Canada will be sending more troops to Latvia as part of a pledge to upgrade and strengthen the NATO battlegroup it is leading there, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday.
The Canadian-led NATO battlegroup is made up of about 2,000 troops, including 700 Canadians, and is one of eight such units based in eastern Europe designed to deter and defend against any Russian invasion.
Canada signed an agreement on the sidelines of a major NATO summit on Wednesday to upgrade the battlegroup to a brigade, which entails adding more troops and equipment to bolster its ability to fight.
But while Defence Minister Anita Anand said at the time that it was too early to confirm whether Canada would deploy more members of the Armed Forces, Trudeau committed during a closing news conference on Thursday to doing just that.
The prime minister stopped short, however, of giving an expected number.
Trudeau’s attendance at the NATO summit capped a nine-day trip that included previous stops in Rwanda and Germany for the Commonwealth heads of government meeting and G7 and was heavily focused on Russia’s war in Ukraine.
To that end, the prime minister on Thursday announced more military equipment for Ukraine, saying Canada is in the final stages of talks to supply Ukraine with up to 39 armoured combat support vehicles to help it fight off Russia.
He also pledged to give Ukraine six Canadian-made drone cameras, to complement the roughly 50 cameras sent earlier this year.
Trudeau said his government’s decision to send drone cameras and armoured combat vehicles was based on conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government’s ministers who asked for these types of military equipment.
“These exceptional cameras built in Canada that go into drones have been incredibly useful in protecting Ukrainians and pushing back against Russia’s illegal invasion,” Trudeau said. “The light armoured vehicles that we will be sending over will be extremely effective as well.”
The planned equipment purchase means Canada is on track to have spent the $500 million set aside in the 2022 budget for military support for Ukraine.
The prime minister also confirmed that a new NATO centre of excellence for climate change and security will be located in Montreal, and that Canada plans to host the North American office for a network of NATO innovation hubs called the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA).
“Russia’s illegal, unjustifiable and horrific invasion of Ukraine requires us all to stand together,” said Trudeau. “That was very, very clear from this meeting here in Madrid that all of us have already committed to being there to support Ukraine because they are fighting not just for their own territory but our democracies.”
The prime minister also said Canada will take part in the G20 summit expected to take place in Bali in November, even if Russian President Vladimir Putin goes too.
Trudeau said he expects all G7 countries, which also includes the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, to take part even if Russia remains a full-fledged member of the G20.
He says the conversations about the global economy that will take place at the G20 summit are “too important,” and Canada needs to counteract the voice that Russia will have around that table.
“It’s too important that we be there to counteract the voice and the lies that Russia will perhaps be putting forward,” Trudeau said.
“There is a number of months still to go before that, and anything can happen.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2022
____
Get in touch
Do you have any questions about the attack on Ukraine? Email dotcom@bellmedia.ca.
Please include your name, location, and contact information if you are willing to speak to a journalist with CTV News.
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.
