So Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the Canadian Parliament.

You can watch the whole thing here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exSuL5OhUzs , but if you’d rather take my words for it, it went a little like this:

Justin Trudeau spoke first.

“Democracies around the world are lucky to have you as our champion.”

Standing ovation. He announces “15 new sanctions” and more  “financial humanitarian assistance.”

“We like to root for the underdog”

Then Zelensky got to speak, through a translator. Among the highlights:

“Justin, can you imagine, you, your children, imagine these explosions; the bombing of Ottawa airport. Can you imagine that?”

“You know, this is war to annihilate your country”

“Imagine someone is laying siege to Vancouver. . .”

“Can you imagine famous CN Tower in Toronto, hit by Russian bombs?”

“Imagine that Canadian facilities have been bombed. . .”

“Can you imagine someone taking down Canadian flags in Montreal?”

“ We want to live, to be victorious, to prevail for the sake of life.”

“Our cities are not protected the way your cities are protected”

“You need to do more.”

“Please do not stop in your efforts.”

“I am confident we will overcome, we will be victorious.

“Glory to Ukraine, thankyou to Canada.”

If there’s one thing these speeches made clear, it’s the chasm between the quality of the
leaders over there and over here. Zelensky sounded like a modern day Henry V and Trudeau like a kitchenware salesman. Could our Prime Minister’s response been more hackneyed, cliched or self serving? “We like to root for the underdog” indeed. Really Justin??? Is this a fucking football match? I wonder what the phrase comes out as in Ukrainian. I wonder what Zelensky must have thought hearing that as bombs were landing yards away. He must feel great relief knowing Canadians “root for the underdog”.

Zelensky must play the hand he’s dealt. He must surely know that what he can get out of this tour of western capitols can’t be much more than what he’s already gotten. But he keeps playing, hitting all the right notes, name-dropping Canadian landmarks, calling the PM by name, and appealing to whatever sense of sympathy and decency a gang of soft western politicians might have. If words could beat tanks, Zelensky would rule the world by now. He said everything it was humanly possibly to say, and, who knows, maybe it will result in more financial or humanitarian aid than he might otherwise have gotten, and maybe it will help. It was painful though to compare those words, heartfelt, honest, and harrowing, with Trudeau’s grab bag of cliches. Would it have killed him or his writers to put a little effort in?  

Interim opposition leader Candice Bergen wasn’t much better.

“We will be there with you after this conflict. . .”  In other words, we’ll help out when it’s over. Thanks Candice.

 She went on to say: “Putin must be brought to justice.”  I’ve come to really despise the phrase “x MUST y”. In headlines, on placards, in speeches. Must this, must that. The meaningless imperative that never gets followed. From speakers not in a position to make it happen. Why does anyone bother?  Sure Putin is a war criminal. Most war-leaders are war criminals. Who’s going to bring him to justice? NATO? The UN? Batman? Candice Bergen? It’s as empty a phrase as any in politics, designed to signal indignation while promising nothing.

As for Bergen’s promise to “Welcome Ukrainians who are fleeing.” and her pledge that “Canada will be a safe haven for Ukraine citizens”, I wondered if I’d actually just heard a Conservative politician promising to bring more refugees into the country. That would be something. I’ll believe it when I see it. Of course, she also blatantly said they’d all be expected to go home afterwards, so it’s a moot point.  

The New Democrats’ Jameed Singh was lame. “With you every step of the way.” he declares.  Are you kidding? What a thing to say for a comfortable politician thousands of miles from the front! What a thing to claim for a country that hasn’t, and won’t have to, endure Russian bombs. Or indeed, any real inconvenience beyond slightly higher gas prices and fewer brands of vodka at the LCBO. Where does anyone get off making that kind of claim to someone who’s right there in the thick of it?

Dignity finally crept into the proceedings when Yves-François Blanchet of the Bloc Quebecois spoke. Not only did his speech not sound like it was written by a bot, but he had the balls to speak with something vaguely resembling honesty.

 “It is difficult for me to admit to a certain powerlessness to do more.”

“Mr. President, all this is to little,” he said, after rattling off Canada and Quebec’s efforts.

“Too little, every time a man, a woman, or a child dies. Every time a hospital, a day care centre, a school, a park or even a single flower is destroyed.  

“What we cannot do is the cruelest thing of all.”

“Against the fear in the hearts of Ukraine’s children, we can only do too little. I apologize for that.” 

Sure beats Trudeau’s “underdog”, don’t it? I couldn’t care less that the man’s a separatist – that seems such a petty concern at the moment. He spoke well, he captured the pathos of the situation, and he didn’t try to aggrandize this country’s petty contributions. He looked that cold reality in the face, and called it for what it was.  A rare thing in western politics.

Elizabeth May of the Green Party did alright for herself as well. If she lacked Blanchet’s eloquence, she made up for it in apparent sincerity. She actually seemed affected by events. Sure, any emotional display from a politician must be taken with a ton of salt, but if body-language is anything to go by – I believed her. Call me naïve, but I believed her in a way I didn’t believe the others.

Her voice cracked as she read letters from she’d received from the Ukrainian Green Party, describing the horrible scene, and urging no-fly zone to stop the carnage.

Moved as she was, she could not bring herself to lie.

“It broke my heart to write my Ukrainian colleague. . .that a now fly zone will risk a wider war, nuclear war. These reasons are solid even if they ring hollow.

“We will inevitably let you down.”

Only a fringe party could afford to be so honest. And how refreshing it was. Spare them the bullshit. If you can’t give them what they want, admit it, and don’t pretend that what you can’t give is just as good.  That could go for almost any political promise. If that costs votes, then maybe it’s not the politicians who are at fault.