More Canadian troops headed to Latvia, Trudeau says at NATO summit
Canada will be sending more troops to Latvia as part of a pledge to upgrade and strengthen the NATO battlegroup it is leading there, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday.
The Canadian-led NATO battlegroup is made up of about 2,000 troops, including 700 Canadians, and is one of eight such units based in eastern Europe designed to deter and defend against any Russian invasion.
Canada signed an agreement on the sidelines of a major NATO summit on Wednesday to upgrade the battlegroup to a brigade, which entails adding more troops and equipment to bolster its ability to fight.
- Complete coverage of the war in Ukraine
- Canada to lead NATO forces in Latvia
- WATCH: Why the latest NATO summit is so important
But while Defence Minister Anita Anand said at the time that it was too early to confirm whether Canada would deploy more members of the Armed Forces, Trudeau committed during a closing news conference on Thursday to doing just that.
The prime minister stopped short, however, of giving an expected number.
Trudeau's attendance at the NATO summit capped a nine-day trip that included previous stops in Rwanda and Germany for the Commonwealth heads of government meeting and G7 and was heavily focused on Russia's war in Ukraine.
To that end, the prime minister on Thursday announced more military equipment for Ukraine, saying Canada is in the final stages of talks to supply Ukraine with up to 39 armoured combat support vehicles to help it fight off Russia.
He also pledged to give Ukraine six Canadian-made drone cameras, to complement the roughly 50 cameras sent earlier this year.
Trudeau said his government's decision to send drone cameras and armoured combat vehicles was based on conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government's ministers who asked for these types of military equipment.
"These exceptional cameras built in Canada that go into drones have been incredibly useful in protecting Ukrainians and pushing back against Russia's illegal invasion," Trudeau said. "The light armoured vehicles that we will be sending over will be extremely effective as well."
The planned equipment purchase means Canada is on track to have spent the $500 million set aside in the 2022 budget for military support for Ukraine.
The prime minister also confirmed that a new NATO centre of excellence for climate change and security will be located in Montreal, and that Canada plans to host the North American office for a network of NATO innovation hubs called the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA).
"Russia's illegal, unjustifiable and horrific invasion of Ukraine requires us all to stand together," said Trudeau. "That was very, very clear from this meeting here in Madrid that all of us have already committed to being there to support Ukraine because they are fighting not just for their own territory but our democracies."
The prime minister also said Canada will take part in the G20 summit expected to take place in Bali in November, even if Russian President Vladimir Putin goes too.
Trudeau said he expects all G7 countries, which also includes the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, to take part even if Russia remains a full-fledged member of the G20.
He says the conversations about the global economy that will take place at the G20 summit are "too important," and Canada needs to counteract the voice that Russia will have around that table.
"It's too important that we be there to counteract the voice and the lies that Russia will perhaps be putting forward," Trudeau said.
"There is a number of months still to go before that, and anything can happen."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2022
____
Get in touch
Do you have any questions about the attack on Ukraine? Email dotcom@bellmedia.ca.
- Please include your name, location, and contact information if you are willing to speak to a journalist with CTV News.
- Your comments may be used in a CTVNews.ca story.
Correction
This is a corrected story. A previous version contained the wrong word in a quote attributed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
IN DEPTH
Jagmeet Singh pulls NDP out of deal with Trudeau Liberals, takes aim at Poilievre Conservatives
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has pulled his party out of the supply-and-confidence agreement that had been helping keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberals in power.
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½
BREAKING
Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.
A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.
Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.
Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.
The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.
11-year-old boy dies after subway surfing in NYC
An 11-year-old boy died Monday after subway surfing in New York City. He's the fourth person to die from subway surfing in the city this year.
On the trail of the mystery woman whose company licensed exploding pagers
What Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, 49, the Italian-Hungarian CEO and owner of Hungary-based BAC Consulting, says she hasn't done is make the exploding pagers that killed 12 people and wounded more than 2,000 in Lebanon this week.
Top Hezbollah commander among 12 killed in Israeli strike on Beirut
Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander and other senior figures in the Lebanese movement in an airstrike on Beirut on Friday, vowing to press on with a new military campaign until it is able to secure the area around the Lebanese border.
Kamala Harris tells Oprah any intruder to her home is 'getting shot'
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday issued a warning to any potential home intruder: 'If somebody breaks in my house, they're getting shot.'
Local Spotlight
Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.
An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.
A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.