Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly was challenged Thursday on her assertion the federal government made the decision to grant a two-year exemption to federal sanctions, allowing a Canadian company to return repaired turbines from a Russian-German natural gas pipeline, to "call Putin's bluff."
"This whole decision was based on the idea that there is any trust, any belief that Putin would in fact continue to provide gas to Germany… He lies. We know Putin lies… Why call the bluff as you say, when realistically, he's already told us, he's already told the world what he intends?" asked NDP MP and foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson. "We already knew the bluff was there.
"I think Mr. Bezan you actually misunderstand a lot of the things that were going on," Wilkinson said, asking what the Conservatives would have done differently. "It's very easy to make those kinds of comments." "We will continue to impose severe costs on the Russian regime in response to Putin's illegal and unprovoked war against Ukraine. At the same time, it is important for us to support our European friends and allies as they work to end their dependency on Russian gas imports as quickly as possible," Anand said.
Her organization, working alongside the Ukrainian World Congress, have sought to challenge the decision in Federal Court, arguing that granting the permit "was not reasonable, transparent or properly authorized." After the federal government imposed sanctions on Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom as part of an expanding economic sanctions program in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine, Siemens Canada was restricted from sending the equipment back.
Canada should have leveraged our position as a global natural gas producer. Instead we facilitate filling Russian coffers as they hold Germany hostage while bombing civilians in Ukraine.
This is nonsense.
Just try imagining a Conservative govt getting away with this childish thought process and the media not imploding & vilifying them at every opportunity. No wonder Trudeau vacations in foreign countries Canada's lazy media won't travel to...