Debates of Feb. 28th, 2022

Russia's Attack on Ukraine

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Chair, to hear the member talk about Canada's energy, one would think that the Canadian government is in a position to decide whom we export to and whom we import from. In fact, the free market in energy means that the government does not make those decisions.

I wonder, when the member talks about a more strategic approach to Canada's energy sector, if he means actually having some direction from government about whom Canadian oil producers sell to and whom Canadian consumers buy from.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Mr. Chair, our energy is vital not just to our economic interests and not just to our security interests, but to our environmental interests. The single thing that the world could do in the next decade to meet our Paris targets and to reduce global emissions is to replace coal-fired electricity generation with natural gas-fired electricity generation. It is the single biggest step we can take to reduce global emissions.

European countries, many of them in western Europe, still rely on coal and gas to fire their electricity plants. We should be working to replace that with natural gas, a more environmentally friendly way to produce electricity in the transition to a renewable, non-emitting future.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Chair, I rise in the House this evening to add my voice to those of millions around the world who now see just how dangerous Vladimir Putin is.

I spent years in the Canadian Forces learning the structure of the Warsaw pact by heart, studying and memorizing Soviet tactics, learning to recognize vehicles, such as T-80s, BRDM-1s and BMPs, and various types of aircraft. I can say for sure that one thing I hoped for all those years was to never come up against the red army.

In the 2000s, international terrorism became the enemy. All the while, Vladimir Putin was getting ready.

I would like to start with a quote from Steve Rosenberg, the BBC's Moscow correspondent who said, “Many times I’ve thought: 'Putin would never do this.' Then he does it. 'He’d never annex Crimea.' He did. 'He’d never intervene in the Donbas.' He did. 'He’d never launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.' He has.”

He added that he has concluded that the phrase “would never do” does not apply to Vladimir Putin, and that raises an uncomfortable question: He would never press the nuclear button first, would he? This is not a theoretical question. Putin has just put his country's nuclear forces on special alert, complaining of “aggressive statements” about Ukraine by NATO members.

It is not playing petty politics or partisan political games to be worried about this situation. Now more than ever, we need to come together as a country to ensure that Canada plays its part with its allies. Canada is not and never has been a military superpower, but we can still exert influence to pressure Putin to back down and withdraw from Ukraine.

In the short term, we can and should declare the Russian ambassador to Canada, Oleg Stepanov, persona non grata and expel him from Canada. We should recall Canada's Ambassador LeClaire from Moscow and bring her home. Canada should isolate Russia internationally by seeking to remove it from organizations such as the G20 and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Canada should also implement a visa-free travel system between Ukraine and Canada.

Vladimir Putin is a dangerous man. He has long shown us that he is ready to do anything to hold onto and increase his power. After all, early in his career, he worked as a KGB officer for 16 years. It is not for nothing that every one of his critics dies under suspicious circumstances.

In the long term, Canada can truly be a superpower in our own way to our friends in Europe. For example, we must build new pipelines that reach the east coast to replace Russian natural gas. Russia provides 40% of Europe's natural gas and uses that to intimidate Europe and Ukraine, by threatening to cut off the supply. If that supply is cut off, people will freeze, European industry will cease to function and Europe's GDP will collapse. Now that the Russians have invaded Ukraine, the Liberal government may finally acknowledge that Canadian oil and gas are essential to the security of Canada and Europe. Let us open our eyes to that reality.

It is also time to take Canada's Arctic security and sovereignty seriously. Russia shares the waters to the northwest of Canada. We can no longer allow ourselves to take our peace and security for granted. The government must propose a solid plan for the Arctic that will help modernize NORAD's early warning system, improve the ailing military procurement system, speed up the national shipbuilding program, buy F-35 fighter jets, and work in close collaboration with the Scandinavian countries and the United States to ensure peace and security in the Arctic.

In closing, we must equip the Canadian Forces to a professional level with equipment worthy of the 2020s. Let us build our capabilities so we can be proud and effective.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague for his speech. I would like to hear his thoughts on a very specific question.

