House foreign affairs committee to probe decision to waive sanctions on Russian titanium
The House of Commons foreign affairs committee has agreed to hold hear‐ ings on the decision by Global Affairs Canada to grant waivers to aerospace companies over the possi‐ ble use of Russian titani‐ um.
Airbus and Bombardier were granted the exemptions recently, allowing them to get around sanctions imposed on the company VSMPOAVISMA, one of the world's largest producers of the criti‐ cal mineral.
The decision drew outrage from Ukraine's ambassador to Canada, Yuliya Kovaliv, who said allowing the com‐ panies a pass to continue to use Russian titanium - when there are other suppliers elsewhere in the world serves to feed the Kremlin's war machine.
The motion to study the decision was brought by the New Democrats Wednesday night.
"We have heard that this is particularly egregious be‐ cause Ukraine has titanium that they could use, and in‐ stead we have waived the sanctions on Russia and tita‐ nium," said NDP foreign af‐ fairs critic Heather McPher‐ son.
"So I think it is very impor‐ tant that we understand why the government made this decision. You know, the gov‐ ernment has said that they are steadfast in their support of Ukraine. This does make one question whether that is accurate or not."
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly last week de‐ fended the waivers, saying jobs in Canada were at stake.
In February, Canada be‐ came the first Western gov‐ ernment to ban Russian sup‐ plies of the strategic metal as part of a package to mark the second anniversary of Russi‐ a's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Joly will be called to testify before the foreign affairs committee, among other wit‐ nesses.
Titanium is used in the manufacture of aircraft en‐ gines because of its light weight and strength.
Two major military pro‐ curement projects - the ac‐ quisition of both new fixedwing search and rescue planes and new transport and refueling aircraft - could have been affected by the sanctions imposed by Global Affairs. Both aircraft are made by Airbus.
In a statement issued to CBC News, the defence de‐ partment sidestepped the question of the impact of the sanctions, acknowledging on‐ ly the fact that some compo‐ nents are made of titanium without pointing to a source.
"Both the Airbus CC-295 Kingfisher and CC-330 Husky likely contain titanium and ti‐ tanium alloy components ranging from rivets, nuts and fasteners to engine compo‐ nents to furnishings and structures," said the state‐ ment.
"We know that in general, Airbus has already taken ac‐ tions to isolate its supply chains from sanctioned Russ‐ ian-sourced titanium. How‐ ever, we would refer you to Airbus for more details on the sourcing of titanium in particular components of its aircraft."
Airbus had pledged more than 18 months ago to follow the lead of rival Boeing and stop doing business with VSMPO-AVISMA, but Kovaliv says that doesn't appear to have happened.