Thank you very much, Ambassador.
Before we start the questions, I just want to say that I know I am speaking on behalf of all parliamentarians when I say that we fully support Ukraine in this unbelievable war of aggression that has been commenced by Russia. We all stand with you, and we're proud of what Ukraine has done, how strong you've been and how much you've resisted against this Russian invasion.
I'm going to use the chair's prerogative to take the first round of questions for the Conservatives.
Ambassador, I wanted to talk briefly about a few things.
The trade minister was here on Tuesday and suggested that somehow, if we're criticizing aspects of the trade agreement, we're sort of playing into the hands of Vladimir Putin. I didn't agree with those comments. I disagreed with them strongly.
Conservatives have made some criticisms of this trade agreement, but Conservatives have been long-time supporters of Ukraine. In fact, it was a Conservative government under Brian Mulroney that was almost the first country in the world to recognize an independent Ukraine on December 2, 1991. I think Poland beat us by about half an hour or 45 minutes to be the first, but we were certainly the first western country to recognize an independent Ukraine. We have a very large Ukrainian diaspora in Canada that significantly built the Canada we know today, which I know all Canadians are proud of.
It was a Conservative government that began the first negotiations of the current trade agreement that's in place. That was done under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Also, of course, it was under Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government that Operation Unifier began, which was a significant help to the Ukrainian military. In fact, some of that help, I'm sure, was helpful in the current conflict.
Everyone across both sides of Parliament supports Ukraine.
I do think, when I look at the trade agreement, there are some ways that the trade agreement could perhaps be improved.
As I was doing a bit of research before I came here today to the committee, it became apparent to me that Ukraine actually has very large natural gas deposits. I think they are the second-largest natural gas deposits in Europe. Now, from my research—and these numbers might not be completely accurate, because I did this research myself—1.87 trillion cubic metres of natural gas is the estimated amount of natural gas in Ukraine.
Developing that resource would do a lot. I think it could bring in great revenue for Ukraine, which needs revenue in a time of war. It could also perhaps be used to export natural gas to Europe, which would certainly cut off a lot of the funds from Vladimir Putin's war machine by taking the funding away from him and making it much harder for him to continue this illegal war in Ukraine.
When I look at the trade agreement itself, there are certainly chapters on investment, but there's no specific chapter in the trade agreement talking about bringing together great Canadian expertise in oil and gas development and helping to build that industry to use that resource in Ukraine.
Would you agree with me that either in this trade agreement or in a future trade agreement—another modernized trade agreement—having some form of detailed co-operation on the development of Ukrainian gas would be a benefit to Ukraine?