Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge MP Marc Dalton is one of many Canadian politicians whom President Vladimir Putin has banned from Russia.
He is on a banned list, along with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. President Joe Biden, almost every Canadian MP and about 313 Canadians in total.
“I consider it an honour. I’m glad I’m on his bad side,” said Dalton. “It’s unbelievable what he has done.”
Dalton was impressed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who addressed the House of Commons on Tuesday morning, and asked Canada to do more to assist Ukraine’s defence against a Russian invasion.
In particular, Dalton said it was moving when the Ukrainian president asked MPs to imagine if it was Canadian cities, like Edmonton or Vancouver, being bombarded.
Dalton noted there are about 1.4 million Canadians of Ukrainian descent, and it is heartening that democratic countries have rallied to support Ukraine.
He said NATO countries need to be better able to respond to threats.
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“We need to be building up our military,” said Dalton. “A problem in helping Ukraine is a lack of supplies from Canada.”
The Canadian government has said it has sent: 4,500 rocket launchers and 7,500 hand grenades valued at $10.5 million, at least 100 anti-tank weapons with ammunition worth $12 million, 400,000 meal packs and 1,600 frag vests worth $10 million, and $25 million in helmets, body armour, gas masks and night vision gear. Canada has also offered hundreds of millions in interest-free loans.
Dalton said he could not support a no-fly zone over Ukraine, as Zelenskyy has repeatedly asked of NATO countries, because it would be a provocation that could lead to the conflict spreading.
However, he would like to see NATO insist on humanitarian corridors to help Ukrainian civilians safely leave the country, and “could enforce that.”
READ ALSO: Ukraine’s child refugees a huge challenge for host countries
The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement about personal sanctions against “top officials, parliamentarians and anti-Russian figures in Canada” that Ottawa is in a “Russophobic rage.”
“This step is forced and taken in response to the outrageous hostility of the current Canadian regime, which has tested our patience for so long,” reads the statement. “Every Russophobic attack, be it attacks on Russian diplomatic missions, airspace closures, or Ottawa’s actual severing of bilateral economic ties to the detriment of Canadian interests, will inevitably receive a decisive and not necessarily symmetrical rebuff.”
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