to Europe was never used and now the pipeline has been out of commission. We're not seeing these turbines play any role in supplying energy to Germany.
The government then said that allowing the sanctions waiver, which was in effect giving Putin exactly what he wanted, was somehow a way of calling Putin's bluff. We didn't particularly buy that argument at the time, and at this point it's obviously past the moment of that argument because we've sent one turbine back and it hasn't been used. Any bluff that was or wasn't going to be called has been called and there's no reason to repair and send back five additional turbines.
Another argument that was used by the government was the alleged impact on jobs here in Canada, but we heard very clearly from Siemens representatives that no jobs in Canada would be negatively affected.
We've seen, either through witness testimony or through other global events, the dismantling of these arguments in favour of granting the sanctions waiver.
The point remains that if we're going to stand strong behind Ukraine, we should not be granting exemptions to our sanctions. We should not be repairing turbines for Gazprom. I think that's the clear conclusion for me from this study. Based on comments that have been made by others, I'm fairly confident this reflects the majority view on this committee.
I hope we'll be able, therefore, to send a strong message in support of our friends and allies in Ukraine by opposing the sanctions waiver and we call on the government to revoke it. Hopefully, we'll see the adoption of this motion, which indeed sends that message.
Thank you.