Canada is aiming to modernize its free-trade agreement with Ukraine, known as CUFTA, as lawmakers believe it will provide business opportunities for the war-torn country after Russia's invasion. But Conservative members of Parliament have stalled the bill's progress through the House of Commons because they claim it will impose a "carbon tax" on Ukraine. This is false. Ukraine already has its own carbon pricing program and there are no binding provisions in the updated agreement about climate change mitigation.
"I really think it speaks to how pathologically obsessed (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau is with the carbon tax that, while the knife is at the throat of Ukrainians, he would use that to impose his carbon tax ideology on those poor people," Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Nov. 22 when speaking with reporters on Parliament Hill.
"The last thing they need is a carbon tax when they're trying to rebuild from war and from this illegal invasion by Russia."
Similar claims have been made by other Conservative MPs, including Garnett Genuis who in a post on X, formerly Twitter, "Liberals put a carbon tax that nobody wants into a trade deal."
On Dec. 18 in a year-end interview with the Toronto Sun, Poilievre repeated his claim, saying his party opposes CUFTA because it is "a ."
Rating: False
, implemented in 2011.
Four years after that program was put in place, former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper a trade agreement with that country as a way to help reduce Russia's influence on Ukraine.
The Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement was later ratified and in 2017 under the Liberal government.
In July 2019 Prime Minister Trudeau and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a mutual commitment to expand and modernize CUFTA, and the government launched public consultations.
When Zelenskyy visited Parliament in September, both leaders the final modernized CUFTA. In October, Trade Minister Mary Ng tabled the legislation in the House of Commons, it would enable ɫtv businesses to help with Ukraine's economic reconstruction and recovery from Russia's invasion.
Also known as Bill C-57, the legislation is currently in its .
No imposition of a carbon tax
The clause in question comes up in the environment chapter of the agreement.
It says Canada and Ukraine "shall cooperate bilaterally and in international forums to address matters of mutual interest, as appropriate" to, among other things, " and measures to mitigate carbon leakage risks."
When the bill was studied by the House's international trade committee, officials within the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development cleared up any confusion on what the clause meant.
" on carbon taxes or climate change. What we've included in this trade agreement is an ability for the parties to discuss, to ensure that any trade initiatives don't hinder parties' abilities to promote climate change initiatives, and that would include the imposition of a carbon tax," Bruce Christie, assistant deputy minister and chief trade negotiator, said to the committee on Nov. 7.
"However, those are not binding provisions; they are co-operation provisions."
Dean Foster, director of trade negotiations for Europe, put it more bluntly.
"I'll just build on previous comments that the chapter does . It is very largely co-operation based and based on principles for building on co-operation in this area," Foster said to the committee on Nov. 7.
Ukraine weighs in
In a newspaper on Nov. 23, the Ukrainian Embassy in Canada said the revised trade deal contains no specific measures to decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
The “modernized CUFTA does not include any specific instruments on decreasing carbon footprint, including specific taxation instruments,” embassy spokesperson Marianna Kulava said to the Globe and Mail.
She also said to the newspaper that Ukraine is in the process of devising its own plan to fight climate change as part of its campaign to seek admission to the European Union.
A week later, the Ukrainian ɫtv Congress to Poilievre asking him to revisit his party's position on Bill C-57.
Sources
Claim can be found on X, formerly Twitter, () and on YouTube ()
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