Hansard
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Add search criteria
Results: 121 - 131 of 131
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, our central point and our central argument about economic policy for Canada is going to be that what we need is a big global vision, a vision fit for the 21st century. That is why we are supporting the agreement but saying that it is not enough and that we need to be working on bigger deals that fit in with a broader agenda.
I do, though, have to respond to the earlier comment criticizing us for supporting the member's policy. What I would say there is that the Liberal Party is moving past the rancorous major attack politics that, sadly, we have seen dominate this House for far too long. When we think a policy is a good one, we are absolutely willing to support it. That is case, absolutely, with free trade.
Since I hope you are pleased with our support for the free trade deal, I would encourage you to support our very bold and incredibly popular move on the Senate. You gentlemen could do the same thing today. You could show how broad-spirited you are and show that you too can be bipartisan.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, first, I am sorry for not addressing you. I promise to learn the rules better as the days go on.
With regard to the Ukraine parallel, obviously I have been thinking about that a lot. It is very relevant to the current situation.
I would draw the attention of my hon. colleague to the fact that the current battle in Ukraine was actually precipitated by the willingness of the European Union to sign an association agreement, which included some trade provisions, with the current Government of Ukraine, led by President Yanukovych. That current government, even before all of this, was not an angelic regime. In fact Yulia Tymoshenko, of whom we have been speaking, was imprisoned. It was a difficult, finely-balanced decision for the European Union. It was prepared at that point to sign an agreement Ukraine, and indeed was very enthusiastic about it, because the EU felt that agreement would help Ukraine, which was tentatively building a democracy, to become fully democratic.
The same applies to Honduras now. It is absolutely not perfect. That is why I raised, and we as a party raised, some significant points, and we think this agreement has to be closely monitored. This is not something that we sign and walk away from.
At this moment, we think that this deal is good for Canada and good for Honduras.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for those points. I would just like to repeat that Honduras is absolutely far from being an angelic and perfect country, and we are fully aware of that. It is our judgment that at this moment a trading relationship would help us to help the positive forces in Honduras and would help Honduras move in the right direction,
Again, this is not something we sign and walk away from. It behooves the Government of Canada and all of us here to watch it very carefully, and if we feel there is a retrograde movement in Honduras, we will need to act.
On the point about Canadian companies and their behaviour in Honduras, that falls under encouraging corporate social responsibility, which I have already cited. This is a very strong point, and we need to take great care as representatives of the Canadian people to encourage Canadian companies to behave abroad as we would demand they behave at home.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, my colleague's excellent point underscores my point and our general argument that while we are strongly in favour of free trade, it needs to be embedded in a much more ambitious, much more effective agenda for Canadian economic competitiveness in the 21st century.
The hon. member's point about the trade deficit is particularly telling and particularly unforgivable, given that this has come at a time when commodity prices are at all-time highs. As we all know, we are a commodity-exporting nation, so it is really startling that this has been happening.
What do we need to do better? As my hon. colleague said, we need to ensure that when we talk about the free trade agenda, when we talk about embedding Canada in the global economy, we are not just signing pieces of paper, getting the sound bite, and walking away. We need to be absolutely sure that the structure of those deals supports middle-class jobs back home in Canada, and, more broadly, that these deals support the creation of world-beating companies based in Canada but selling into the global marketplace.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member very much for the welcome, but the action plan unfortunately was not published on my election day, which was November 25, not November 27, obviously a more important date personally for me than for other members of the House. Maybe only three other members find it as significant.
I look forward to working with the hon. member on the trade committee and I promise to carefully study that report and let him know what our priority countries are. I would say, however, that it is not only about priority countries; it is about a broader vision.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, when the Minister of Finance tabled the 2013 budget, he said that Canada's biggest economic challenge was our skills shortage. His alleged solution was the Canada job grant. A year later, the only thing the government has produced is a multi-million dollar advertising campaign for a program that still does not exist.
If a new plan is not in place by April 1, will the government extend the current labour market agreements with the provinces and territories or will the government simply cut the funding and run?
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, as a Ukrainian Canadian on her first day in Parliament, it is both an honour and a tragedy to be speaking to the House about the tragic and brutal events in Ukraine.
My mother was born in a refugee camp. Her parents, together with her and her three sisters, were grateful and delighted to find refuge here in Canada, like so many other Ukrainian Canadians. It left such an imprint of gratitude and delight in Canada and all it offered that my grandfather would not permit any criticism of any Canadian government at his table, no matter which party was in power. I am afraid that in my new career, I am not going to be able to perfectly follow my grandfather's instruction.
What I would like to talk about is what is happening in Ukraine and why the stakes are so high for Ukrainians, for Canadians and for the world. As my colleague has just described, the struggle right now in Ukraine began over a European association agreement. Who knew that ordinary people could be so moved by trade treaties?
What it has become is a fight about democracy or dictatorship. The fact that this is what is at stake in Ukraine became very clear last week, when President Yanukovych tried, illegitimately, to ram a series of laws through parliament that would have severely restricted the rights of association, the rights of freedom of speech, the rights of assembly and, indeed, the rights of religious organizations, including the Ukrainian Catholic Church.
