The President of the European Commission is paying a visit to Canada. Ursula von der Leyen delivered a speech in parliament Tuesday evening after holding meetings with the Prime Minister and members of his cabinet.
There was a welcoming ceremony with military honours and members of the Canadian Forces greeted her in Kingston. Von der Leyen inspected the troops with the Prime Minister by her side. The two then met to discuss a range of issues, with a focus on the war in Ukraine. That meeting also included the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of National Defence, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The group then spoke with reporters where Justin Trudeau pledged more support for Ukraine, “today I can announce we are extending our engineering training as part of operation unifier until at least the fall, and deploying caf medical trainers to help Ukrainian forces with combat medical skills.”
Also announced the federal government is sending seven electrical transformers to help repair Ukraine’s war-torn power grid, and are also donating more money to remove land mines.
Von der Leyen said the Canadian military training mission that was launched in Ukraine in 2015 is part of the reason Ukraine had early success defending itself against the Russian invasion. “Ukrainian troops were much better trained than in 2014, so it’s also thanks to this support from Canada that Ukraine at the very beginning of this war was able to resist,
von der Leyen said.
Von der Leyen’s trip wraps up on Wednesday.