Trudeau calls Ukraine war ‘a defining moment’ in address to European parliament

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the European Parliament shortly after arriving in Brussels on Wednesday for emergency meetings amid Russia’s ongoing attacks in Ukraine.

During his speech, Trudeau framed Russia’s invasion as a test for democracies around the world and said Canada stands with the people of Ukraine as Europe confronts its biggest security threat since the Second World War.

“All of our partners and allies are facing a defining moment, we cannot fail,” said Trudeau. “We must meet this moment.”

“Putin’s attack on Ukraine is an attack on the values that form the pillars of all democracies. We have a responsibility to make the case to people about why these values matter so much, not just to Ukrainians, but to us all.”

He went on to say western countries have responsibility to provide more humanitarian aid for families affected by the war, along with sending military equipment and lethal aid to Ukraine.

Trudeau also focused on economic frustrations that he says are threatening the stability of the world and driving a deep uncertainty about the future and distrust of government. The prime minister cited Canada’s own anti-mandate convoy protests that took place in Ottawa and at Canadian borders last month.

“The leaders of those convoys were effective in turning citizens with real anxieties against the systems best suited to allay those concerns,” he said. “But democracy isn’t a game, and there just aren’t easy solutions to the big complex problems we are all facing.”

---

Related:

• Toronto SickKids to welcome 3 more pediatric cancer patients from Ukraine

• Ukraine says Russia seized relief workers in Mariupol convoy

---

Trudeau will meet with other NATO and G7 leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, later in the week.

Wednesday’s address is Trudeau’s second speech to European parliamentarians, following a 2017 address that was meant as a shot in the arm for a continent reeling from Britain’s vote a year earlier to leave the European Union amid the election of Donald Trump in the United States.

Trudeau spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before embarking on his second European trip this month.

“The Prime Minister and President discussed the continuing Russian military aggression and the increasing number of civilian casualties due to Russia’s bombings of civilian infrastructure,” reads a statement from the Prime Minister’s office. “Both leaders called on Russia to stop targeting civilians, to withdraw its military forces from Ukraine, and to engage in diplomacy with Ukraine.”

Earlier this month, Trudeau met with European leaders in the U.K., Germany, and Poland, where he came face to face with the growing European refugee crisis.

Trudeau, Biden to attend emergency NATO summit

Western leaders, including Trudeau and Biden, will meet this week for an emergency NATO summit on Thursday. The meeting comes at a critical moment in the war.

“This war will not end easily or rapidly,” said Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Tuesday. “For the past few months, the West has been united. The president is travelling to Europe to make sure we stay united.”

NATO allies will reportedly be announcing new sanctions and the tightening of existing sanctions. There is also expected to be talks on Russia’s involvement in the international community — Poland has called for Russia to be expelled from the G20.

Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said confronting an irrational Vladimir Putin will be a key task for Western allies.

“There is a level of irrationality in the way President Putin is taking decision,” Joly said. “In that sense, we have to be ready.”

Trudeau is expected to face some pressure to boost Canada’s defence budget, which according to NATO estimates stands at 1.39 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2021.

“Ukraine is helping to make spending on defence more palatable for Canadians,” said Andrea Charron, director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba. “I think we need ground-based, anti-aircraft defence capabilities desperately and a replacement for the CF18s.”

Biden is scheduled to arrive in Belgium on Wednesday afternoon and will be in Poland on Friday to discuss the growing refugee crisis in that country.

The European Union is also set to hold a summit on Thursday.

---

– With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press