Bob Dechert

[Ukraine, February 26th, 2014]

Mr. Chair, just briefly, the idea of sanctions is something that is definitely worth considering.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs has indicated that all those options are on the table. The purpose of the sanctions that were suggested by the government about a week ago was to put pressure on the Yanukovych government to release political prisoners and to stop using violence against peaceful protestors in the Maidan.

The government has changed now, so I think what we have to do now is work with our international allies and partners to bring about a coordinated effort using the appropriate kinds of sanctions against the appropriate individuals to support Ukraine's transition to a new government and to a new, democratic, and brighter economic future.

[Ukraine, February 26th, 2014]

Mr. Chair, the member and I had the opportunity, as she pointed out, to travel to Ukraine with the parliamentary foreign affairs committee in May 2012.

Although we could not have predicted exactly how things would play out in Ukraine, I think we saw the seeds of what has happened in the last few months, while we were there. We saw the deterioration of rule of law. We saw the deterioration of press freedom. We saw manipulations with the democratic process. All of those things built pressure to bring down the Yanukovych government and bring the results we have seen in the last few days.

The member mentioned other organizations. We took the time while we were there to go to Kharkiv in the east and Lviv in the west. We met with members of civil society, non-governmental organizations. There are a number of those that Canada supports through the international development agency.

When I was parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, I had occasion to meet with a number of them. I was very encouraged to see that those same NGOs that were providing support for democracy in the parliamentary elections last year were also on the Maidan participating in a protest. Many of them are still there today, and some of them are actually even becoming members of the new transition government.

Canada has played a big role in supporting the development of democracy in Ukraine, and it will be able to continue to do so. I hope it will continue to do so in the future.

[Ukraine, February 26th, 2014]

Mr. Chair, when we last met in debate on this subject on January 27, I do not believe any of us could have imagined the events that would transpire over the ensuing weeks. I can only describe them as stunning in their ferocity and violence and in the swift outcome of recent days, with the fall of the Yanukovych regime and its replacement with a new transitional government.

I would also like to join with my colleague from Edmonton East in expressing sympathy and condolences to all the victims of violence in the protests on the Maidan and elsewhere in Ukraine. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those killed in those protests.

We all stand united here in support of the courageous peaceful protestors who stood up for democracy and are continuing to do so in Ukraine. We call on the relevant authorities to bring all those responsible for violence and death to justice as soon as possible. We support the Ukrainian people in their ongoing quest for democracy and human rights, including press freedom, and we were pleased to see the release of Yulia Tymoshenko and all political prisoners.

We look forward to new presidential elections now that Yanukovych and his government have been deposed, and we call on all nations, including all the neighbours of Ukraine, Russia included, to respect the borders of Ukraine and the self-determination of the Ukrainian people. We also call on President Putin to recognize the new transitional Ukrainian government. I would also like to suggest that we support the IMF and the international community in their efforts to assist Ukraine in stabilizing the Ukrainian economy. Members will know that Canada is a major contributor to the IMF.

Canada should and will support Ukrainian democracy by sending a large election observation mission to the new presidential election in May, and I am quite confident that we will get good advice from both CANADEM and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress on how that mission should be structured. The Ukrainian people must be allowed to choose their own economic and democratic future, and all nations, including Russia, must respect the democratic choices of the Ukrainian people.

Canada welcomes the presidential transition in Ukraine. We stand ready to support the efforts toward a stable, democratic, and united Ukraine. As Ukraine enters a phase of de-escalation and the transition faces many challenges and difficult times ahead, the situation remains extremely fragile.

In December 2012, I had the honour of attending the OSCE meeting in Dublin and learning about the OSCE and what it can do in supporting democracy and media freedom and other human rights throughout this region. Through its multidimensional approach to security that includes politico-military, economic, environmental, and human rights, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, or OSCE as it is commonly referred to, is one tool that can be used to assist Ukraine. This organization, which includes all the players involved in brokering the February 21 agreement, including France, Poland, Germany, and the Russian Federation as well as Ukraine, has invaluable experience in helping participating states successfully overcome political turmoil by building transparency and confidence.

Throughout the crisis, Canada's mission to the OSCE in Vienna delivered statements every week, calling on all sides to refrain from violence and to resolve the crisis through dialogue and political means and respect for human rights. Canada's ambassador to the OSCE also expressed support for the OSCE's involvement in defusing the situation and continuously encouraged the then Ukrainian government to accept the Swiss OSCE chair's offer of assistance. I would like to bring to the attention of all of my colleagues the role the OSCE can and should play in the stabilization of Ukraine over the next few weeks and months.

