Ted Opitz

[Situation in Ukraine, January 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member mentioned the Canada-Ukraine Friendship Group. I am the chair. He may have noticed that this is an emergency debate that my colleague from Selkirk—Interlake co-sponsored with me this evening. In fact, being the vice-chair of the Canada-Ukraine Friendship Group, he has spoken this evening. The other vice-chair, the member for Parkdale—High Park, has spoken this evening. Other members of the Canada-Ukraine Friendship Group have also spoken this evening.

I would remind the member that the Ukrainian community will be having a very large gathering outside the House of Commons on Wednesday at noon, and I would expect the hon. member to be there to address that crowd and to take his position as the vice-chair of the Canada-Ukraine Friendship Group.

I would also like to remind the member that in the past, the third party has had a very poor record on defending human rights when it came to the Soviet Union, Cuba, China, and other places. Our government has stood up for them.

The Prime Minister has made very strong statements about what is going on in Ukraine. The foreign affairs minister has been there himself. He has walked the Maidan. I twice walked the Maidan in December when I was there. My former CUPP interns took me on a very intimate tour of the Maidan.

We are working intimately with our allies, because that is what a responsible government does. That is what a responsible country does. It coordinates. It is precise. By being imprecise, by going it alone, as the member would like to say, we could miss something, and the people who are harmed at the end of the day are going to be the little people in Ukraine. It is the ordinary people that would pay the price for an imprecise response from this government.

The member is, quite frankly, mistaken about the course of action he is recommending. This government is working very diligently. We stand with the people of Ukraine. We stand with the opposition, and we are going to fight very hard to help Ukrainians aspire to the freedom, democracy, human rights, justice, and economic options that country desires for itself.

[Situation in Ukraine, January 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, all of us have attended these rallies when it was exceptionally cold. That speaks to the dedication and resolve of not only the people in the Maidan, but the people of the Ukrainian-Canadian diaspora, who are willing to endure anything to make sure that order, peace, democracy, good governance and opportunity is restored to Ukraine. Our government, from the Prime Minister on down, is heavily engaged in examining all options.

I would ask the hon. member this. Given the context of the member's remarks, what benefit does he believe farmers and producers in the Ukraine would realize from a closer integration with the European Union?

[Situation in Ukraine, January 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question and, again, for his engagement in this issue, which is very important to the Ukrainian community in Canada.

As I said, we are, and have been for quite some time now, deeply involved with our allies to coordinate all of our efforts to ensure that precise measures are applied.

Also, a lot has happened in two months. Absolutely. In fact, as late as today, as I have just pointed out, there is dialogue happening between the government and the opposition forces. There is dialogue happening with the UN Secretary-General, who has offered himself as mediator. There is dialogue happening with the EU, with Baroness Ashton, now interacting with Mr. Yanukovych and his government.

A lot of that has to do with the pressure that we laid on, including the very pointed discussion that the Minister of Foreign Affairs has had with his counterpart in Ukraine , as well from having called in the Ukrainian ambassador and expressing Canada's outrage to him about what is occurring in Ukraine.

[Situation in Ukraine, January 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his support for the debate this evening. I think all members of the House are consumed with this. We all have constituents who are very concerned about what is going in Ukraine.

In responding to the hon. member, as I said in my remarks, our government is working very closely with all of our allies, the Americans, the EU, and others concerned in this regard.

In terms of targeted sanctions, they are definitely an option that is being considered, in accordance and in concert with our allies.

However, as I also said, it is crucial that when and if any of those options, including sanctions, are applied that they be applied with precision, so that the leadership and those being targeted are the ones affected and not innocent Ukrainian people.

[Situation in Ukraine, January 27th, 2014]

moved:

That the House do now adjourn.

Mr. Speaker, thank you for allowing this very important debate this evening. It is of urgency, not only and specifically to the Ukrainian people but also to the very strong, committed Ukrainian diaspora here in Canada.

Our government is very engaged in closely monitoring what is happening in Ukraine. We are consulting with our allies intimately in weighing all options, including sanctions. However, we need to be precise in our actions. That is the most important thing, because if we are not precise, ordinary Ukrainians will potentially be hurt by what we and other governments and our allies do.

I thank the Prime Minister for supporting this emergency debate. He said recently that Canada stands with the Ukrainian people during this difficult time and will continue to forcefully oppose all efforts to repress their rights and freedoms. In fact, our Minister of Foreign Affairs went to Maidan himself last month as well as speaking to his counterpart in Ukraine, expressing Canada's outrage about what is going on in Ukraine today, the killing, the intimidation of religious groups, the repealing of human rights and the Orwellian imposition of draconian laws.

