On August 8, 2014 the New Pathway interviewed Etobicoke Centre MP Ted Opitz to discuss Canada's military assistance to Ukraine and the effects of Russia's latest food sanctions.
NP: As a former army lieutenant-colonel, how do you think the ATO is going in eastern Ukraine?
TO: Remarkably well if you think of where they were at the beginning of all of this – the Ukrainian army was in disarray. Yanukovych clearly allowed the army to languish and an army needs to constantly train, it needs to be constantly practiced and tested and in peace time the way you do that is through exercises and there wasn’t a lot of those. You did get a couple of Ukrainian officers over here from time to time on English language courses but that’s not training per se…But right now, compared to where they started and where they’re now, having boxed in the Kremlin-backed provocateurs, they have them located in Donetsk and they’re squeezing them pretty hard. So I think that’s a tremendous success. And with the military assistance that Ukraine asked for in terms of ballistic eye-wear, flak vests (bullet-proof vests), tents, a lot of helmets and first aid supplies which they desperately need…they’ll advance further.
And last time James Bezan and I were in Ukraine with Ed Fast on a Trade Mission, we had our own mission – to confirm some of the rumours about the Ukrainian military's needs. And here we are. Ukraine asked for military supplies and we’re delivering on that.
NP: The rumours about Canadian F-18’s being sent to Ukraine, how did they come about?
TO: There are F-18s in Eastern Europe but not in Ukraine…There are six of those and their crews – that’s about 100 people there. We also have a company of soldiers in Poland and we have a ship deployed and that’s about 250 people there. So we do have quite a number of people who are now deployed for the NATO Assurance Package…Those F-18s are patrolling the Russian border and when they move to the Baltic States…they’ll provide a top cover approach to patrolling the skies over the Baltic States and monitoring Russian movements. We get tested as well – the Russians have attempted, up to 50 times in the last year or so – to test our airspace and have been escorted out by our guys. So they continue to do that in the Baltic with their navy and we’re on top of that. The Baltic navies are also on top of that and monitoring Russian movements.
And while the Ukrainian army does have the upper hand, it is tragic that so many casualties have occurred – but it is a war. They have demonstrated their valour in battle against these guys but we also see a different dimension to who we’re actually fighting: with the downing of MH17 and 298 civilian lives lost (some of the bodies still have not been recovered) and effectively seeing the evidence from the plane being tampered with and the bodies being looted along with personal affects. And that’s the kind of thing they’re dealing with…so the Ukrainian army has done a tremendous job repelling these invaders and eventually will throw them out of Ukraine.
Canada will stand shoulder to shoulder with the Ukrainians in this because it’s not just a political thing to do but the right thing to do. Because we support the values that the Ukrainian nation wants. When James Bezan and I were in Kharkiv, we both observed that the election went very well and people were super excited. There was this one girl, and I think it was her first time voting, and James and I were just mesmerized by watching her. She skips into the voting station, she gets her ballot and she skips to the booth. Marks her ballot and gets out of the booth and skips to the ballot box and puts it in with a great big smile on her face and off she went. You could tell it was her first time voting and there was a joy to be able to do that…
Poroshenko is standing fast with his people and I think he’s demonstrated great leadership, he’s been out to the front line with the troops, he’s put on a uniform and he has shown that he’s serious in leading Ukraine out of this crisis and into a future of hopefully, prosperity.
I do hope they have parliamentary elections soon rather than later because Parliament needs to be renewed…and that would signal a new chapter in Ukraine because Ukrainians want what Canada has: freedom, democracy, human rights, rule of law, the ability to choose, the option to have a good paying job, to put your kids through school and give them opportunities going forward and basically a secure lifestyle. Ukraine as a nation has a right to reach out to all countries and groups and should not be dictated by Vladimir Putin…
The only guy who’s made this a zero-sum game has been Vladimir Putin. There’s no reason to try to prevent Ukraine from being part of the EU – clearly it wants to be part of a Euro-Atlantic alliance. Look at Canada, there’s many countries in the world we have free trade agreements with…And these sanctions with Russia don’t particularly concern me personally. Canada is exceptionally nimble and we will and have opened a lot of alternative trade options for our producers and that’s something we will continue to do…I have every confidence that our producers will find new markets because that’s our job as a government to provide that for them.
NP: The pork industry is one of the top exporters to Russia and they will be heavily hit by these sanctions. Will the government of Canada help them?
TO: Absolutely, we’re very nimble nation in terms of trade and we’re continually opening new trade options for our producers whether they are in pork or anything else. Just with CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) alone that’s a market of 500 million people across Europe…and we will have access to that market. South Korea is also interested in our products including pork and other meat products so those markets are being developed as we speak…I’m confident of Canada’s ability to make adjustments to that…
I’m confident that Russia is now sliding into a recession. All of these things take time and as this develops, Mr. Putin is going to find himself under a tremendous amount of pressure domestically because it’s starting to limit not only what the average person in Russia can do or get but it’s going to severely limit their oligarchs…
NP: Will Canada place a greater military emphasis in the north because we share a border with Russia there?
TO: We already are. We’re monitoring our Arctic all the time. And there are threats and suggestions being made by the Russians all the time…But I don’t think anything will happen. We are a NATO and NORAD member, so we do have protection in the Arctic and Canada is very robust up there – we have our Rangers’ eyes and ears on the ground on what’s going on. So I think it will be very short-sighted for anyone to challenge us and not just in the Arctic.
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