Justin Trudeau says Pierre Poilievre is turning on Ukraine — and that the country's president has noticed

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed concern to Justin Trudeau about what appears to be Conservative backsliding in the Canadian consensus in support of Ukraine, the prime minister says. In the weeks before the House of Commons broke for the holidays, Pierre Poilievre and his Conservatives , as well as against more money for Canadian military assistance to the war ravaged nation.

Conservatives have that they continue to stand by Ukraine, but in an interview with the Star, the prime minister said that Zelenskyy has taken note of these Conservative votes and the subject has come up in the regular conversations between the two leaders. “The fact that the Canadian Parliament is no longer unequivocally and unanimously standing with Ukraine because of decisions Pierre Poilievre has taken — that is something that I think worries people around the world,” Trudeau said.

Liberals have been keen to make sure Canadians noticed the Conservatives’ votes on Ukraine, even taking out newspaper ads in 18 Conservative held ridings in the days before Christmas. So it wasn’t a total surprise that Trudeau would want to continue to talk about this in his one on one with the Star.

The prime minister didn’t specify whether he or Zelenskyy first raised the developments in Canada during their conversations, but when asked twice whether the Ukrainian president had mentioned it, Trudeau said a definitive yes. “He’s certainly aware of it. Yes.” Zelenskyy’s larger concern, obviously, lies in the United States, where Republicans are openly wavering on any more support for Ukraine, and tying it up in congressional battles with President Joe Biden and the Democrats.

Trudeau said that in the two years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he’s been able to boast to Zelenskyy and other leaders that the U.S. style political divisions — as well as those seen in some other European countries — are not happening here. The prime minister is still sure that a strong majority of MPs will remain unwaveringly opposed to Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and Canadian aid, ultimately, is not imperilled as it is in the U.S.

“I now have to say, I think we're still good, but I can't say that as strongly," Trudeau said. "From a parliamentary procedure process, I'm confident that the NDP and the Bloc will continue to stand against Putin, and therefore I know we're going to be able to continue to act in these ways.” In a long, wide ranging discussion with me last week, this was one of the few times Trudeau spoke about Poilievre and the Conservatives, at least directly.

The conversation was focused a lot on the larger mood in the nation, including the antipathy toward Trudeau himself and his government, and some of the larger forces making citizens unhappy with their politicians and institutions. Trudeau talked about this distemper of the times as a worldwide phenomenon, and I asked whether he was worried that aid to Ukraine could be a casualty of the political dysfunction in the United States and elsewhere.

This was the point where Trudeau wanted to draw links between the American right and what he called the “far right” in Canada, which he says is also showing eroding support for Ukraine. Conservatives, it should be stressed, have said they oppose the Canada Ukraine free trade deal because it contains provisions for a "carbon tax," which Poilievre opposes, domestically and internationally.

Trudeau bluntly said he’s not buying that explanation. “To watch the Conservatives vote against something that President Zelenskyy explicitly asked for, which is an update of the trade deal, using the flimsiest of excuses around the price on pollution, I think is a clear indication that the right — in the United States or certain pockets of the right around the world — are pulling away from defence of the international, rules based order.” He went on: “Now, I'm cautious as well to try not to paint with too broad a brush on this, but I think a lot of people are deeply puzzled.” Even in strictly political terms, Trudeau said it’s baffling.

“The largest number of Ukrainian Canadians tend to live in the Prairies …. and those are areas that are more usually solidly Conservative … To see the Conservative party throw aside its Ukrainian base at this point begs the question — why?” In the weeks before the Christmas break, Trudeau and his Liberals were getting increasingly eager to draw some sharp lines between Poilievre and the Donald Trump brand of politics south of the border.

The prime minister didn’t dwell on that too much in this interview, but his pointed mentions of the Ukraine votes shows that it remains top of mind, and Canadians should expect to hear more about Poilievre as “Trump north” in the weeks and months ahead..