Ottawa, ON — Greg McLean, Conservative Shadow Minister for Natural Resources, and the Hon. Michael Chong, Conservative Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, issued the following statement calling on the Liberal government to commit to a timeline to cease importing Russian petroleum products to Canada:

“Last week, Conservatives asked the Liberal government why Canada continues to fund Putin’s regime in Russia by continuing to import Russian oil into Canada. The Liberal government responded by making an announcement that Canada would immediately ban all imports of crude oil from Russia, acknowledging that Canada has not imported crude oil from Russia since 2019.

“Banning the import of Russian crude oil is symbolic and accomplishes little to nothing in real terms, but Canada does continue to buy a significant amount of other petroleum products from Russia. Last year, Canada bought nearly $350 million in other petroleum products from Russia, effectively sending $1 million per day to fund Vladimir Putin’s regime.

“After Conservatives raised this issue, the Liberal government announced it would also ban all other petroleum imports from Russia but did not say when this would take effect.

“We need real action to ensure Canada is not funding Putin’s war machine or his ongoing illegal invasion of Ukraine. Each day that goes by without a ban on all petroleum products from Russia is another $1 million dollars Trudeau is sending to fund Putin’s war machine.

“Conservatives are calling on Trudeau’s Liberal government to set a firm date to ban all imports of other petroleum products from Russia. We will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine and ensure the Liberal government is held to its word when it says the same.”