00:00:58.200You spoke at the emergency debates yesterday in the House of Commons regarding the situation in Ukraine.
00:01:03.740And as we like to remind, this is a live show.
00:01:06.580So if you are listening to it later on past March 1st, the information might be changing after the broadcast.
00:01:11.600So could you, you spoke at the rally in Toronto as well.
00:01:14.800Could you give us a brief overview of basically what's going on on the ground?
00:01:19.160What are you seeing and what are you hearing?
00:01:20.340So as someone of Ukrainian heritage and someone that has been very involved in Ukraine, been there many times for election observation missions,
00:01:28.960been over there as part of the Harper government.
00:01:32.140After the invasion of Crimea and the legal annexation and occupation that is still happening today in Crimea and the war that Putin and his proxies were waging in the west or the east of Ukraine, in Donbass,
00:01:46.820you know, I was part of the group of the Conservative government that went over and actually delivered military assistance to Ukraine.
00:01:56.620You know, it was under Harper that we started Operation Unifar to train Ukrainian soldiers, trained over 34,000 that liberals have continued on Operation Unifar and they did an amazing job in training the soldiers because we're seeing the results of that now is that one of the reasons Ukraine has been able to repel
00:02:13.120the initial phases of this Russian invasion from the north and from the south and from the east is because of the training that Canada and our allies have done.
00:02:21.320You know, the UK, the Americans, the Poles and other NATO allies had been in Ukraine for the last eight years, training up 100,000 plus military members in Ukraine.
00:02:32.640You know, Vladimir Putin is the only person here that's responsible for the war that's happening in Ukraine.
00:02:38.900Let's never forget this. And he is, you know, trying to revise history.
00:02:45.040He is spewing toxic rhetoric and the whole idea that he wants to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine is all part of this propaganda machine.
00:02:58.040You've got to remember that the heroic actions that were seen in Ukraine and the leadership that were seen by President Zelensky.
00:03:05.500You've got to remember, Zelensky is of Jewish heritage and he's out there, you know, the whole idea that somebody like President Zelensky, he was a Nazi, is ridiculous.
00:03:17.980You know, and Ukraine lived through the Holocaust. Some of the biggest war graves are, from the Holocaust, are in Ukraine.
00:03:25.340I mean, 28,000 at Babon Yard, just north of Kiev. I've been there with Prime Minister Harper.
00:03:30.020So, you know, Ukraine is fighting violently.
00:03:33.740And Putin thought when they marched across the border that the Ukrainians would be there, you know, thanks for liberating us.
00:03:40.440And you look at the war that's being waged on Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine.
00:03:46.000It's in the east. I've been there. I've been up to the border crossing at Belograd, where all the Russian troops and tanks have been rolling across towards Kharkiv.
00:03:56.120Russian-speaking, but very much patriotic Ukrainians.
00:03:59.620I've seen it personally in marches and rallies that I participated in, in Kharkiv when I was last there.
00:04:05.880And they are fighting hard. Every citizen that can fight is fighting.
00:04:11.840They've picked up firearms and sidearms, and they are out there defending the motherland.
00:04:18.040And so, it's amazing and inspiring to watch them rally, but it's heartbreaking to see the devastation.
00:04:27.800And news last night that, you know, again, Putin is now definitely a war criminal.
00:04:33.080He's violating the Geneva Convention. They're using carpet bombs.
00:04:37.820They used a thermobaric warhead last night, a number of media reporting on it.
00:04:45.840You know, this is a major escalation in the type of weapons that he's prepared to use, when at all costs.
00:04:51.380And he doesn't care about the civilian losses and collateral damage.
00:04:54.720That's why Canada and our allies have to do more.
00:04:57.140This is a major turning point in modern history, and we'll be judged for what we do.
00:05:09.460We want to be Churchill, and we need that type of leadership right now.
00:05:13.100So, I'm very glad to see countries that have been sitting on the fence and get involved.
00:05:17.500You know, since 2018, we have been calling us Conservatives for the provision of lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine, including anti-tank missiles.
00:05:25.720It's my understanding that 100 Carl Gustavs that were sitting in storage, that the government are actually delivering those today.
00:05:33.460So, I do thank the government of Canada for finally listening and doing it, because Ukraine needs them now.
00:05:38.140I'm impressed that non-NATO partners like Sweden have stepped up, who've always been very impartial to NATO versus the Russian Federation, the Moscow sphere of influence.
00:05:52.220But they sent in 5,000 anti-tank weapons, as well as defensive aid, like hard helmets and flat jackets and Kevlar wear,
00:06:04.840so that they can protect themselves when they're out in the battlefield.
00:06:07.400So, and it's about not just supplying the armed forces of Ukraine with weapons and ammunition.
00:06:13.560It's about supplying the citizen soldiers that have stepped up and formed militia groups now and are the ones that are doing the street fighting.
00:06:19.740I want to get into the sanctions and what the world's doing in just a second.
00:06:22.680But first, I want to bring in Alex to talk about the military side.
00:06:25.680Alex is a veteran, a colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces, served over many decades as a colonel and served in Afghanistan, your most recent deployment.
00:06:52.140I was in Iraq just before I jumped into federal politics.
00:06:54.900And I was at the Canadian Joint Operations Command when we were first standing up Op Unifier and putting together such a terrific mission to really create the foundation for what's going on in Ukraine right now on top of other NATO allies and other partners that have been helping the Ukrainians so that they are prepared as much as they can be against this horrendous act by President Putin and Russia.