All day, the Conservatives have been saying that we need to build pipelines to supply Germany and other countries, as a way to sanction Russia. We all hope that the war will be over very soon.

Once peace talks start, will my colleague call for an end to construction on pipelines that are not yet finished?

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Chair, I see where my colleague is going. I think we need to open our eyes to what is going on in Europe and Russia. The Russian threat was there before, but people were reluctant to really acknowledge it. We see it now.

Canada has natural resources. Yes, we must combat climate change, but in the coming years, we will still need natural gas, a resource that happens to be much cleaner than coal-fired plants.

Europe would benefit from more Canadian natural gas to replace coal. That benefits everyone and the planet. We, and especially Europe, must cut ties with Russia. This would benefit Canada economically and would help Europe.

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Chair, I presume the member opposite would share my view that we have all been quite amazed and share admiration for the courage and strength of the Ukrainian people and for the leadership of their president, President Zelensky. When offered an exit strategy out of Ukraine, he responded, “I need ammunition, not a ride”. That was his response to the Americans. That was President Zelensky.

In response to that kind of plea, what we have seen on the side of the Canadian government is that it provided defensive equipment and lethal armaments of $7.8 million, and just today the minister announced that 100 anti-tank weapons and 2,000 rockets were being provided.

I know the member opposite is a defence critic and very knowledgeable on this file. Can he comment on what that kind of lethal aid provision represents as a precedent for Canada and how it bodes for Canadian future military policy in aid of our allies around the world fighting against bold-faced aggressors engaging in unlawful acts, such as Vladimir Putin?

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Chair, I do know a little about this because I have operated various anti-tank weapons, among others.

I would like to remind my colleague that the Conservative Party has been asking for several months that Canada provide weapons to Ukraine. Before the invasion, people were too scared to say the words “lethal weapon”. However, now that Ukraine is under direct attack by Russia, no one is afraid to use these words.

At a bare minimum, Canada could have helped Ukraine by providing anti-tank weapons, C7 rifles, C6 and C9 machine guns, sniper rifles and ammunition. That is all that is needed to wage war. The Conservative Party has been saying for a long time that Canada must support Ukraine by sending it the weapons that we have available. I am pleased that we are doing so. We must continue to do so and to provide what we can.

We must also think of the Canadian Armed Forces, which have an urgent need for equipment here at home to defend our country if required.

[Blake Desjarlais, NDP, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Mr. Chair, I spoke to some of my constituents recently on Thursday and Friday. Many of them were concerned with IRCC in light of the crisis. We have said that while prioritizing permanent residency applications and travel documents for Ukraine is a necessary measure, the Liberals must not repeat the mistakes that were made with the Afghanistan humanitarian crisis. They must ensure this work is done properly with new staffing, resources and immigration levels so that the existing significant backlog for all streams within IRCC is not further impacted.

Does the member agree that the government should be allocating new resources to IRCC in order to process these new applications?

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Chair, that is actually a major and recurring problem at the Department of Citizenship and Immigration. The government wanted to bring 40,000 Afghan refugees to Canada, but it barely managed to bring 5,000 to 6,000. We have just learned that the Taliban has decided that no one else will be leaving Afghanistan. It is impossible.

It will now take resources and, above all, a sense of urgency. Everyone in the House of Commons has this sense of urgency. Therefore, I am asking the government to instill this sense of urgency in the public service so that everyone will work more quickly and react like the people in Europe are doing in wartime. Our contribution to the war effort is to help as many as people as possible by picking up the pace.

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Chair, I will be sharing my time with my good friend, the member for Ottawa West—Nepean.

I rise tonight with a heavy heart for the Ukrainian people whose nation has been invaded by a savage dictator and for all those who value democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

Like all my colleagues in the chamber, I am seeing the images coming out of Ukraine. I am watching missiles explode, and Russian tanks and soldiers swarm over places I know and communities of people I have met.

