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As Canada offered more aid for Ukraine on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said additional economic measures are to be announced in coming days.
During a news conference, Ms. Freeland, also the Finance Minister, said some plans have been informed by “creative ideas” advanced Tuesday by Ukraine’s embattled Finance Minister during talks with other G7 counterparts.
She did not elaborate. However, Ms. Freeland noted that Canada is carefully reviewing the holdings, in this country, of all Russian oligarchs and companies in Canada.
“Everything is on the table,” said Ms. Freeland.
She said Russian interests in Canada are less significant than those in partner countries, but the federal government is looking at them closely, and she promised additional measures soon.
Canada has previously announced direct sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of a third set of severe, co-ordinated sanctions against the country that also includes measures against Russia’s Foreign Minister, and Putin’s chief of staff.
On Tuesday, Defence Minister Anita Anand, at the same news conference, said Canada is sending 1,600 fragmentation vests and just under 400,000 individual meal packs to assist in the Ukrainians’ fight against Russia.
That aid was promised after commitments this week that Canada will send 100 Carl Gustav anti-tank weapon systems and 2,000 rockets to Ukraine. The rockets are fired from the Swedish-made systems. Story here.
Canada has already sent nearly $8-milion in weapons, such as machine guns, carbines and 1.5 million rounds of ammunition, to Ukraine as well as non-lethal aid including helmets and night-vision goggles. Last week, Canada announced it would send additional protective gear, valued at $25-million, to Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Canada said it will provide $100-million in new humanitarian assistance to the United Nations to support aid operations in Ukraine and refugees in neighbouring countries. Story here.
The Deputy Prime Minister also warned, without providing specifics, of possible adverse consequences for Canada given measures taken against Russia. “I have to be honest with Canadians that there could be some collateral damage in Canada,” she said, noting the G7 finance ministers discussed the issue.
“Canadians are smart. I think Canadians understand the stakes of this fight.”
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
RUSSIAN SHIPS BANNED FROM CANADIAN WATERS – Ottawa is banning Russian-owned and registered ships from Canadian ports and waters. Story here.
CANADA SUPPORTS UKRAINE ON ICC – Canada says it’s going to help Ukraine expedite its petition to the International Criminal Court to probe alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russian forces, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says.
COVERING THE WAR IN UKRAINE – Senior international correspondent Mark MacKinnon writes here on the realities of covering the war in Ukraine. “But while Ukrainians have no shortage of battle experience and courage, other things are becoming scarce. At our safe house, food supplies had dwindled down to only a bit of cheese, a few bags of nuts, half a pack of spaghetti and few loose pieces of fruit – after which we’d have to start eating from our strategic reserve of cereal bars and noodle pots.”
RUSSIANS IN CANADA FEAR BACKLASH; UKRAINIAN RESTAURANTS SEE RUSH OF CUSTOMERS – As the Ukraine conflict rages on, Russians in Canada fear guilt by association. Story here. Meanwhile, some of Canada’s Ukrainian restaurants are seeing a rush of customers amid the Russian invasion as they look to bounce back from COVID-19 restrictions. Story here.
UPDATES: Watch here for the latest updates on the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
MEANWHILE
INCREASING FEDERAL DEBT COSTS – The cost of financing the federal debt is projected to exceed $40-billion a year by 2025-26 – more than double the cost at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report from Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux that says Canada’s debt costs will grow more quickly than what the government has forecast. Story here.
LIBERALS PUSH ACTION ON EMERGENCIES ACT COMMITTEE – The federal Liberals are pushing ahead with a motion to create an oversight committee that will review the government’s invocation of the never-before-used Emergencies Act, forcing a vote on the matter over the objections of the opposition Conservatives. Story here.
CHAREST CLEARED – An anti-corruption probe into the fundraising activities of the Quebec Liberal Party while Jean Charest was leader and premier has ended without charges being laid, as Mr. Charest considers a bid for the leadership of the federal Conservative Party. Story here.
EUROPE ‘WEAK’ ON RUSSIA: POILIEVRE – Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, the only declared candidate for the party’s leadership, is slamming Europe’s response to the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, saying in a social-media post that the continent’s leaders have been “weak” in the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression. Story here from CBC.