Having said that, I would like to say for all of my friends in Ukraine and the Ukrainian Canadian community here in Canada, Slava Ukraini. Slava Canada.

[The Budget, February 13th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, Canada's economic action plan 2014 includes many important measures that will benefit the people of Mississauga.

Since 2006, our government has been keeping Canada on the right path for economic growth. This includes lowering taxes in order to save the average Canadian family nearly $3,400 per year. We have also cut taxes for job-creating businesses, allowing them to hire more workers, and have opened up new markets for Canadian goods and services, most recently through the historic Canada–European Union trade agreement.

We are also introducing the Canada apprentice loan to provide interest-free student loans to apprentices, which will help young people in Mississauga benefit from the GTA construction boom.

Our government is investing an additional $500 million in the automotive innovation fund to ensure that Ontario and the GTA remain leaders in auto parts manufacturing and assembly.

Our government is providing an additional $46 million in support for advanced research and scientific discoveries at Canada's leading universities and colleges such as the University of Toronto Mississauga and Sheridan College.

This budget delivers for my constituents in Mississauga.

[Ukraine, January 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, what was going through my mind earlier when my colleague, the member for Mississauga East—Cooksville, spoke was that this was a man who actually knows what he is talking about. He lived under a repressive Communist regime in Poland, similar to the regime that people lived under in Ukraine during the Soviet times. He knows what it means to throw off the shackles of the old Soviet regime. There were always people in Ukraine and have been for decades, and I would say perhaps for centuries, trying to divide the Ukrainian people, but I reject this notion. The Ukrainian people are a distinct people. There is a distinct culture there. They have made great contributions throughout the centuries to the region and they deserve to stay together as one cohesive unit, not suffer the repression they have suffered in the past, and go forward, hopefully in a unified integrated way with Europe, with the opportunities that the people of Poland have had since their independence.

[Ukraine, January 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for his very good question.

In fact, as I mentioned in my speech, Canada has been working with many non-governmental organizations in Ukraine to support the democratic process, both during the last parliamentary elections and, really, over the last 20 years, to help build democratic institutions and information systems that would allow the Ukrainian people to have the knowledge they need to elect democratic governments and to know when their democratic rights are being infringed.

During the last parliamentary election process, a significant amount of money was provided to Ukrainians for their own information and election monitoring processes. We continue to work with those non-governmental organizations. I met with many of them when I visited Ukraine. I know that the Minister of Foreign Affairs met with many of them, as has our Ambassador of Religious Freedom.

Therefore, there is a very significant role that non-governmental organizations can play and we will be continuing to support them in this current fight for democratic peaceful protest rights in Ukraine, and in the future for the democratic process there.

[Ukraine, January 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague not only for his question but also the tremendous service he has given Canada and democracy in Ukraine by being a co-sponsor of the motion we are debating this evening.

As the member would know, I had the opportunity to go to Kharkiv on two occasions, once on my own and once with the foreign affairs committee, to try to meet with Mrs. Tymoshenko. Clearly her imprisonment is politically motivated and just an example of what the government of Yanukovych is willing to do to repress political freedom in that country.

Mrs. Tymoshenko should be released. We have demanded that she be released. Canada was at the forefront of sending a medical team to Kharkiv to examine her in the prison hospital to find out what her medical problems were and to ensure that she got the proper medical treatment. We demand that she be released as part of any political process going forward. It is absolutely necessary to restore faith in democracy and it would be a good sign if the government of Ukraine were to release her immediately.

[Ukraine, January 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the new member to the House. Had she been around in 2012, she would know about the leadership role that Canada took in sending its foreign affairs committee to Ukraine. We wrote a report that was widely distributed in Ukraine, Canada and around the world. We made some very strong statements in it.

Certainly we are not saying that we would rule out unilateral action, but at this point in time the best thing is to act in conjunction with others. When we bring all those forces together we will have maximum impact, and I believe that is what we will see happen. I am certainly looking forward to that and I know she is as well.

[Ukraine, January 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, targeted sanctions are definitely being considered. However, we need to make sure that whatever Canada does is consistent with what the European Union and the United States and other allies do. When we do these things together, they will have maximum impact.

Canada can certainly take a leading role and we are, which is why our minister is currently discussing these things with his counterparts. However, if we were to do it alone, I think the oligarchs, the members of the Yanukovych regime, might simply ignore it and say it is just one country and “what do we care about that”.

When we all do it together, stand together, and say that they will not be able to travel to Canada, the United States, England, France, that they cannot take their kids to Disney World this year, or go to the south of France to live in that sea-side villa they paid for with ill-gotten money they stole from the Ukrainian people, then they will start to take notice. That is why our minister is conferring with our allies. I believe there will be an announcement in the ensuing days and that the member will be quite happy with what he hears.

