GUEST COLUMN MP GARNETT GENUIS: How Canada can help Europe as the Russia-Ukraine conflict intensifies

Plus the RCMP’s past investigation of the Prime Minister, the CMHC’s recent funding of a pro-home equity tax organization, my recent meeting with the Calgary Police Association, and more

GUEST COLUMN MP GARNETT GENUIS: Canada’s role in the Russia-Ukraine war

Thank you to Tom for giving me the opportunity to write a guest column on this platform. Tom launched his Resuming Debate substack around the same time that I launched a podcast with the same name. You can listen to the Resuming Debate podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and other podcast platforms. Tom was a guest on my last podcast, where we also discussed the invasion of Ukraine and how Canada can respond by supporting European efforts to strengthen energy security.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia signed onto the legally binding Budapest Memorandum, guaranteeing Ukraine’s territorial integrity in exchange for Ukraine giving up nuclear weapons. Russia violated that agreement when they invaded Ukraine in 2014, and on February 24th of this year Russia launched a wholly unprovoked further invasion of Ukraine’s sovereign territory. In my opinion, this is the biggest threat to global security since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

In 2016 I traveled with Premier Jason Kenney - who was still a Federal Member of Parliament at that time - to attend the 25th anniversary celebration of Ukraine’s independence. The following year we celebrated Canada’s 150th anniversary. Both of these celebrations were inspiring and beautiful in their own ways, but the contrasts were sharp. Canadians attended parades where everyone wore white and red, and where public figures threw candy to children. My biggest concern was avoiding sunburn. In Ukraine, the day was marked by the proud and austere display of military equipment that was even then being used in response to the Russian invasion. The fact that freedom isn’t free was and is felt deeply in the bones of Ukrainians, who either grew up under Soviet occupation or who have spent their youth seeing successive democratic revolutions and a foreign occupation which has now lasted a full eight years.

The current war shows a stark moral contrast. The Russian state is violating international law and its own commitments, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and trying to erase the separate existence of the Ukrainian people. The Ukrainian people’s fierce defence of their country shows how committed Ukrainians are to freedom, democracy, and their own distinctiveness. They are not seeking to impose anything on anyone – they simply wish to preserve their culture and political values and to be able to live in peace.

Canada has a key role to play in response to this evil invasion. There are many things that we can do, but one critical area involves contributing to European energy security. Relatively unique among democratic nations, Canada has the potential to use its natural resource wealth to replace commodities that the Russian economy needs to be able to export. Both countries are major exporters of energy products. If Canada can replace Russia in providing these resources, we will enable a broad range of countries to apply punishing sanctions against Russia. It is quite fitting that a country with such a large Ukrainian diaspora and that feels such kinship with Ukrainians can play this important role.

Canada and Russia are both major producers of oil and gas products. But unlike some Canadian politicians, Russia’s leaders aren’t embarrassed about this and do not fail to use their energy power to their advantage. We should step up and leverage our position as an energy producing nation to be a force for good in the world and counter Russia’s use of its energy resources to fund its aggressive war. The only way to really hamstring the capacity of the Putin regime to wage war in Ukraine is to block their export of natural resources to the fullest extent possible, and that means giving freedom-loving democracies a credible alternative.

Up until now oil and gas has largely been talked about as an economic issue in Canada. But developing and exporting oil and gas products is also a matter of global security. This sharpens the argument for oil and gas development. Sabotaging our own economy is bad, but sabotaging global security is irresponsibility on a much grander scale.

If we can develop these resources and build the pipeline infrastructure to displace the 6.5 trillion cubic feet of Russian gas that was exported to Europe last year, then we will have played a decisive role in stopping Putin’s tanks in their tracks. Those 6.5 trillion cubic feet account for 75% of total Russian gas exports. The Russian economy could not survive this blow. So developing and exporting energy products would not just create jobs – it would save lives.

Canada has lost seven years in terms of developing the infrastructure that we need to export oil and gas products. But now it is time to get serious again. The invasion of Ukraine should put into sharp focus what needs to be done – repeal anti-pipeline bills and work to approve and build key energy development projects on an urgent basis.

It is a pleasure for me to work with Tom on this and many other vital issues, and I hope you will have a chance to listen to our discussion about energy security here on the other Resuming Debate platform.

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RCMP had considered charging Prime Minister Trudeau over $215,000 illegal luxury vacation

This past week, an RCMP criminal brief disclosed under access to information legislation revealed that the RCMP had examined the possibility of charging Prime Minister Trudeau with fraud following his acceptance of an illegal luxury vacation gift from a lobbyist in 2016. Ultimately, the RCMP did not lay charges, claiming it was not “in the public interest” to pursue a criminal investigation as they did not have the answer to the question: “Did Mr. Trudeau have the consent in writing of the head of the branch of government for whom he worked”. According to Section 121(1)(C) of the Criminal Code, no government employees or officials can receive gifts from persons who have dealings with the government unless they have consent from the head of the branch of government that employs them. The Prime Minister is not above the law, and all instances of wrongdoing must be investigated fully and have the appropriate punishment levied. With each new scandal and revelation, the reputation of Canada diminishes. It has taken many years to get to this point, from the initial Ethics Commissioner investigations and finding of guilt in a report, to the RCMP criminal investigation, and finally to the release of the criminal brief thanks to a conservative access to information request. Now, Canadians know the RCMP did indeed investigate and consider laying charges of fraud against the Prime Minister. The only reason he was not charged is because he could have given himself permission to accept that gift, which he confirmed in Question Period this week that he had not given any such permission. Conservatives have now asked the RCMP to re-open the criminal investigation with this last missing piece of the fraud puzzle.

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CMHC provides $200,000 grant to organization looking into a home equity tax

The battle against homeowners' savings continues. The Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation reports that the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has given another $200,000 to Generation Squeeze, an organization calling for a home equity tax. Their CMHC-funded report suggested targeting the “housing wealth windfall” many homeowners experienced “while they sleep and watch TV”. They recommended an annual tax of 0.2-1% on the value of a home above a million dollars, costing Canadians nearly $6 billion. This is not the first time Generation Squeeze has received money from the CMHC, having received $250,000 to commission this very report. It is time for the CMHC to stop such waste and stop targeting Canadians simply for owning their home.

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Meeting with the Calgary Police Association

This week, I met with members of the Calgary Police Association and discussed morale in the police force, the possibility of a provincial police force, and freedom of expression. It was a fulsome discussion and a fruitful exchange of ideas, with many concerns addressed. The Calgary Police Service are truly a credit to the community, and I thank them for their service.

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Passport Canada processing delays

Many constituents have reached out to me on the issue of passport renewals and poor service from Passport/Service Canada. Canadians have been attempting to obtain or renew their passports with rare success and little to no communication or explanation as to whether their passports will be ready in time for travel. Not only are there excessive delays in obtaining passports, but there is a distinct lack of communication on the part of Service Canada and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Canadians have a right to be informed, to know how long the passport process will take, and be able to obtain updates when those timelines are not met. Conservatives raised this issue in the House this past week, but received no answers from the federal government. You may see their response at the link below.