Select Page

Job Seekers - Achev - Connecting Skilled Newcomers with Employers 2
Job Seekers - Achev - Connecting Skilled Newcomers with Employers 2
Freedom Heart Ukraine
Job Seekers - Achev - Connecting Skilled Newcomers with Employers

Are Liberals Stepping Back on Ukraine?

Sep 7, 2016 | Newpathway, Featured, Politics

New Pathway.

This summer was marked by several high-profile events in Canada-Ukraine relations. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau showed that Ukraine still ranks high on the new government’s list of foreign policy priorities when he paid an Official State Visit to Ukraine on July 10-12. The Visit happened to be Prime Minister ‘s third visit of such level since he assumed office less than a year ago (after Official State Visits to the USA and Japan). Another positive was the signing of a long-awaited Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement by International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland on July 11.

At the same time, the Visit has created a couple of controversies about the future of Canada’s military assistance to Ukraine. During the Visit, Ukraine’s President Poroshenko said that he had asked Canada’s Prime Minister to prolong the current military training mission (Operation UNIFIER) beyond its mandate which finishes in March 2017. During the press conference, Justin Trudeau said, “We are right now focused on the training mission that is going so well for both Canadians and especially for the Ukrainian military. As the situation evolves, we will continue to monitor and look at the best way we can continue to support and help Ukraine.” However, nothing definite was said as to whether Canada will prolong the Operation UNIFIER’s mandate. It also became known that, in March 2016, Canada stopped providing satellite imagery to the Ukrainian military that the Harper government started providing in 2015.

These developments caused a barrage of criticism from the Conservative Party with James Bezan, the Official Opposition Critic for National Defence, and Peter Kent, the Official Opposition Critic for Foreign Affairs, issuing a release called Liberals are Stepping Back on Ukraine. Their another release said “We were told Ukrainian-Canadians were disappointed that despite a personal appeal from President Poroshenko, Prime Minister Trudeau refused to extend Operation UNIFIER.” The position of the Liberal Party has been that the government is merely re-evaluating its support for Ukraine and will find more effective ways of assistance.

This discussion spilled over to the podium of the celebration that marked Ukraine’s 25th Independence Day in Toronto’s Centennial Park on August 20. Both conservative and liberal MPs addressed the crowd and highlighted the positions of their parties towards Canada-Ukraine relations. After the speeches, the New Pathway talked to Conservative MP Lisa Raitt (Milton), former Conservative MP Ted Opitz (Etobicoke Centre) and Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj (Etobicoke Centre) to find more about their positions on this matter:

NP: Why do you think the government has not yet committed to renewing Canada military training mission in Ukraine which ends in March 2017?

Lisa Raitt: What I think is happening is that they are trying to figure out how they are going to thaw relations with Putin and they are taking a look at all the different areas in the world where they want to put their efforts. They are looking at Africa right now and they are not interested in Ukraine and that’s a problem. And they are not interested in ensuring that we have [Ukraine’s] independence retained even when there are 40,000 Russian troops standing on the border right now with heavy military, and we don’t hear a word of concern from the government. Even the US State Department has said that they are worried about a full-scale invasion and we hear nothing from this government at all. … And it’s not something that can wait for consultation to come back from the four reaches of the country – you have to have the ability to take action and a decision and quite frankly our military needs to know that the government has their back – and they don’t know that right now.

Ted Opitz: Two things have occurred in Ukraine. Our government had negotiated the free trade agreement in Ukraine under The Hon. Ed Fast and we didn’t manage to get it signed in time but the Liberal government did and I’m delighted about that. But at the same time all of this was going on and the focus was on the trade agreement. Well, what was quietly taken away from the Ukrainian military was the very clear satellite images they depend on and which tell them what Russian troop movements are. This is a very bad time to take away that capability from the Ukrainian military because what they are relying on is substandard images and quite frankly that is very dangerous to the Ukrainian military because that can cause casualties. I call on Prime Minister Trudeau and the Liberal government to restore those satellite images at the earliest opportunity because it’s the right thing to do.
And the other area that the government has committed troops to go into Latvia and Africa, but … we are not hearing anything about either what’s happening in terms of Syria or Iraq, or Ukraine. And I know that our government was heavily involved in all of those [areas], but the Liberal government can’t take a stance. They just don’t want to do the things that our government did … and they should get over their partisanish approach to defence and renew the commitment to Ukraine.