[Ukraine, January 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by saying dobry den to all my Ukrainian friends and Ukrainian Canadians who I know are watching this evening.

I stand here with a great sense of frustration. As my colleague the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development mentioned, we were all here in December debating this very same issue. I myself have made four visits to Ukraine on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Government of Canada in the last two years. I visited Kiev, Kharkiv, Lviv, Sambir, and many other places. Wherever I went, I saw the people of Ukraine striving for democracy, freedom, a chance at a better economic future, integration with Europe, and yet the government of President Yanukovych refuses to listen to the people of Ukraine.

We sent a 500-person election monitoring mission to the last parliamentary elections in Ukraine, and we found many problems there. Canada sent the largest international election observation mission. Whether the next presidential election is held this year or in 2015, Canada will again be sending a large international election observation mission. Canada cares about Ukraine.

We should be here tonight celebrating the success of Ukraine. We should be celebrating Ukrainian democracy. We should be celebrating Ukraine's integration with Europe. Instead, we are here to once again condemn this repressive government that wants to continually repress its people's right to freedom and democracy. It wants to repress the rule of law, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. It wants to hold back people's economic opportunities. In short, the Ukrainian government refuses to listen to the people it professes to govern and support.

I would like to begin by thanking all of the parties for agreeing to have this important emergency debate this evening. This is an issue that is near and dear to all of us in the House, given that Ukrainian Canadians have played such an instrumental role in building Canada.

More than 1.3 million Canadians have Ukrainian heritage. That number of people mixed among the total population of Canada, approximately 34 million Canadians, in my view makes Canada the most Ukrainian country in the world outside of Ukraine.

Whether we have Ukrainian heritage of our own or just have a good neighbour or friend of Ukrainian heritage, people all across Canada know the efforts Ukrainians have made for over 120 years to build this country. They are integrated in all levels of Canadian society. They are doctors, lawyers, athletes, musicians, and academics, and they are Canadians.

The first wave of Ukrainian immigrants to Canada came in, rode on a railway to the end of the line, were given a bag of seed and a shovel, and were told to walk another 100 miles, where they would find some land. Then they were to make it work. They opened up western Canada.

In my hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, they came to work in the steel industries and built those industries. The neighbourhood where I grew up in Hamilton was 50% Ukrainian. Every day I saw how they contributed to this great country.

A few years ago I had the distinct honour of practising law with the Right Hon. Ramon Hnatyshyn, former Governor General of Canada, who was the first Governor General of Canada of Ukrainian origin and who held many roles in this very House as a member of Parliament for many years and in many different ministerial portfolios.

As we know, Canada has a long and proud history of supporting democracy in Ukraine. It is appropriate that Canada is having this emergency debate tonight, because on December 2, 1991, Canada became the very first western country to recognize Ukraine's independence. Ever since that day, Canada has had a strong connection with Ukraine. That recognition was initiated by former prime minister Mulroney.

In 2004, Canadians across this country watched their television sets as Ukrainians came together in that very same Maidan, asking for freedom in the Orange Revolution.

We were all glued to our TV sets to hear of the latest developments, and we were encouraged to see the outpouring of democracy in Ukraine. Unfortunately, things have taken a turn for the worse in recent years.

We implore the Ukrainian government to protect their people's right to peaceful, democratic protest and free speech. With tonight's emergency debate, we have the opportunity to send a strong message back to Ukraine and back to President Yanukovych and his regime.

Today Ukrainians in the Maidan and across Ukraine are rejecting their Soviet past and instead embracing western ideals of freedom, democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and balanced justice. That is what the people of Ukraine are saying with the recent protests. They are fighting for a better future. They are fighting for hope.

Canada's position has been clear. We are deeply disappointed with the Ukrainian government's reaction to these peaceful protests. The new laws passed by President Viktor Yanukovych give the Ukrainian government, police, and security services harsh new powers that severely limit individual rights and freedoms. Our government believes that this is fundamentally inconsistent with democratic practice and of grave concern to all those who are committed to a free and democratic Ukraine.

While in Kiev just this past December, our Minister of Foreign Affairs met with his Ukrainian counterpart, Minister Kozhara, to express Canada's grave concerns about the Ukrainian government's crackdown on mass protests. Our minister also expressed to Minister Kozhara Canada's expectation of the Ukrainian government to carry out an independent inquiry into the killings.

As a Canadian and a parliamentarian, I was proud to see our Minister of Foreign Affairs in Kiev defending the values we all hold dear. This was mentioned a few minutes ago in debate. Our minister, the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, went to the Maidan, to Independence Square in Kiev, to stand with those protesters. I do not believe any other foreign minister in the world has done that.

