Critics scold Canada’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine

New Pathway – Ukrainian News.

Is Canada doing enough for Ukraine during the Russian invasion? The Ipsos poll conducted for Global News in March found that Canadians are relatively split over whether Canada had done enough to help Ukraine, with 48% agreeing compared to 39% saying Canada should do more.

There are those in the Canadian politics and media who support the latter opinion.

Borys Wrzesnewskyj, a four-term Liberal Member of Parliament (Etobicoke Centre), is now a voice of dissent in the Liberal party when it comes to the federal government’s actions related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He said in his comments for NP-UN: “We need to see timely concrete actions and our current government has been greatly lacking in this regard”.

A Canadian journalist, author and professor of journalism at Carleton University's School of Journalism and Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Andrew Cohen thinks that the West, and Canada in particular, “has let down Ukraine”. He told NP-UN that Canada has not done enough: “I've been saying this for some time since before the war – we were sending non-lethal weapons to Ukraine. What were we thinking when we were sending them non-lethal weapons, were we too pure to give Ukraine real weapons they could fight with? Considering we have the largest Ukrainian Diaspora after Russia, we could be doing more.”

Canada began sending lethal defensive weapons for Ukraine in February, starting with machine guns and small arms. Wrzesnewskyj told NP-UN that he has been lobbying the government and Prime Minister’s office in particular in mid-January through to February 24 on about the need to send heavy weaponry to Ukraine and that “it fell on deaf ears”.

Since then, there have been several Canadian shipments of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine including anti-tank systems and rockets. Wrzesnewskyj said that Canada should have followed he U.S. and the UK and provided anti-tank systems to Ukraine before the war.

So far, Canada has announced more than $90 million in lethal and non-lethal weaponry to Ukraine while the 2022-23 fiscal year budget proposed to provide the additional $500 million for further military aid for Ukraine.

Wrzesnewskyj said that Canada needs to provide Ukraine with such heavy weapons as anti-ship missiles Harpoons, which Canada has in its arsenal. He also voiced concerns whether the allocated $500 million in weapons aid for Ukraine will be spent fully and on the right weapons that Ukraine really needs. Wrzesnewskyj provided the example of the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson leading the global drive to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons, such as anti-ship missiles, and to stop energy imports from Russia. Wrzesnewskyj believes that Canada should be among global leaders demanding a global end to energy imports from Russia. He said: “Boris Johnson has shown clear leadership and Joe Biden seems to be there now. Where is Trudeau?”

Wrzesnewskyj said that time is of the essence: “Ukraine will win this war, but how many dead Ukrainians will it take by the time the Canadian Government arrives at correct decisions?”

Wrzesnewskyj made these comments before April 19, when Prime Minister Trudeau announced that Canada will be sending heavy artillery to Ukraine as a response Ukraine’s requests in the view of Russia’s new and more massive offense in the Donbas.

With the damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure and economy mounting, there are many skeptics as to the volume and timeliness of future assistance that Ukraine may receive from the West.

Cohen said: “The West has been slow to arm Ukraine, it will be slow to rebuild it.”

Wrzesnewskyj urged the West and Canada in particular to step up arming Ukraine to reduce human suffering and the cost of future reconstruction. He believes that, including the likely future phases of the war, the total cost of rebuilding Ukraine will exceed one trillion U.S. dollars. Wrzesnewskyj believes that NATO soldiers in some form will end up having to come into Ukraine. To prevent the war from developing into next phases, he believes that this kind of NATO involvement should happen sooner rather than later.

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