00:07:20.900So on the military side of the thing, I think there's been a lot of, dare I say, miscalculations on the strategic side by everybody.
00:07:29.980You know, I think Putin thought he could waltz right in and, as James was just hinting at, basically walk in and be given a hero's welcome and install his puppet sort of government that would be sympathetic to the Russian regime.
00:07:47.160It didn't happen really as soon as he crossed the border.
00:07:49.220On the flip side, I actually think, you know, and unfortunately I don't have access to all that same intelligence and reporting, but the fact that the West didn't call the bluff of President Putin and that we left, I think that basically signaled in some ways to Putin that, hey, we're not going to interfere in this.
00:08:10.380And he thought he could get this cakewalk to come straight into Kiev and install that.
00:08:16.020Obviously, I think it was all based on the assumption by the West that, look, he's serious about coming.
00:08:23.140All the indications were that he was coming.
00:08:24.740I thought, you know, I would absolutely put money.
00:08:27.120He had provided all the indications he was going to go into these eastern provinces or whatever they're called, you know, to take that area.
00:08:35.840But I think if we would have still had Western boots on the ground, it would have changed the calculus of potentially him dropping these bombs and doing these atrocious acts that are in contravention of the Geneva Convention against the civilians had we been there and showing that solidarity.
00:08:52.720Now, at the same time, the calculus, and we're seeing this, I think, in some of Putin's own actions, his own soldiers from a military perspective aren't performing to the same standard that he is because I think they're a lot smarter nowadays.
00:09:05.720And I think all militaries around the globe, the soldiers have access to a lot more and they realize that, whoa, what are we doing going in and taking a, you know, an independent country that realistically never posed a strategic or a tactical or a military threat to Russia ever.
00:09:24.540This is all about politics and influence, energy, and more, and I think really Putin's own political survival.
00:09:34.880So, look, kudos to the Russian people that are protesting in the streets against Putin, but really the kudos go to the Ukrainian people more than anything.
00:09:45.240On the logistics side, 100 percent, it's hard to judge.
00:09:48.020Some of the snippets that we see in the news are just one snapshot at any one time of a military action.
00:09:52.960So, obviously, the logistics does draw, you know, does drive military conflict and military operations.
00:09:59.600So, some of those things that we saw, you know, are, you know, aren't shocking, but at the same time, let's not underestimate, Russia can easily win this conflict from a strictly military standpoint, but it's how much are they willing to pay.
00:10:16.020And kudos, as James clearly highlighted to the president and, you know, their ability to stand up and fight back and not just roll over.
00:10:28.040And they're going to make this, they're standing up for freedom.
00:10:32.180And, you know, it has galvanized the West and allies and nontraditional allies to step forward, reinforce the NATO borders, and make sure Putin understands what, you know, hey, this is not acceptable and the sanctions and everything.
00:10:50.280And I really think the next 48 hours are going to be vital to see just how far Putin is willing to take the atrocities and what political price he's willing to pay to get his military victory, because I don't think he's going to get the long-term strategic victory.
00:11:06.960So, it's the people, though, that are the real ones that are paying the price are the Ukrainian people themselves.
00:11:12.760And all of the free world owes everything we possibly can to support Ukraine.
00:11:19.800Just to follow up on that, because I think the one interesting thing is, you know, got to remember that, you know, as Alex was saying, the Russian soldiers, you know, have access to social media.
00:11:30.720They see in Russia right now, you know, over several thousand Russians have been arrested for protesting against the war, for being out there, you know, fighting for peace.
00:11:43.820And you've got to remember, they're fighting for a tyrannical death spot with Vladimir Putin, where the people of Ukraine, and you've got to remember, Ukraine has already survived one genocide, the Holodomor.
00:11:54.260And so, on top of trying to protect their Ukrainian nationalism, trying to protect the Ukrainian culture, they're protecting the homeland.
00:12:00.780They're inspired by the leadership of President Zelenskyy and the politicians that are still sitting in their parliament right now, in the Vodok-Norada.
00:12:09.420And you see that, you know, they're not only trying to protect their families and their communities, they're trying to protect Ukraine itself.
00:12:18.100And that speaks volumes to how hard they're willing to fight and why, you know, Putin's only acceptance and so-called diplomacy is he wants to surrender and he wants to remove the entire government so he can install his puppet regime.
00:12:31.620And Ukrainians will never accept that.
00:12:33.820All right, let's talk about quickly the political price, and I want to go into kind of energy independence.
00:13:00.640And the whole goal right now is to break Russia's financial back.
00:13:06.360And there's no question that the hard sanctions that have come forward, as well as using SWIFT to ban them from using it for financial transactions
00:13:17.700and speaking to other financial institutions around the world, is crushing Putin directly, his oligarchs, his government,
00:13:26.560especially when the central bank has been sanctioned and banned from SWIFT.
00:13:32.140And ultimately, it will hurt their economy.
00:13:35.760And, you know, decisions by Europe to stop Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany is another blow to their economy.
00:13:44.100You've got to remember, 40% of Russia's economy is based around oil and gas.
00:13:49.560And if they can't sell it to the world, they're going to go bankrupt pretty quick.
00:13:53.200And we've got to remember, the Soviet Union failed, not because of, well, there's a lot of great, great diplomas that have come in place,