Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Saturday that Canada would provide an additional $100 million in aid to help ease the ongoing refugee and humanitarian crisis sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“This is a moment where the world needs to come together, to stand up for Ukraine and to stand up for our values and principles,” Trudeau said as part of his closing remarks, delivered remotely to a global pledge rally from Ottawa.
The rally, co-hosted by Trudeau and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, culminated Saturday in commitments of $12.4 billion from countries to help with the crisis. The funds promised by Canada will be channelled through humanitarian agencies.
The humanitarian funding comes on top of new promises unveiled in the federal budget this week, which included $500 million in military aid, as well as an offer of an additional $1 billion in loans to Ukraine.
Trudeau also highlighted changes to Canada’s immigration system that are intended to help more people fleeing the conflict find refuge in this country. Those changes include additional charter flights, short-term income support, temporary accommodation in hotels and more help with integration.
In a call later on Saturday, Zelensky thanked Trudeau for his participation in the pledge rally, while both leaders condemned recent Russian actions and called on the country to end the war in Ukraine.
Sean Fraser, Canada’s immigration minister, said earlier this week that more than 12,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Canada since the beginning of the year. Earlier in the week, Canada had received more than 112,000 applications for an expedited program to come to Canada, and 30,000 of those applications had been approved, he said Saturday.
Fraser said Canada was already suspending biometrics collection — a key part of the process — for some low-risk groups, including people under 18, those over 60 and some people with previous Canadian visas.
Almost 4.5 million refugees have left Ukraine since the start of the conflict on Feb. 24, according to the United Nations. More than half of those are in Poland, where the pledge rally was held Saturday.
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The policy moves come as Canadian officials are turning up the temperature on their rhetoric concerning Russia, prompted by revelations and mounting evidence of alleged war crimes perpetrated by Russia in Ukraine. Those accusations have this week centred on the town of Bucha, near the capital Kyiv, where witnesses have seen evidence of murdered and tortured civilians.
Trudeau referred to the conflict on Saturday as “Vladimir Putin’s evil war” and denounced attacks against civilians — and particularly sexual violence against women — as an attempt “to crush the Ukrainian spirit, the Ukrainian identity.” Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said earlier in the week that what happened in Bucha was “clearly war crimes.”
In her budget speech on Thursday, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is also deputy prime minister, explicitly labelled Putin a war criminal.
“The world’s democracies — including our own — can be safe only once the Russian tyrant and his armies are entirely vanquished,” she said.
In an interview on CBC’s The House, which aired Saturday, Freeland, who has close personal and familial ties with Ukraine, said she delivered that speech in her official capacity.
“That was a statement of a really important fact for Canada’s national security. The reality today — and it is a terrible reality — is that Vladimir Putin is the biggest threat to Canada’s national security and the security of the world,” she told host Chris Hall.
Freeland said Ukraine is on the front line of that fight and needs Canada’s support.
“They are fighting this fight. They are dying in this fight, but we can help them.”
WATCH | Chrystia Freeland discusses war in Ukraine during budget speech:
Freeland talks defence spending and Ukraine support in the federal budget
2 days ago
Duration 3:48
Canada’s Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled the budget in the House of Commons on April 7. It includes $8 billion in additional military spending including $500 million in aid for Ukraine. 3:48
Russia has denied that its military forces were responsible for the deaths in Bucha, claiming the images were fabricated.
Speaking to CBC’s Power & Politics earlier this week, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, said Russia should not be believed.
“I think it’s just preposterous for the Russians to claim it’s all fake. It’s not fake. There is more of it to come.”
Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.
“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.
Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.
Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.
Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.
The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.
As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”
“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.
The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.
Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.
The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.
“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.
“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.
“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.
“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
