Time for Canada to wage peace in Ukraine

 

The war in Ukraine can continue for years. Or it could escalate into something far worse. Or it could end in the near future.

Canada has limited influence over its direction, but what influence it has should be used to support, rather than undermine, peace negotiations.

The Italian, French and German governments have all recently expressed the importance of a negotiated settlement to the war. Calling for “a cease-fire … as soon as possible,” Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi released a four-point peace plan last week. It calls for a cease-fire to facilitate evacuations, which would be followed by Ukrainian neutrality, then autonomy for disputed territories and a peace deal between the EU and Russia exchanging Russian withdrawal for an easing of sanctions.

US and UK officials, on the other hand, have openly spurned negotiations. They have said the war will end with Russia’s “defeat” and that Vladimir Putin “must lose.”

With the Trudeau government and opposition parties supporting the US-UK axis, there’s barely any discussion about what Canada could due to spur negotiations and end the fighting. In fact, to the extent that there’s public criticism of the government’s policy on Ukraine/Russia it is mostly to demand Canada take even more aggressive measures.

At a foreign affairs committee meeting earlier this month Senator Yuen Pau Woo broke the mold. After Melanie Joly called for winning the war, which she defined as a total Russian withdrawal from Ukrainian territory, Woo asked: “what are we doing to try to broker an early end to the war so that we can reduce human suffering? What are we doing to bring about peace, either directly with Russia or indirectly through interlocutors?” Joly’s response was vague, so Woo pressed the matter asking, “I haven’t heard what we’re doing to wage peace?”  (more...)

Time for Canada to wage peace in Ukraine