Doug Ford calls Putin a ‘thug’ in address over Ukraine conflict

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This article was published 23/02/2022 (1037 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ontario is providing $300,000 to help with medical aid, food and shelter in Ukraine after Russia’s “violent attack on a sovereign nation,” says Premier Doug Ford.

Canada will “never waver in its support for Ukraine,” a sombre Premier Doug Ford said Thursday morning in addressing Russia’s invasion of the country, later announcing the funds for the Canada-Ukraine Foundation that are for humanitarian purposes.

“There are certain dates that will be forever printed in our history books, dates that will be forever etched into our memories,” Ford said in the legislature, citing the start of the two world wars, adding “we must pray that Feb. 24, 2022, isn’t next.”

On Wednesday evening, “we witnessed a violent attack on a sovereign nation by a despot, a thug,” Ford said. “We witnessed Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression begin in Ukraine.”

Other provinces have also pledged funds to the foundation, including $1 million from Alberta.

More than 375,000 people of Ukrainian origin live in Ontario.

Ford noted that the “bonds between Ukraine and Canada run deep” and said “the Canada we know and love today, would not be the same. The food that feeds our families, it’s farmed by grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Ukrainian immigrants, who left aggression and poverty to settle the Canadian West” starting in the late 1800s.

Liberal MPP John Fraser, speaking of the invasion, said “there is evil in the world.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called on the federal government to recognize any Ukrainian refugees, and support family reunification.

The province says it “will also be ready to assist anyone fleeing from Ukraine who is in need of settlement services. Settlement agencies support newcomers and refugees to find housing, employment, health services and more when they arrive in Ontario.”

Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @krushowy