Other members of this House, such as the member for Etobicoke Centre, were also there in December, standing shoulder to shoulder with the freedom-loving protesters in the Maidan and asking for a better future for all Ukrainians. At the same time, there were those in the opposition who were criticizing the Minister of Foreign Affairs for being there, suggesting that perhaps he should not be at a protest, because that would indicate that Canada was taking one side over the other. I think it was the right thing to do and I think most Canadians think it was the right thing to do.

Our government has been engaged on this file, and we will continue to be. We urge the Ukrainian government to find a political solution by engaging in a real dialogue. We urge all Ukrainians to avoid violence. Continued violence will further undermine democracy and freedom in Ukraine and bring serious consequences.

We will review and consider all possible options, together with our international partners. Our Minister of Foreign Affairs Is meeting with the European Union foreign minister, the Hon. Catherine Ashton, and with other foreign ministers from the United States and from our other allies around the world so that we can collectively speak with a strong voice to condemn these actions in Ukraine and hopefully bring about some changes in Ukraine that will ensure freedom of protest and democracy and freedom of speech for the people of Ukraine. We will stand with the Ukrainian people, who courageously continue to speak out in support of democracy.

When we are discussing the current situation in Ukraine, I think it is also important to address the issue of religious freedom. I was pleased to see that Canada's ambassador for religious freedom, the Hon. Andrew Bennett, was just in Ukraine over this past weekend in order to raise Canada's concerns regarding the oppression of religious freedom and the attacks by the Yanukovych regime on the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The last time we saw such repression was under Joseph Stalin, and no one wants to see Ukraine return to those days.

While in Kiev, Ambassador Bennett met with various clergy, including His Beatitude Patriarch Sviatoslav of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and Patriarch Filaret of the Orthodox Church. I would like to note that instead of suppressing the voices of religious groups, Ukraine should be embracing the important role that can be played by clergy and faith-based organizations in encouraging dialogue among all parties.

As history has shown us, the suppression of religious freedom is often a predictor for the abuse of other fundamental human rights. Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion are important principles of any truly democratic country. Canada has shown that we are committed to advancing democracy in Ukraine, and despite Ukraine's recent tilt toward Russia, our government remains committed to long-term democratic development there. In fact, in 2012 Canada fielded its largest-ever international electoral observation mission by sending 500 Canadians to Ukraine.

Overall, Canada provided $11.4 million in support of the 2012 election process, particularly through Mission Canada, but also through support to Ukrainian civil society organizations that mobilized thousands of young volunteers to conduct their own election monitoring and public awareness campaigns.

Canada understands that a functioning and growing democracy needs active informed citizens, a free press, well functioning public institutions and the rule of law. Over the last 20-plus years, Canada has made an investment of approximately half a billion dollars in the development of democracy in Ukraine. That is because the people of Canada care about Ukraine. They want to see their friends and relatives, their brothers and sisters, the relatives of those who gave so much to our country have the same freedoms and opportunities for prosperity that we have here in Canada.

Canadian development assistance to Ukraine has always reflected this and will continue to do so. Despite Canada's ongoing contributions and those from many other countries wanting and working for a more free and democratic Ukraine, recent events demonstrate that a democratic deficit still exists.

Earlier this evening mention was made of the report by the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development to the House on the situation in Ukraine. That happened in May 2012. I was a member of that delegation, as was my colleague, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development, and many other members of the House.

We visited Kharkiv, Kiev, Lviv and Sambir. We met with people from all walks of life in Ukraine, ranging from members of parliament, members of the government, and members of the opposition to academics and people in the media. We found that there were many problems that needed to be addressed in Ukraine. We submitted the report to the House and it is very instructive. I would encourage all members of the House to read that report, because there are issues going on in Ukraine that started quite a few years ago and continue. We have seen them get worse and worse these last few months in Maidan and other places across Ukraine.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you for granting us the ability to discuss the situation in Ukraine this evening. It is important for us to send a message that Canada and the world is watching. Canada is deeply troubled by the anti-democratic trends emerging in Ukraine. On that I will say that I have read quotes today by opposition leaders in Ukraine who know that this debate is taking place tonight in the Canadian Parliament. They are watching. Tomorrow the Verkhovna Rada will be meeting in Kiev. They will be debating these issues. I hope that these comments they are hearing tonight from us will give them courage to stand up for democratic principles and freedoms in Ukraine.

Canada is deeply troubled by these anti-democratic trends emerging in Ukraine, and our Prime Minister and our Conservative government will continue to stand with those Ukrainians who believe in freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

Slava Ukraine! Slava Canada!