PLANS RESTARTED TO BRING CIVIL SERVANTS BACK TO OFFICES – Federal government departments are restarting plans to bring thousands of public servants back to the office as provinces lift pandemic restrictions that forced them to work from home. Story here from Policy Options.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – Projected order of business at the House of Commons, March. 1, accessible here.
‘THAT IS AN INDIVIDUAL DECISION’: DEFENCE MINISTER ON CANADIANS WHO WANT TO FIGHT IN UKRAINE – Defence Minister Anita Anand was asked, after a cabinet meeting Tuesday, about Canadians who want to fight in Ukraine. “In terms of the Canadians who might want to fight, I truly understand that decision process, especially those who have Ukrainian roots,” she said. “I will say that is an individual decision that Canadians are making for themselves, and our job as a government is to provide information about the severity of the situation on the ground in Ukraine.”
NEW OFFICIAL LANGUAGES BILL – Official Languages Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor has introduced Bill C-13: An Act to amend the Official Languages Act, to enact the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act and to make related amendments to other Acts. In a statement, Ms. Taylor’s department said measures of the legislation include addressing the decline of French in Canada, and improving compliance by federal institutions concerning official languages. Details here.
HEARING ON DESECRATION OF VETERANS MONUMENTS – The standing committee on veterans affairs is holding a meeting Tuesday night on the desecration of monuments honouring veterans. One witness is listed: Steven Clark, national executive director of the Royal Canadian Legion. The hearing is scheduled to run from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. ET. There are details on the meeting here.
DAVIS MEMORIAL IN THE WORKS – The Ontario government is committing up to $150,000 to Brampton to support a memorial honouring the legacy of William G. Davis, Ontario’s 18th premier and a lifelong resident of the city. A professional artist will be commissioned to create a memorial honouring Mr. Davis, who was premier from 1971 to 1985. Mr. Davis died last August at 92. Brampton intends to unveil the new memorial, located in Brampton’s Gage Park, later this year.
THE DECIBEL – On Tuesday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, international correspondent Nathan VanderKlippe reports from the tiny, landlocked country of Moldova the destination for 70,000 people from Ukraine since the start of the conflict with Russia. Mr. VanderKlippe talks about the people fleeing Ukraine and how bordering countries are responding to the crisis. The Decibel is here.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Private meetings. The Prime Minister chairs the cabinet meeting, and is scheduled to attend Question Period. He is also scheduled to attend a virtual event held by the embassy of Ireland to celebrate the start of Irish Heritage Month.
LEADERS
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet holds a Parliament Hill press briefing on the party’s opposition day plans.
Green Party interim Leader Amita Kuttner holds a Parliament Hill press conference to address the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh met with the Canadian Home Builders’ Association and was scheduled to attend Question Period.
No schedule released for the Conservative party leader.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on how President Vladimir Putin’s deadly miscalculation has united the world against him: “The supposed grandmaster-level strategic genius has painted himself into a corner. This is what is known as the cornered-rat problem. And given that this cornered dictator has one of the world’s most powerful militaries, including the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, Mr. Putin’s dilemma is also the entire world’s. As strange as it sounds, Western diplomacy has to aim not only at deterring and defeating Mr. Putin. It also has to offer him a way out of Ukraine, and his own folly.”
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on how Donald Trump’s comments on President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau place Canada’s Conservatives and Pierre Poilievre in a difficult spot: ”Donald Trump has long been an admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin. When that suddenly became awkward, a few days ago, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee in 2024 crafted a new mantra: The Russian government is bad for invading Ukraine, but the Canadian government is worse for shutting down the protests in Ottawa. This is a problem for those Conservatives who stood with the horn-honking truckers and their supporters in opposing pandemic measures. Leadership contender Pierre Poilievre, in particular, championed their cause. Now the MAGA crowd has granted that cause the moral equivalency of Ukrainians resisting a Russian invasion. This is not a good look.”
Yasuko Thanh (contributed to The Globe and Mail) on how anger at B.C. parliament protests was a reflection of her own privilege: “And it came to me with the clarity of the glass I was washing, in my own sink whose faucet produces safe water to drink. My anger toward the people protesting was nothing less then a reflection of my own privilege. Because the people on whose behalf I was outraged were too busy fighting things big enough to kill them. Too busy counting graves. Too busy unpacking the legacy of slavery. Or perhaps, like Bob Marley, they were asking us to sing, not songs of oppression, not songs of being beaten down, but songs of freedom.”
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