I was an election observer in 2004 stationed in the Luhansk region of Ukraine, only 60 kilometres from the Russian border. This was the first round of the Ukrainian presidential election, rife with interference from Putin and the Russian state, which eventually led to Ukrainians rising up in the Orange Revolution and the election of Viktor Yushchenko in the final round of voting.

I saw first-hand the massive police presence around polling stations and the indisputable evidence of election fraud. I also experienced the kindness of local Ukrainian citizens at the polling stations I visited, and I witnessed their belief that they were participating in an important moment in their country's history.

Years later, Putin began waging a covert war in the same region of Luhansk, as well as in the Donbass, costing the lives of 17,000 Ukrainians. Since that time as an election observer, I have travelled to cities like Zaporizhzhia and Kherson on missions to help Ukraine strengthen its health care systems, where tanks now roll over the black soil of the countryside, which reminds me so much of my home province of Manitoba.

I have spent time in the beautiful capital of Kyiv on that iconic square known at the Maidan in the aftermath of the revolution of dignity, which cost so many Ukrainian youths their lives. My mother's family have their roots in the Lviv region, where young people in their late teens and twenties are now brandishing firearms to fight for their homeland. Like so many in the House today, I am heartbroken about what those families and friends are going through, huddled in basements or subways, fleeing the country, or taking up arms to defend their homeland.

Ukrainians have been fighting Russian aggression for centuries. They have been through some of the darkest times in history. Yes, there will be dark days ahead. However, what I know is that the Ukrainian people have an indomitable spirit, an undying love for their country, their culture and their freedom. They have always prevailed and will prevail again.

Let us be clear. Vladimir Putin's latest act of war on a sovereign nation is not only an attack on Ukraine, but an assault on the rules-based order that has kept global scale conflict at bay for 80 years. It is an attack on democracy itself here in Canada and around the world, and so we must take a stand.

We, with our allies, are indeed taking a stand. Vladimir Putin strives to divide NATO, but he has, in fact, given NATO a renewed sense of purpose and of unity. With the voices of nationalism and populism so loud around the world these days, it may seem that there are few who are willing to defend liberal democracy with their whole hearts, but the people of Ukraine are showing us all that those values of freedom and an open society are worth fighting and even dying for.

The question for us here today is: What will we do to help them? The government has taken strong measures to help Ukraine in concert with our allies and NATO partners. Our government authorized the provision of lethal weapons, which arrived in full and on time, and more are coming. Humanitarian assistance and support for refugees is on its way. As of yesterday, Canada's airspace is closed to all Russian aircraft operators. Alongside our allies, we have announced three sets of severe and coordinated sanctions on Russia and Belarus.

We will continue to impose severe, coordinated economic sanctions, as we call on Russia to reverse course, withdraw its forces and choose diplomacy. Our resolve to uphold the rules-based international order and to support the security of Ukraine, Europe and the world is unwavering.

I wish to end with these words from Mahatma Gandhi. He said:

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it... always.

Slava Ukraini. Heroyam slava.

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

Mr. Chair, many stakeholders have called for the expulsion of the Russian ambassador from Canada. I am wondering if the hon. member could give us his thoughts on that measure.

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Winnipeg South, MB]

Mr. Chair, I heard a number of ministers say today that all options are on the table.

Sometimes, we need to talk to our enemies. I know that is a measure our foreign affairs minister will consider carefully. I trust her judgment to make the right decision.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague for his speech. I would like him to tell us about the humanitarian aspect of this war.

From the bits of information we have been getting, we know that the Ukrainian people are holding the line and protecting their cities thanks to their extraordinary courage and amazing ability to mobilize.

Those cities are currently under siege, however, which raises the spectre of a humanitarian crisis. I would like to know how the government plans to get help to people on the ground. Can it work with the Red Cross, perhaps?

At this point, I would like to ask if the government is planning to raise the $10‑million cap for matching donations to the Red Cross.

