(OTTAWA) Conservatives on the Foreign Affairs Committee are suggesting that notoriously pro-Ukrainian and anti-Putin Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland disagrees with the granting of the Siemens turbine permit.
Posted at 12:51 p.m.
Updated at 1:36 p.m.
The suspicions expressed Friday during the special meeting of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development stung Liberal Rob Oliphant, who argued that the presence in Minister Freeland’s cabinet showed his support for this controversial decision.
“When you disagree with a cabinet or government decision, you resign. There is here in the country the principle of ministerial solidarity to which Minister Freeland subscribes, “he insisted in response to Conservative MPs who, according to him, are trying to lead” a fishing expedition “.
The elected members of the opposition had just advanced, each in turn, that Minister Freeland was against the decision.
“We have to talk about the elephant in the room. Minister Freeland has been the most visible and vocal about the government’s approach to Ukraine. And since [la décision]she is completely silent and invisible, ”said Conservative MP Garnett Genuis.
His caucus colleague James Bezan asked himself similar questions aloud.
“Minister Freeland is by far the expert on Ukraine issues in the Liberal caucus and in cabinet, and it feels like Mr. Oliphant doesn’t want her to be heard…perhaps because she’s not disagree with what ministers Joly and Wilkinson have done? “, he expressed.
Wilkinson, a “scapegoat”
The permit was signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, also specified Rob Oliphant. However, since last Saturday, the day the announcement of the grant was made, the designated minister responsible for this file has been the Minister of Natural Resources, Jonathan Wilkinson — an element that has not escaped the notice of the Conservatives.
“Minister Wilkinson has been made the scapegoat for this bad decision, and Minister Freeland is hiding,” said Garnett Genuis during the virtual meeting of the committee, where it was decided to look into this thorny file.
The great financier of the country is currently in Bali, Indonesia, for the meeting of finance ministers of the G20, it was recalled to his office on Friday. A conference call is scheduled for Saturday morning.
Guest Ministers and Ambassadors
The committee is scheduled to meet again next week to begin its study.
Invitations have been extended to Ministers Joly and Wilkinson, as well as to the Ambassadors of Ukraine, Germany and the European Union to Canada. An invitation card will also be sent to the Canadian-Ukrainian Congress.
The Conservatives also wanted to hear from the Ukrainian World Congress, which earlier this week filed a judicial review application in Federal Court challenging the decision. Their proposal was not retained, the Liberals opposing it, citing the legal proceedings initiated by the group.