(Ottawa) Canada must imitate the United States and demand the expulsion of Russia from the G20, urge the Conservatives and the Bloc in Ottawa. Without going so far as to say that Canada will follow in the footsteps of the United States, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, swears that she has no intention of sitting at the same table as her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov .
Posted at 7:46 p.m.
Updated at 8:45 p.m.
United States President Joe Biden announced Thursday in Brussels after the NATO summit that Moscow no longer had a place in the organization. “My answer is yes,” he replied without hesitation to a journalist who had just asked him if he wanted Russia to be ejected.
PHOTO EVELYN HOCKSTEIN, REUTERS
President Joe Biden
“The issue was raised today, and I raised the possibility that if this could not happen, if Indonesia [le pays hôte du prochain sommet] and the others could not agree, we should request that Ukraine participate in the meeting as an observer,” said the American leader.
The Trudeau government must embrace this position, judge the critic of the Conservative Party on foreign affairs, Michael Chong. “Canada must demand the expulsion of Russia. We’re glad our allies asked for it. Now it’s up to the Government of Canada to do it,” he said.
His Bloc Québécois colleague Stéphane Bergeron shares this opinion. ” I completely agree. The objective is to isolate Russia as much as possible from all international organizations,” he said in an interview after a parliamentary committee meeting attended by Minister Joly.
Joly does not want to see his Russian counterpart
Intercepted as she left the parliament hall, the head of Canadian diplomacy argued that Ottawa was “definitely planning to work with the G7 on this issue”.
But her decision is already made.
“It’s not true that I’m going to find myself in the same room as Sergei Lavrov at the G20,” she said. Minister Joly recalled that, three weeks ago, the majority of diplomats from the UN Human Rights Council left when the Russian took the floor and that his position was therefore in the image of this boycott.
PHOTO ADRIAN WYLD, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Russia was expelled from what was the G8 in 2014, a punishment imposed on it in the wake of the illegal annexation of Crimea. The summit that was to be held in Sochi had been boycotted and replaced by a G7 summit.
The problem with the G20 is that it brings together countries like China, India and South Africa.
At the United Nations on Thursday, the three nations abstained when deciding on a resolution (eventually adopted by a majority) calling on the Kremlin to cease hostilities in Ukraine “immediately”, “completely” and “unconditionally”.
“Political Statement”
The chances of Russia being shown the door to the G20 are “very, very, minimal,” says Hélène Emorine, principal investigator of the G7 and G20 research groups at the University of Toronto.
The G20 works by unanimity. All countries must agree before doing a major action like this.
Hélène Emorine, principal investigator of the G7 and G20 research groups at the University of Toronto
“Joe Biden’s statement is very political and difficult to implement in a practical way. I find it hard to see countries like China or Saudi Arabia agreeing, ”she explains.
Despite this, the researcher would not be surprised to see Justin Trudeau also take such a position, because since the very first day of the Russian invasion, he “follows Joe Biden’s footsteps almost at every step” .
The issue of Russia’s ejection was not raised during the prime minister’s closing press conference at NATO headquarters on Thursday. The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment.
The New Democratic Party has not yet called for this measure. “While this is an option we should consider, there are also many other avenues we must take to stand in solidarity with Ukraine and condemn Russia,” MP Heather McPherson said in a written statement.
More sanctions and more oil
In Brussels, both the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of the United States announced that they were hitting the Putin regime with new sanctions. This time in Ottawa’s sights are 160 members of the Council of the Federation – the Upper House – who “facilitated and enabled” the invasion, said Justin Trudeau.
This brings the total number of individuals sanctioned by Ottawa to 964.
In addition, in order to stem the consequences of the war in Ukraine, the Canadian government will increase its production of oil and gas by approximately 300,000 barrels per day – 200,000 barrels of oil and 100,000 of gas – in 2022.
“Our friends and allies in Europe need Canada and other countries to step up. They’re telling us they need our help to get off Russia’s oil and gas,” Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said, saying it “won’t increase global emissions.”