The interview with MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj:

NP: What are the prospects for continued Ukraine-Canada military cooperation?

Borys Wrzesnewskyj: The PM during his state visit to Ukraine made it absolutely clear that Canada stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine. The military training project is evolving into new forms – into training of officers in logistics and other critical areas while continuing with the battlefield medical training which has been identified as being very important to continue. There is a real need to train the Ukrainian army at the officer level. The other focus area, which is being looked at, is what new forms of escalation the Russian aggression may take. As a result perhaps, it’s important to take a look at what ways we can help Ukraine’s military in terms of their air force, navy, etc. So these things are being reviewed. The review is officially supposed to take place in March 2017 when the current military training program finishes; however, I’m sure that in the New Year there will be announcements. Our military training in Ukraine will continue beyond March 2017 – we are almost absolutely sure that will be the case. And a lot of it will be dependent on what we’re learning from the Ukrainian military and where their greatest needs are.

NP: What is the situation with the cancellation of the provision of satellite images to Ukraine?

Borys Wrzesnewskyj: It is unfortunate that this issue was raised during the Independence Day celebrations, it is not an appropriate time for political rebuttals. This imagery was important when Ukraine did not know where Russian military forces were located. Also, that imagery was transferred with a very significant delay to the Ukrainian side and the image resolution was not ideal. At the moment, the Ukrainian side has good ways of finding when and where Russia moves troops and equipment into the war zone. Canada spent CAD 8 million on that delayed imagery last year and the Ukrainian side says that this intelligence is not as important as it was two years ago. We need to invest our resources into the more important areas.

NP: What other forms of cooperation with Ukraine is the government looking at?

Borys Wrzesnewskyj: The signing of the Free Trade Agreement was huge and had been dragging on for several years of negotiations. Chrystia Freeland, the Minister of International Trade, made it a priority and we signed it. Although the trade between our two countries is pretty modest, its important in two ways – symbolically, to provide substance to a special relationship between our two countries and as Ukraine transforms from its post-soviet oligarchic economic system into a rule-of-law free trade system; and secondly because Ukraine has a Free Trade Agreement with the EU (one of the biggest trading blocks in the world) and Canada is part of one of the largest trade zones, NAFTA, so Canada becomes a gateway for Ukrainian business into the North American market and Ukraine becomes a gateway for Canadian businesses into Europe. For instance, there was a memorandum signed between Bombardier and the Ukrainian side in the rail carriage business – Bombardier is not just interested in Ukraine – they are interested in all of Europe, and they signed the agreement with Ukraine because Ukraine has a Free Trade Agreement with Europe.

_____________________________________________________________________

The arguments between the Liberal and Conservative parties about the status of Canada's assistance for Ukraine have long been plagued by contradictory statements. The arguments about the fate of Operation UNIFIER and the controversy about satellite imagery are good examples of this kind of contradictions. These controversies might clear up if and when Canada and Ukraine sign a Defence cooperation agreement. In one of their press-releases, MPs Bezan and Kent criticized the fact that the government did not sign this agreement, “which originated under the previous Conservative government”, during Justin Trudeau’s visit to Ukraine. Some Ukrainian media outlets have recently aired speculations that the agreement could be signed this year. If this happened, it would come as a nice surprise for the Ukrainian Canadian community given that a new defence policy for Canada is scheduled to be released only in early 2017.

Share on Social Media

Announcement
Pace Law Firm
2/10 Years of War

Events will be approved within 2 business days after submission. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Manage Subsctiption

Check your subscription status, expiry dates, billing and shipping address, and more in your subscription account.