I also had the opportunity to be in Ukraine in December, where I was observing the re-run elections and where I also had the opportunity to walk to Maidan on two different occasions. It was a tremendous opportunity to see how peaceful the protesters were, how well organized they were, and what their goals were in relation to the Ukrainian people.

This is a peaceful group of people who just want to reach out to their government and express the will of the majority of Ukrainians, that they would like to have closer association with the EU, a closer association with Europe. All they are asking for is the ability to choose their own fate, but what has often happened in Ukraine and is happening right now is the insidious creep of tyranny. This is something that concerns me, because we have seen it among repressive and authoritarian governments in other places in the world in the past. Ukraine has endured a bad time.

Mr. Speaker, I am splitting my time with the member for Selkirk—Interlake.

The people of Ukraine would like to be able to move in that direction, but these draconian laws are stifling human rights. Following peaceful demonstrations the state is now applying violence where numbers of people, somewhere between seven and ten key leaders of the opposition movement, have turned up dead with evidence of torture on their bodies.

We have seen all over YouTube the videos of protesters being stripped, humiliated, beaten, shot with rubber bullets. We have seen journalists particularly targeted by rubber bullets to the head. This is an effort to stifle communications and opposition groups' ability to coordinate across the country. This is absolutely horrific, something that we cannot possibly fathom.

We saw the case of Tetyana Chornovil, someone who was run off the road, beaten senseless until she was believed to be dead and then abandoned. Fortunately, she survived the attack to tell her tale, and of course there is evidence from the webcam she had in her car. People have been arrested in connection with that. This situation is dramatic and ongoing, and we must fight tooth and nail against it and stand with the people of Ukraine, who only desire peace, freedom and democracy, just as any family in Canada would like. They want some prosperity and the ability to have a future, hope and options in their country.

That is what the EU provides. The EU provides options. It is not one or the other. It is something that is being imposed by external factors.

We in Canada have the NAFTA agreement and CETA. We have trade negotiations going on with other nations, and that is only healthy. It provides our nation with job building and economic opportunity and options that help not only to grow our own economy but also the economies of the other nations that we have agreements with. That is all the Ukrainians are asking for. It should not be one or the other, but the situation is being artificially and externally applied to them.

In fact, we recently saw Russia drop the price of Ukrainian gas dramatically. I said in our take note debate on December 10 that with one word from Mr. Putin the price of gas would drop, and lo and behold a week later it was dropped. That may not have been anything I said but it is definitely curious to me that it happened very quickly. As well Russia propped up Ukraine with the promise of $15 billion for its bonds. This is artificially applied pressure and something that unfortunately has led to a very serious and deteriorating situation in Ukraine, where protestors are now lying dead because live ammunition has been used against them.

There is also the issue of the repression of religious freedom. We have done something concrete. The Minister of Foreign Affairs dispatched our Ambassador for Religious Freedom, Andrew Bennett, to Ukraine over the weekend for him to investigate. The ambassador has reported back that a tremendous amount of oppression is going on.

This is a very dangerous precedent. The minister of culture in Ukraine has threatened the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church with dissolution. The last time that happened was in the 1940s when Joseph Stalin also threatened it with dissolution. This is harking back to very dark days that we thought we had moved past in Ukraine. Ukrainians do not deserve the kind of authoritarian template that is being imposed on them today, after two decades of seeking to improve their economy, to strengthen their democracy and to open up their economic options so that all people of Ukraine can benefit from that.

There is a set of elites in Ukraine dictating policy for their own selfish interests. They are subordinating the will and the prosperity of their fellow Ukrainian citizens to their own selfish interests. They are very few in number in Ukraine. This is a dangerous precedent because this will become a regime and then the benefits for a few will always outweigh the benefits for the majority. That cannot happen. Canada must stand with the Ukrainian people. We support their drive for freedom and democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and balanced justice and gender equality.

Ukrainians are not asking for much. They are just asking for the same things that we enjoy here in this country and that any western democracy enshrines in its own codes. This is something that the Ukrainian people now deserve and it is something that we have to help them achieve.

We will always condemn the horrible use of violence against the protestors in Ukraine.

We also note the crucial role played by the clergy and the faithful in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church and other religious leaders with whom we are encouraging dialogue.

We have a lot of work to do, but this is not all bad. A lot of the pressure that we are putting on Ukraine and its leaders right now has had some positive results. Tomorrow, Baroness Catherine Ashton will be working with Ukraine to bring forward a plan. Right now, the government is working with opposition members and is crafting a plan.

All of that is positive. However, we have yet to see the proof in all of this. We remain somewhat skeptical but optimistic. However, this government will retain its pressure on Ukrainian leaders. We will remain vocal. We will remain committed to the people of Ukraine. We will stand side by side with them until they achieve their goals of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

[Request for Emergency Debate, January 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, in accordance with the letter I filed with you, it is important that the House of Commons express itself on this grave matter in Ukraine and demonstrate that all the people of Canada, including the Ukrainian-Canadian community, are outraged by the tragic events in the Ukraine. This chamber has one great ability, and that is to speak out.

