Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland made a surprise visit to Ukraine over the weekend where they announced another shipment of $500 million to Vladimir Zelensky in the Ukrainian war effort, bringing Canada s total contribution to Ukraine since the beginning of the war to over $8 billion. While in Kiev, Trudeau addressed the Ukrainian parliament and repeated the now famous slogan, "We will continue to stand with Ukraine with whatever it takes, as long as it takes."
00:10:50.080Now, $8 billion does nothing for the Ukraine.
00:10:52.320It's a rounding error compared to the money they're receiving from the United States.
00:10:56.160But $8 billion would do a lot more for our veterans than it would for Ukrainian soldiers.
00:11:01.600But no, our veterans, the ones that actually served our country, are asking for more than we're able to give.
00:11:06.960And at the same time, take a look at this article from the CBC published just last week.
00:11:11.200An embarrassing gear shortage has Canadian troops in Latvia buying their own helmets.
00:11:18.240There's a phrase soldiers use to describe equipment they've bought themselves to augment what the army gives them.
00:11:24.400They call it Gucci gear, after the luxury fashion designer.
00:11:28.640For Canadian troops deployed in Latvia, those private purchases have been decidedly more practical than luxurious,
00:11:34.880given the fact that they're taking part in more live-fire training exercises meant to deter Russia from setting foot in the Baltic country.
00:11:42.160They've also purchased rain gear and vests and belts to carry water and ammunition.
00:11:47.440So the Canadian troops are literally buying their own military equipment off the internet,
00:11:51.920so they can actually do the job that they're being paid to do by the government.
00:11:55.280Oh, but here's $8 billion for Wladimir Zelenskyy.
00:11:57.520Take a look at this article from the Ottawa Citizen published a few months ago.
00:12:00.960Canadian troops in Poland not being reimbursed for meals.
00:12:05.120Canadian soldiers are training Ukrainian military,
00:12:07.680but a backlog with the Canadian forces reimbursing the soldiers for food costs
00:12:12.000is causing financial hardship for families back home.
00:12:15.200Some of the Canadian soldiers, according to this Ottawa Citizen article,
00:12:18.560have had to go into thousands of dollars of debt just to keep themselves fed.
00:12:23.680It's shameful, it's embarrassing, and it's a disgrace to the once great Canadian armed forces.
00:12:28.640But as Canadians are struggling at home, as wildfires burn across our country,
00:12:33.440Trudeau flies off to Ukraine, gives them more of our money,0.98
00:12:36.720and shakes the hand with people who are accused of being Nazi sympathizers.
00:12:40.640Is there anything that Canadians can be proud of when it comes to this?
00:12:43.680By the way, the largest protest against gender ideology in Canadian history took place on Friday,
00:12:49.040and I was on the ground to capture the scenes for True North.
00:12:52.000Organized by Billboard Chris and student activist leader Josh Alexander,
00:12:56.480the Education Over Indoctrination rally gathered thousands of Canadians to come out onto the streets
00:13:02.240and oppose radical gender ideology in Canadian schools.
00:13:06.400Parents and children from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds,
00:13:10.000including a very notable contingent of Muslim parents,
00:13:13.360showed up to peacefully protest radical gender ideology.
00:13:17.360You can check out my full report in the video description below,
00:13:20.080and if you want to see True North do more on-the-ground reporting like this,
00:13:24.160please remember to help us out by donating to us at donate.tnc.news.
00:13:28.720Alright, that's going to do it for us today on the show.
00:13:30.640Reminder to let me know in the comments your answer to the comment question.
00:13:33.840How do you think the war in the Ukraine is going to end?
00:13:37.120Remember, the one word you can't say when it comes to the war in Ukraine is peace.
00:13:41.280Because peace, for whatever reason, doesn't seem to be what everyone here is trying to get at.