{"id":61339,"date":"2026-01-01T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=61339"},"modified":"2026-01-01T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T13:00:00","slug":"mp-blois-explains-canadas-2-5b-ukraine-commitment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=61339","title":{"rendered":"MP Blois explains Canada\u2019s $2.5B Ukraine commitment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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ELMSDALE:<\/strong> The MP for Kings-Hants said Canada\u2019s newly announced $2.5-billion commitment to Ukraine is being widely misunderstood and should not be viewed as direct cash being sent overseas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The funding was announced Saturday in Halifax by Prime Minister Mark Carney alongside the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kody Blois told The Laker News<\/em> the full amount is made up of loan guarantees and financial support mechanisms, not grants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNone of it is what I would call grant money,\u201d Blois said. \u201cIt is loan guarantees that allow international financial institutions to continue lending to Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Under the arrangement, Canada would only be financially impacted if Ukraine were to default on those loans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt really only impacts us if Ukraine defaults,\u201d Blois said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blois acknowledged that the announcement comes at a time when many Canadians are struggling with affordability and cost-of-living pressures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople look at that number and say, \u2018I\u2019m struggling to get by \u2014 why are we sending money outside the country?\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blois argued the funding must be viewed through a national security lens, describing Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine as part of a broader pattern of aggression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are clear parallels to the late 1930s,\u201d he said. \u201cThe question is whether aggression is resisted or allowed to spread.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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He noted Russia is a direct neighbour of Canada through the Arctic and has been clear it would not stop at Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf a NATO country is attacked, Canada would be expected to respond,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a down payment on Canada\u2019s own security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Canada\u2019s total support for Ukraine now exceeds $40 billion, Blois said the figure needs to be put in context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn an annual federal budget that exceeds $500 billion, it represents less than two per cent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Blois rejected the idea that supporting Ukraine comes at the expense of domestic priorities, pointing to Canada\u2019s $81-billion investment over five years to re-equip and support the Canadian Armed Forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can walk and chew gum at the same time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can invest in Canadians at home while also supporting international stability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that Canada is not acting alone, noting that the United States, European allies, and other NATO partners are also contributing to Ukraine\u2019s defence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe alternative is a much more dangerous and costly scenario,\u201d he said, warning that unchecked aggression could ultimately draw Canada into a wider conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ELMSDALE: The MP for Kings-Hants said Canada\u2019s newly announced $2.5-billion commitment to Ukraine is being widely misunderstood and should not be viewed as direct cash being sent overseas. The funding was announced Saturday in Halifax by Prime Minister Mark Carney alongside the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Kody Blois told The Laker News the full […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[965,12,957],"tags":[1923,2105,3087,1281,10009,10010,7962,10011,3320,10012],"class_list":["post-61339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-hants","category-featured","category-news","tag-canada","tag-kings-hants-2","tag-kings-hants-mp-kody-blois","tag-kody-blois","tag-loan-guarantee","tag-president-donald-trump","tag-prime-minister-mark-carney","tag-trump","tag-ukraine","tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/53188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}