The Conservatives and Ukraine
It's complicated.
In his annual interview with The Star’s Susan Delacourt, Justin Trudeau said Volodymyr Zelensky is “certainly aware” that “the Canadian Parliament is no longer unequivocally and unanimously standing with Ukraine because of decisions Pierre Poilievre has taken.” I have so many thoughts.
I’m reminded of the Rouleau commission of inquiry into the Freedom Convoy, when a telephone conversation between Trudeau and Ottawa’s then-mayor Jim Watson revealed that Trudeau enjoys fielding difficult questions about his own behaviour by snitching on third parties.
“It’s important that the federal government live up to its commitment,” Watson says.
“Doug Ford has been hiding from his responsibility on it for political reasons as you highlighted,” Trudeau responds. This is why God created the chef’s kiss emoji.
It is, however, true that the Conservatives have voted against a revised free-trade deal with Ukraine that essentially says the two countries will be free to talk about carbon taxes if they both ever feel like it. And when Pierre Poilievre forced the Commons through a million money votes as part of a theatre piece he conceived on the theme of his opposition to carbon taxes, one of the measures they voted against included funding for Op Unifier, the Canadian training mission for Ukrainian soldiers.
These votes caused the Ukrainian Canadian Congress to express alarm, not once but repeatedly over several days. And it’s becoming clear that the votes have become part of the Liberals’ claim that the Conservatives can’t be trusted to uphold Canadian values. Already in November, with the president of the European Commission sitting next to him, Trudeau said the votes were proof that the Conservatives had taken up full-time residence in Donald Trump’s fun-land.
“The real story is the rise of a right-wing, American MAGA-influenced thinking that has made Canadian Conservatives — who used to be among the strongest defenders of Ukraine, I'll admit it — turn their backs on something Ukraine needs in its hour of need,” Trudeau said then.