My priority is really the humanitarian crisis in the cities. What is the government planning to do about that?

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Winnipeg South, MB]

Mr. Chair, as the member mentioned, our Minister of International Development made an announcement that Canada would match up to $10 million of humanitarian aid. I think he also heard, and we are going to hear from the parliamentary secretary shortly, that he was open to increasing that amount.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress, through the Canada-Ukraine Foundation has issued an appeal. We are all working in our communities to raise money for Ukraine.

While I have the floor, I want to say that I was at a rally in Winnipeg with 5,000 Winnipeggers, Ukrainian Canadians and non-Ukrainian Canadians, standing up for Ukraine, all pledging to help Ukraine on the humanitarian side, on the military side and on the sanction side.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Chair, I want to thank the member for his speech and for standing in solidarity with the courageous people of Ukraine as they fight for their freedom and for democracy.

I asked about visa-free access before, and I did not get a clear answer from the government, so I will ask again. Ukrainians do not require visas to travel to 141 countries, including most European countries. The NDP has been calling for visa-free access for Ukrainians for the past four years. Does the member agree that Canada should offer visa-free travel to Ukrainians? What does the member think is behind the government's hesitancy to offer this to the people of Ukraine?

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Winnipeg South, MB]

Mr. Chair, I want to thank the member for Victoria, who I serve on the environment committee with, for standing with Ukraine.

We heard the immigration minister stand up in the chamber today and again say that a number of these things are under consideration. We should do everything in our power to help people in danger make it to our shores. We have 180,000 people of Ukrainian extraction and ancestry in the community of Winnipeg. I know that we can welcome them with open arms. Here, they could be in touch with their culture, their language and their religion, and they would find a safe home in Winnipeg.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development]

Mr. Chair, it is with sadness, alarm and great resolve that I stand in the House today to speak at a moment in history when our words and actions will have great impact. I had hoped to never be in a position to speak about war in the chamber, but in the face of open aggression by Putin's Russia, which is undermining decades of peace brought about the post-World War II international rules-based order, Canada must do everything in its power to stop this.

The Russian attack on Ukraine is also an attack on democracy, international law, human rights and freedom. These actions will not go unpunished. We continue to support Ukraine.

We have all been watching heart-wrenching scenes of civilians being targeted and killed, fleeing their homes, taking refuge in subway tunnels and stepping up bravely to fight for their country and for freedom in Ukraine. These are scenes we hoped we would never again see in Europe. We have heard interviews with Ukrainian civilians who have expressed a sense of shock and disbelief that something like this could happen in Europe in 2022 and that it could happen in full view of the world. Most of them, like us, grew up in a generation that has never known war. It seems unthinkable to them, but the unthinkable has become reality.

Before entering politics, I worked in the former Yugoslavia. When I was 29 years old, I spent a year in Bosnia and Herzegovina, just a few years after the Dayton peace accords. I grew up like most Canadians, thinking of war as something that happened to our grandparents and that could never happen to us. I took peace, democracy and freedom for granted.

While working in Sarajevo, it was my peers, my friends who were then in their twenties, who had been at the front line. Eventually, my colleagues and friends started opening up to me about their experiences. They were women who had been raped, who had watched their fathers and brothers taken away at gunpoint and then shot and left in mass graves. They were young people who would go out for bread and be shot by snipers. They told me of atrocities that I cannot repeat in the House.

At the age of 29, I stopped being sheltered by a false sense that war is something of another time and another place. I lost my sense of innocence about what humanity is capable of doing to one another and the comfort that comes from a veneer of civilization, which I came to know is incredibly thin. My friends in Sarajevo were European students. They never imagined that they would see war. In fact, they told me that when they marched in the streets and their own army, the Yugoslav national army, took aim and started shooting at them. They did not run because they did not believe it was really happening. I am seeing the same incredulity on the faces of Ukrainians today.

