In this episode of the True North Daily Brief, we discuss Canada's military assistance to Ukraine, Canada's support for Ukraine, and the potential for Canadian boots on the ground in Ukraine. We also hear about Canada's role in the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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00:01:14.680A day after the United States and Germany each announced that they would be sending tanks to Ukraine,
00:01:27.100Canadian officials confirmed that they will donate battle tanks to Ukraine,
00:01:30.840as well as send Canadian Armed Forces to train Ukrainian soldiers in the use of those tanks.
00:01:36.720On Thursday, Minister of National Defense Anita Anand said Canada is going to fulfill Ukraine's request
00:01:41.500for Leopard 2 tanks, donating four of them.
00:01:45.000Anand said the government decided on four tanks after careful consideration around not depleting Canada's own military reserves.
00:01:52.080However, it may not be the last time Canada makes that consideration,
00:01:55.640as Anand confirmed Canada may send more tanks to Ukraine in the future.
00:02:01.000Cosmin, it's interesting to see this development because there are a lot of people out there who want Canada to do more and more.
00:02:08.340We know that there was a push originally to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine,
00:02:12.000which would have effectively seen Canada and Western allies almost go to war with Russia in the skies.
00:02:17.660And then there are others who say, hold on a second, we are concerned that we are sending too many resources, too much money.
00:02:22.900Right. Well, we have to look at the international level, right?
00:02:26.460Canada historically is a middle power, and we've used our soft power most of the time to get involved in these sorts of conflicts.
00:02:36.500But when you actually look at military contribution by GDP, Canada is up there with major NATO countries.
00:02:44.440In fact, we're actually slightly ahead of the U.S. when it comes to this metric.
00:02:48.540Canada has contributed 0.23% of its GDP to the Ukrainian war effort, which amounts to about $4.1 billion.
00:02:58.620Of course, the U.S. has contributed the bulk share just in terms of net worth coming in at $52 billion.
00:03:07.560But as a larger economy, that's only 0.229% of its GDP.
00:03:14.020So there's just a little bit of an advantage there for Canada.
00:03:17.600So, but also like when you break down what is being contributed, obviously the U.S. has much larger military, they have more equipment.
00:03:28.880So they're putting in a lot more money into delivering that equipment to Ukraine, whereas Canada's commitments have been more financial in terms of loans and other relief packages.
00:03:41.680So I do think Canada, on the whole, has stepped up to the plate on this, whether more can be done.
00:03:50.420Well, in terms of financial commitments, I think we've done quite a bit.
00:03:55.720Is there wiggle room in the military sphere?
00:03:59.140Well, that remains to be seen because, as you know, our own troops face problems in that regard.
00:04:05.680Another aspect I find very interesting is a lot of the public attention and media attention has been on the sending of the tanks.
00:04:12.280But sending those Canadian Armed Forces trainers along with those tanks, that's effectively sending boots on the ground who could conceivably be involved in combat.
00:04:21.100I very vividly remember the debate back almost a decade ago when the Stephen Harper government decided to send in advise and assist officers, training personnel, to help in the battle against ISIS, to help the Iraqi forces in that battle.
00:04:35.320And there was a lot of grilling in the House of Commons as to whether or not we were essentially getting involved in a ground game.
00:04:39.860And questions were asked, okay, if they are fired upon, do they have the right?
00:04:53.800So it's quite something that people aren't more concerned about.
00:04:56.600Okay, we got Canadian soldiers on the ground potentially going to war with Russia.
00:05:00.520The Liberal government wants to welcome 500,000 new immigrants to Canada annually by 2025.
00:05:10.780And a new Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation report shows that migration will continue to drive higher demand for rental space as Canadians struggle with high rent and finding housing.
00:05:22.220Economists with the CMHC blamed growth and demand outpacing housing supply driven by, quote, significantly higher net migration.
00:05:33.540In 2022, Canada's vacancy rate fell to an over 20-year low.
00:05:41.640A recent Leger poll showed that excessive strain on Canada's housing availability and healthcare system are on top of mind for Canadians when it comes to high immigration numbers.
00:06:04.420The survey found that 49% of Canadians said that Ottawa's plan was too ambitious at the present time.
00:06:12.480So, Anthony, when it comes to not only housing supply, but also the strain on the healthcare system,
00:06:20.440should Canadians have some questions about the immigration targets the government has come out with in recent years?
00:06:29.380And to your point, the Leger poll is already showing they have those concerns.
00:06:32.520I think having honest conversations about the effects of immigration on the system are becoming less of a third rail.
00:06:39.860It was previously thought if you wanted to criticize immigration targets, you were doing so because you had a problem with the country of origin or the religion of origin or ethnicity or what have you of the people who were coming here.
00:06:51.640So people were always reticent to say, I'm not comfortable about these immigration numbers.
00:06:55.580But now I think you hear from people who are recent immigrants themselves, of course, who say, well, I'm having problems accessing my services.
00:07:02.220One example I give is the community of Brampton, which has a very high volume of new immigrants residing there.
00:07:08.420And they have a lot of problems with housing pushing up against the urban boundary.
00:07:27.860And I think a lot of what goes overlooked is the fact that new immigrants kind of go to certain destinations.
00:07:34.940And these are big metropolitan areas with high population density.
00:07:39.320So it will definitely impact services and housing.
00:07:43.160Canada joined two climate coalitions just last week.
00:07:49.900And an economist says one of them will definitely raise prices for consumers.
00:07:54.280In an interview with True North, UBC economist Werner Atweiler said market interventions from the First Movers Coalition will spike production costs in several industries.
00:08:03.500He said the coalition's mandate to push for more green technology use throughout the economy will be expensive and companies won't have much of a choice but to pass the cost on to consumers through bigger price tags.
00:08:18.060As True North reported last week, the First Movers Coalition, which Canada signed on to at the World Economic Forum last week, is a group of top global players that have agreed to steer money away from carbon-intensive production methods
00:08:32.400and instead direct the money to clean technologies that cannot yet compete at a cost-effective level.
00:08:38.960Antweiler said, quote, there is no free lunch here.
00:08:41.580Any new technology that replaces an older fossil fuel technology tends to be more expensive.
00:08:46.920At the end of the day, switching to cleaner technologies poses a cost that needs to get passed on, essentially, to the final users.
00:08:55.500Cosmin, what I find so interesting and so concerning, I'm writing a column about this.
00:09:00.120I speak about this a lot in this podcast and everywhere I can.
00:09:04.180There's an unrelenting series of announcements related to climate measures right now coming from the Liberal government,
00:09:09.500joining more and more coalitions, bringing more and more regulation.
00:09:12.780And one of the things they all have in common is that they do make life less affordable for regular Canadians.