Right-wing MAGA politics caused Conservatives to turn backs on Ukraine, Trudeau claims

American-style MAGA politics has caused the Conservative Party of Canada to abandon Ukraine in its hour of need, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday.

Trudeau made the comments a day after Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said his party voted against the updated Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement in the House of Commons because it would compel the war-torn country to implement a carbon tax. The agreement does no such thing.

Asked about the Conservatives' opposition to the trade deal while attending the closing press conference of the Canada-European Union summit in St John's, Trudeau called the party's excuse for rejecting the agreement "absurd."

"The real story is the rise of a right-wing, American MAGA-influenced thinking that has made Canadian Conservatives — who used to be among the strongest defenders of Ukraine, I'll admit it — turn their backs on something Ukraine needs in its hour of need," Trudeau said alongside EU Commission President Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen.

The prime minister said the push to withdraw support for Ukraine now rising among Trump conservatives in the U.S. and in "certain corners" of Europe is based on Russian disinformation and propaganda.

"All Canadians should be concerned when the Conservative Party of Canada and Pierre Poilievre turn their backs on history, turn their backs on our friends and allies, turn their backs on the international rules-based order and our support for the UN charter on territorial integrity," Trudeau said.

Earlier this week, 109 Conservative MPs voted against the bill to update Canada's free trade agreement with Ukraine, marking the first break in multi-party support for Ukraine since the Russian invasion.

Asked on Thursday why he and his MPs did not support the update, Poilievre called the agreement "cruel" and "disgusting" and claimed it "betrayed" Ukraine by demanding the country impose a carbon tax.

"I really think it speaks to how pathologically obsessed [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," Poilievre said. 

"The last thing they need is a carbon tax when they're trying to rebuild from war, and from this illegal invasion by Russia."

The basis for his criticism appears to come from article 13.24 of the agreement, which commits both parties to cooperating "bilaterally and in international forums to address matters of mutual interest, as appropriate, to … promote carbon pricing and measures to mitigate carbon leakage risks."

On Thursday, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian embassy in Ottawa told the Globe and Mail the agreement "does not include any specific instruments on decreasing carbon footprint, including specific taxation instruments."

Testifying before a House of Commons committee earlier this month, the federal government's chief trade negotiator said the provisions weren't binding and were meant to promote discussion and co-operation.

The Ukrainian government has had a carbon tax since 2011 and, as part of its efforts to gain membership in the EU, is developing a form of carbon pricing to bring its policies in line with EU trade requirements.