Jamie Sarkonak: It is the Liberals' 'woke' trade deal that is anti-Ukraine

The Conservatives' principled 'no' vote does not make them the Russophilic cartoon villains Trudeau so desperately wants them to be

When offered the chance to renew a free trade deal with Ukraine, a country that had no choice but to take on a mountain of debt to finance a bitter fight for self-defence, the Liberals couldn’t help but inject it with progressive nods to social and carbon policies. In the words of critics, the deal is “woke.”

The agreement was signed back in September; once ratified, it’s supposed to make trade with Ukraine even less restrictive than at present. But to actually implement the thing, Canada needs to make it law — hence the Parliamentary debate over Bill C-57, which will do just that. It passed second reading last week, but Conservatives voted against, objecting to the fine print.