Ukraine

Elizabeth May: Mr. Chair, in light of my friend from Strathcona’s comments about what Canada could do to show leadership, and given that the United States is now stepping up and saying, as we also hope, that Ukraine can find its way to an acceptable democratic government, does the official opposition think we should join the U.S.?

Secretary of State John Kerry has offered a $1-billion guarantee to help the Ukrainian economy become stable during this time of political crisis. What view would my colleague take of Canadian financial contributions being made?

Linda Duncan: Mr. Chair, I cannot speak to the actual amount.

In the House today, concerns were raised about Venezuela. I have had people contact me to say that we are talking about Ukraine, but what about Thailand? It is important that the government be serious about that and think about what we can commit.

The member asked a valid question; we need to put our money where our mouth is. Time is of the essence in Ukraine. If the country tries to hold its government together, it is going to need a major infusion of dollars to get to the next tranche before it can negotiate with IMF or someone else.

We could perhaps also provide guidance to the IMF to not to go too hard on them. Most Ukrainians are living in dire poverty already and could not take much more economic hardship.

It is incumbent upon us to commit a lot more money. We will wait to hear more when the government returns. It would have been nice if representatives of the other parties could be there and we could all come back convivially, to say that having heard them personally we should go for it. There could perhaps be a delegation returning very soon, maybe during the election monitoring.