(Ottawa) Federal Trade Minister Mary Ng is visiting the Prairie provinces this week to speak with Ukrainian community and business leaders, as Liberals accuse Conservatives of turning their back on the torn country by war.
Mary Ng will make stops in Edmonton, Saskatoon and Winnipeg – three cities with a large Ukrainian diaspora – to highlight the Liberal government’s work to modernize its trade agreement with Ukraine.
“When Ukraine wins the war, Canadian companies will want to participate in the reconstruction effort, and this agreement means that our companies and exporters of all sizes will have a framework to do so,” said Mary Ng, in a statement.
The tour follows a recent Liberal ad campaign in newspapers in 18 Conservative ridings across the Prairies, accusing the Conservatives of abandoning Ukraine because they voted against a bill to implement a new version of the law. of the agreement.
While Conservatives have repeatedly expressed support for Ukraine, Leader Pierre Poilievre opposed the bill due to language in the trade deal that states both countries will favor carbon pricing.
Ukraine already has a price in place on carbon, and officials have said nothing in the deal binds them to that policy.
“It’s disheartening to see conservative politicians playing politics with Ukraine, but I can assure you that our government will stand with Ukraine every day until it wins the war,” said Mme Ng.
The Conservatives did not respond to a request for comment.
The Ukrainian ambassador and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress have asked Pierre Poilievre for support for updating the trade deal, and the Liberals have seized on the issue since the Conservatives voted for the first time against the bill in November.
In December, Conservative MPs voted against more than 100 budget spending measures in a marathon vote that delayed the work of the House of Commons. They called these oppositions a protest against carbon pricing. Conservative MPs opposed all kinds of government spending during the 30-hour voting session.
But the Liberals were careful to point out that this included funding for Operation Unifier, a Canadian Armed Forces program that trained more than 39,000 Ukrainian military and security personnel in tactical and advanced military skills on the battlefield.
Prairie newspaper advertisements targeting the Conservatives associated the party with far-right politicians in the United States.
While support for Ukraine has always been strong in the United States, the persistent flow of U.S. military and government aid is increasingly unwelcome among some Republican lawmakers, as well as some Americans.
Minister Mary Ng’s efforts to reinforce the message that the Conservatives are missing the point comes as the Conservatives remain ahead of the minority Liberals in the polls.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also seems to make this point to his Ukrainian counterpart.
Last month, when the Prime Minister spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, he reaffirmed Canada’s determination to support Ukraine with military, humanitarian and financial assistance for as long as it takes, his office said .
Asked if Justin Trudeau had mentioned to his counterpart the division in Parliament on updating the trade agreement, the Prime Minister’s office referred to an interview published in the newspaper Toronto Star this week.
“The fact that the Canadian Parliament no longer unequivocally and unanimously sides with Ukraine because of the decisions made by Pierre Poilievre – this is something that, I think, worries people around the world,” he said. Justin Trudeau to the newspaper.
When the Toronto Star Asked if the Ukrainian president had spoken about it, Justin Trudeau replied that he “is certainly aware of it”.