Although support for Ukraine and Ukraine's defence remains robust among Canadians, there are warning signs that there is a small but vocal minority here in Canada that wants Russia to win. This is unfortunate, but it is the reality. In order to fight against it, we must all make the case more forcefully that the least costly way to defend our own country is to provide Ukraine with the weapons and economic aid it needs to win.
In April, when we were last here, we appeared alongside Ambassador Kerry Buck, who stated at the time, “We aren't keeping up our end of the NATO defence spending bargain...and we need to do more.” This remains true today.
The global supply chain of weaponry that's accessible to democratic nations is woefully low. We must produce more in Canada and provide manufacturers with long-term commitments to enable them to do so. We must remember that Ukraine will need to defend itself even after it wins the war. We must also encourage our NATO allies to do the same. We must help the Ukrainians, through partnerships and joint ventures, to produce their own weapons. We need to do more to deliver the equipment the Ukrainians desperately need, and we need to do it more quickly.
We echo President Zelenskyy's words from yesterday: “Ukraine will fight, Ukraine will stand. I’m confident that freedom must always prevail when challenged.”
In April we made three main policy recommendations that we asked this committee to support. These were, first, to substantially increase the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine; second, to work with allies to increase the provision of fighter aircraft to Ukraine; and third, to contract with the defence industry to substantially increase production and procurement of armaments and materiel.
These recommendations remain our key asks of this committee today.
Thank you.