A bill to implement the modernized Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement passed the House of Commons on Tuesday despite the Conservatives voting against it, prompting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to accuse Pierre Poilievre of “abandoning” Ukraine.
Trudeau and Poilievre exchanged accusations that the other is not doing enough to support Ukraine, as the legislation to implement the two-country trade pact revamp came up for its final Commons vote.
Bill C-57, as it’s titled, passed by a vote of 214 to 116, with support from Liberal, Bloc Quebecois, New Democrat and Green MPs. The bill is now off to the Senate for a second round of scrutiny.
Noting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had asked Canadian parliamentarians to pass this deal, Trudeau said during Tuesday’s question period that Poilievre was “choosing to not stand with Ukraine, not stand with Ukrainians, and not stand with Ukrainian Canadians.”
After the vote, Trudeau called the Conservatives’ opposition “inconceivable.”
Earlier in the day, when asked in Montreal about his Ukraine positioning before making his way back to the Commons for the vote, Poilievre attacked Trudeau over the recently-revived acrimony over the embarrassing invitation extended to a Nazi veteran during Zelenskyy’s to Canada last year.
“He embarrassed the Ukrainian president,” Poilievre said. “Justin Trudeau is a big talker and a little doer when it comes to Ukraine.”
In the two years since Russia invaded Ukraine, Canada has provided billions of dollars in military donations, as well as millions more in humanitarian, development and security aid offerings to Ukraine. Though, not all of Canada’s offerings have made their way to the war-torn country, such as the delayed air defence system donation.
“He’s made all these announcements of hundreds of millions of dollars of different equipment that he’s never actually delivered,” said Poilievre.
These reciprocal jabs also came amid a broader conversation around whether Canadians’ views are evolving on the war in light of an Angus Reid survey indicating Canadians’ attention on the war, is plunging as is support among Conservative voters.
On Tuesday, a number of federal cabinet ministers expressed how important it is for Canada to continue to support Ukraine.
“What’s most important here in my opinion, is to explain to Canadians and to the world, what the reality of the situation in Ukraine is. Yes, the war is happening in Ukraine. However, it is also a war for us,” Freeland said in French, speaking to reporters in Ottawa.
“We need to understand what the goal of Vladimir Putin is. Putin wants to change the world… wants to rewrite the rules that we have established in the world,” Freeland said. “He wants a world in which it is the strongest countries with the largest armies that are able to control everyone else. This would not be a good world for Canadians.”
Treasury Board President Anita Anand said that Tuesday’s vote to pass the trade deal revamp is a signal to allied countries that Canada’s support remains steadfast. On that point, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly—fresh back from a visit to Ukraine—said Poilievre “let down Ukrainians.”
“Poilievre has been talking a lot about, and crying about the importance of freedom, but the reality we know that he’s about freedom for some and not for all,” Joly said.
The Liberals have been highly critical of Poilievre’s rejection of the trade bill and his stated reasoning is being concerned over carbon pricing promotion and the wording within it, despite Ukraine already having a carbon price.
“You’ve heard their mealy-mouth excuses for not supporting our brothers and sisters in Ukraine in their fight against a Russian aggressor,” Immigration Minister Marc Miller said. “Our government’s support will not wane.”
Trudeau and his MPs have repeatedly made the case in public and through direct targeted ads in ridings with sizable Ukrainian diasporas that the Conservatives have turned their backs on the war-torn country.
Angus Reid’s latest data indicates that “on average” Canadians see the Conservatives voting against the trade deal revamp as a “net negative” for the country’s international reputation and for trust in a potential future Conservative government to stand up for allied countries in the future.
Poilievre vowed Tuesday that a federal Conservative government would do more for Ukraine, including by giving Ukrainians missiles that Canada planned to dispose of, and by changing environmental laws to promote natural gas exports to Europe to “break European dependence” on “evil dictator” Vladimir Putin’s Russian energy supply.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) expressed disappointment that the vote on the bill was not unanimous.
“The UCC will continue to work to ensure the courageous Ukraine people receive the support they need and deserve,” said UCC President Alexandra Chyczij. “We call upon all Canadians and all political parties to do the same.”
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