Since the House last debated the protests that were taking place in Ukraine in December, the Ukrainian government has imposed martial law and is using lethal force to quash freedoms, violate human rights, and suspend the civil liberties of the people of Ukraine.

For those reasons, and for those that I have outlined to you in my letter, I urge you to authorize an emergency debate on this topic.

[Ukraine, January 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the situation in the Ukraine is grave, and the slow, insidious creep of tyranny is evident. The elite few subordinate the future of Ukraine for their own selfish interests. These same elites, masters of those members of the regime, repeal democratic laws blindly. Stalin once called people like this “useful idiots”.

We are witnessing a regressive and brutal regime stripping away the pretense of democratic governance, overlaying Orwellian measures on media, and using cellphones to locate, target, and intimidate individuals. This is right out of 1984. This is no longer just about the rejected EU deal. It is about civil liberties, democratic will, fair and transparent elections, and selective justice through which opposition leaders are not jailed. Most importantly for Ukrainians, it is about culture and identity. Ukrainians are struggling for hope, for a future that they can be proud of, and for a nation that is secure and democratic.

This Prime Minister and all Canadians stand with the Ukrainian people. Slava Ukraina.

[Situation in Ukraine, December 10th, 2013]

Mr. Chair, I would like to thank the parliamentary secretary for his question and for his leadership with his bill in 2008 recognizing the Holodomor as a genocide. Canada was the first nation to do that, and I thank him for his work and his efforts.

Our Canadian Ukrainian diaspora is the strongest Ukrainian diaspora anywhere in the world. It is the best organized. It is the best administered. It is the best educated, and it is the one that is best positioned to educate people about Ukraine and the issues going on there. Many of the members of this House have benefited from it. Members of the Ukrainian diaspora sent along the briefing note this evening that I think all of us have read by this point. It was very insightful and very detailed. I thank the members of the diaspora for providing all those details on what is currently going on. I also thank the members of the League of Ukrainian Canadians, who have preserved much of the history of the former Ukraine through a lot of their work.

In our diaspora and in Canada, the Ukrainian community is highly mobilized and highly vocalized on this issue. Many have gone over there. Our Minister of Foreign Affairs was recently there with the president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, whom I would like to congratulate on his recent re-election for his third term.

Our minister, as everybody will know, is not a shy man. He was very clear and unequivocal in talking to his counterparts from Ukraine as to Canada's views on the situation in Ukraine today, and in fact, in communicating the views of the Ukrainian diaspora here. Both have tremendous influence. We will continue to engage with Ukraine with that level of intensity.

[Situation in Ukraine, December 10th, 2013]

Mr. Chair, Canada communicates with our allies very closely. In fact, as I mentioned, the Minister of Foreign Affairs was just in Ukraine with the other ministers from the OSCE. Many of those ministers, including our own Minister of Foreign Affairs, walked through the Maidan and talked to the protestors, opposition groups, and demonstrators. He told them in no uncertain terms that Canada supports them. That has been made very clear. As to communications from here, what is said in this House tonight will be in that square in minutes. I would like to assure the hon. member of that.

We cannot, of course, tell members what other nations are going to do. Canada can only say what we are going to do. However, we do co-operate with all of our allies. We do suggest courses of action to all of our allies.

Canada will be watching very closely and communicating what we think to the Ukrainian government. Mr. Yanukovych, I believe, is starting to feel the world pressure, because as this mounts, all eyes are on him. He will be responsible for what happens in Ukraine. Whether he allows freedom and democracy to flourish and the economy to flourish will be up to Mr. Yanukovych. However, if he continues to drift toward authoritarian rule, I think, on the world stage, woe be to him.

[Situation in Ukraine, December 10th, 2013]

Mr. Chair, I would like to thank the hon. member for Parkdale—High Park for her role as the vice-chair of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group. We have had a wonderful working relationship and co-operation for the diaspora in our ridings and across Canada. I also thank her for her question.

I know that the Ukrainian government is listening right now to what is being said in the House and to the fact that Canada supports the tenets of free speech and freedom of assembly. We are very concerned about any violence against the protesters in the Maidan.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs was in Ukraine just a number of days ago. He has already laid out his concerns. We continue to remain engaged not only with the diaspora but with the government of Ukraine on a daily basis. Canada's views on any injury or bloodshed in the Maidan are well known to the Ukrainian government.

As I said in my speech, if any harm comes to those protesters, the blood will be on Mr. Yanukovych's hands.