Ukrainians understand that this is the fight about that democracy that they have been working very hard to build, with a lot of setbacks, over the past 20 years. We should be inspired; I am inspired by what is happening right now in Ukraine. All of us as elected officials know about the cynicism we sometimes encounter from voters.
Imagine being Ukrainian and having gone through the Orange Revolution. It was not so long ago in 2004 and 2005. Ukrainians thought that they had won; they thought that they had really built democracy. It ultimately went so badly that they elected Yanukovych. Yet still today they have faith in democracy. They have such faith in the action of people and their ability to make change that they are out there in the streets, risking their lives.
What happens in Ukraine matters to the world, and particularly, as my hon. colleague described, in the neighbourhood where Ukraine finds itself, in the former Soviet Union and the former Warsaw Pact countries. These are parts of the world where the hold of democracy is tenuous. History did not end in 1991, despite Francis Fukuyama's prediction that it would. Right now, everyone in that part of the world is watching Ukraine very closely to see what the outcome will be, and to see if people like us, democratically elected officials in democracies, will not only talk the talk but walk the walk, and whether we believe in democracy enough to support it when it is at risk.
This is a tremendously important opportunity for Canada to be heard in the world. As we have heard so eloquently this evening, many of us represent communities with strong Ukrainian Canadian representation. Ukrainians are an important people and community in Canada, and Canada has an important voice in Ukraine. That was made manifest most powerfully by a Conservative government in 1991, when Canada and Poland were the first two countries to recognize Ukrainian independence.
Ukraine listens to us and the world listens to what we do and what we say about Ukraine. This is an opportunity, as my hon. colleague suggested, for us to do what Lester B. Pearson taught us, which is to punch above our weight in international affairs, by taking the lead on Ukraine.
It is really clear what we can do. It is wonderful for me as a Ukrainian Canadian to hear so much anguish, worry and sympathy for the people of Ukraine, but now is the time to act. There are three very clear things for us to do. The first is targeted sanctions against President Yanukovych and his allies in government. That will have an impact. Indeed, one of the jokes that people tell in the former Soviet Union now is that their dictators want to rule like Stalin but live like Abramovich. That is what globalization allows nowadays, that one can be a dictator at home but have a villa on Cap Ferrat. We cannot allow that to happen and must say that they cannot have it both ways.
The second thing that we have to do is to provide expedited visas for the people who have put their lives at risk on the Euromaidan. Again, this would be a very important symbolic statement that we are with them.
Third, we have to send high-level observers. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and if we are watching, I can assure everyone there will be less brutality.
I hope I will be permitted, since this is my first statement in the House and we are talking about Ukraine, to share one of the slogans of the Euromaidan.
[Member spoke Ukrainian and provided the following translation:]
The people united cannot be defeated.
[English]
That is true today in Ukraine if we unite with them and actually act. As a Ukrainian Canadian and a proud member of Canada's Parliament, the words of support are terrific, but now let us do something.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for the question, which reflects a deeply lived experience of events similar to those in Ukraine.
If I may, I would like to answer as I did to my nine-year-old daughter yesterday. We were at a rally for the Euromaidan in Toronto. When we got home, she said, “You are talking about sanctions, but it is going to hurt the people of Ukraine. Isn't that a bad idea?” What I said to her was that these must be directly targeted personal sanctions. In particular, we need to target visa travel, find and freeze the assets in the west, and say that the regime cannot have it both ways. The government cannot be a dictator at home and travel abroad and buy real estate.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for the excellent question. That similarity in position might well be why Ukrainians find themselves so much at home in Canada.
There is a saying in about politicians in Ukraine that they do not need umbrellas because they need to know how to walk between the raindrops as they navigate their way between Russia and the west. I think President Yanukovych was caught in this dilemma and he did indeed face tremendous pressure in the decision he made in the fall.
Right now, though, I do not think it is a question of subtlety. I think that President Yanukovych has attempted to restrict very severely the democratic freedoms that Ukrainians have enjoyed for 20 years. At this point, his big decision is what he should do with his people in Ukraine.
I hope that the Canadian observers we have been talking about can play an essential role. There is a need right now for mediators between the opposition and the government. Canadians could be trusted interlocutors, and I hope we will send a high-level delegation there soon.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, does that answer of the hon. member for Mississauga—Erindale mean that Canada rules out acting unilaterally? Are we waiting for permission from the United States and the European Union to have targeted sanctions against the Ukrainian government, which is repressing its people?
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I would first like to thank the hon. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration for his praise of my Ukrainian language skills. We first met in Kiev when he was serving our country very skilfully and admirably as a diplomat. I think that was longer ago than either one of us cares to remember.
The hon. minister said that this is one case when Canada must stand up and be counted and that we are on the side of democracy. I think all of us agree. The hon. minister also said that all parties are agreeing with the thrust of this discussion. I think we all agree with that, too. However, I have a specific question.
It is the position of the Liberal Party of Canada that we should now, in response to the indeed crucial and grievous situation in Ukraine, unilaterally impose personal, directed sanctions against President Yanukovych and his allies in government. That is the clearly stated position of the Liberal Party of Canada. I believe it clearly reflects the thrust of our discussion tonight. Is that or is that not the position of the Government of Canada?
Results: 121 - 131 of 131 | Page: 5 of 5

|<
<
1
2
3
4
5
Export As: XML CSV RSS

For more data options, please see Open Data