We cannot abandon them because peace is not inevitable. Peace takes constant vigilance and sometimes peace means fighting to stop war crimes and aggression and horrors from spreading. If we let it happen in Ukraine, what does the world do when Russia comes for our north, or when other dictators learn lessons from Ukraine? We cannot allow the unthinkable to happen just because we cannot imagine it. We must do everything to stop it right here, right now.

From the beginning, the Canadian government has stood resolutely with Ukraine. We have responded with all the tools at our disposal, through diplomacy, leadership, the UN and our allies, and through sanctions targeting Putin and his inner circle, the oligarchs, Russian banks and the SWIFT financial system. We are cancelling all export permits to Russia, banning imports of Russian crude oil, offering over $620 million in sovereign loans to Ukraine, renewing and expanding the Canadian Armed Forces support to NATO through Operation Reassurance and Op Unifier, delivering lethal and non-lethal aid to civilians displaced and harmed in this illegal war, closing Canadian airspace to Russia and expediting immigration avenues for Ukrainians to settle here in Canada.

Today Ukrainians are not just fighting for their freedom, they are fighting for the freedom of all of us. We will not allow Putin and his thugs to dismantle the peace and prosperity that democracy has brought to the world. We will not waver. We will stand with Ukraine.

Slava Ukraini.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Mr. Chair, I have been hearing from some constituents, including one who actually just passed through one of the border crossings from Ukraine into Poland, and one of the things he mentioned to me was the lack of supplies and necessities to support people at the border, such as blankets in the cold elements. Many of the individuals fleeing are women and children.

I am wondering if the hon. member would like to comment on some of the humanitarian aid that we could provide and if she would be in favour of increasing that support.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Mr. Chair, I agree 100% with my colleague. We have already created the matching fund with the Canadian Red Cross of $10 million. That is just a start. We have already provided $35 million in development aid and another $15 million in humanitarian aid. We are working with other countries, not just for Canada to step up further but for other countries to also step up. We are taking a leadership role and I know that the hon. member will hear more in the coming days.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Mr. Chair, the previous speaker, my colleague, asked why Canada does not provide visa-free travel for Ukrainians when we have the largest Ukrainian diaspora in the world and 141 other countries offer that.

Will the government automatically extend the visas of Ukrainians who are here in Canada now, whether they be student or work visas, so that they are not forced to go back to Ukraine at this time?

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Mr. Chair, yes, we are extending visas for those Ukrainians who are here in Canada on temporary visas. We are expediting all immigration visas. We are creating corridors for Canadians, for permanent residents and their families to be able to come here. I thank the hon. member for his advocacy because these are incredibly important moments to be able to bring as many people as we can to safety, and for those who are already in Canada to not have the stress of worrying that they are going to have to return home.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague for her speech.

We know Canada and its allies have shut Russian banks out of the SWIFT network. However, some banks have yet to be removed from the system.

What is the government's plan to remove all Russian banks from the SWIFT system?

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Mr. Chair, we have been working in very close coordination with our allies and with like-minded countries to make sure we are standing united in making sure that Putin, the oligarchs and the banking system will be completely isolated in the world. We heard the Prime Minister very clearly say that we want to remove Russia from the SWIFT system. We have a number of other measures, and we are working very closely with other countries and with our European counterparts to make sure that there is not impunity for what is happening right now in Ukraine.

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, I would like to thank the member for her remarks but also for her advocacy and her work, particularly in her parliamentary secretary role.

Could she speak to and summarize for the folks watching at home what some of the key things are that Canada has done from a humanitarian perspective and what still needs to be focused on in the days and weeks to come?

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Mr. Chair, I want to thank the member for Etobicoke Centre for his incredible advocacy on this and for his untiring and unwavering work in this area.

I would like to assure the member that in addition to what I mentioned previously, the $10-million matching fund, which I encourage all Canadians to take advantage of, and the $50 million we recently announced, which is in addition to over $240 million we provided in previous years, we are working globally. We are working with our counterparts to make sure that we are providing more humanitarian aid and that other countries are stepping up as well.