Canada spending $40M to help Czechs send ammunition to Ukraine front lines

OTTAWA

Canada is buying artillery ammunition and night vision equipment for Ukraine as part of its latest round of aid for the country.

Defence Minister Bill Blair met with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which includes about 50 allied countries led by the United States.

Canada plans to spend $40 million to send artillery ammunition to Ukraine as part of a deal with Czechia.

The Czechs said last month they have 800,000 pieces of ammunition and needed other countries to chip in to help get it to the front lines.

Blair says night vision equipment worth $7.5 million is being sourced from a Canadian company to send to Ukrainian troops.

Canada’s military support for Ukraine has reached $4 billion in the two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The ammunition from the Czechs includes 155 mm rounds that Ukraine desperately needs, which Blair said he wants to see more of produced in Canada.

“The long-term vision is to actually significantly increase munitions production here in Canada, because I believe very much (that) production is deterrence,” he said.

Blair was not able to provide a timeline for when Canada’s donation of a surface-to-air missile defence system will arrive in Ukraine.

That system was purchased through the U.S. government over a year ago but it is still not clear when it will be produced and sent to the front lines.

Senate passes updated free trade agreement without support of CPC

The Senate has passed a bill to implement Canada’s updated free trade agreement with Ukraine, paving the way for it to become law.

It passed without the support of a single Conservative senator, which is in line with how Tory Leader Pierre Poilievre and the rest of his MPs voted in the House of Commons.

Conservatives say they voted against the bill because the trade deal says the two countries, which both have a carbon price in place, will promote carbon pricing.

Longtime Manitoba MP James Bezan has said a future Conservative government would renegotiate the deal so it contains no reference to carbon pricing.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has repeatedly accused the Conservatives of abandoning Ukraine and following in the footsteps of some U.S. Republicans, who have tried blocking aid to Ukraine.

Trade Minister Mary Ng has said the updated agreement is necessary to help Ukraine rebuild from the war it has been fighting since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.