Mr. Chair, thank you for all of that clarification.
I know you had gone to the clerk numerous times to gain clarification and had let the committee know that. I think that, based on a lot of the questions that came here from a lot of the members, there needed to be some clarification. I'm not sure if we're still 100% clear, but it's good we've gone through some of that process.
Thank you for entertaining my questions. Perhaps each time I could do a point of order, but you were very accommodating there, so thank you for doing that.
As we're looking at bringing this forward to the subcommittee to have a look at how they are going to be reviewing this—if that is what's going to be voted on and what will happen—I guess the discussion is whether or not that is the appropriate place for that to be taking place. If my understanding is correct, that's what we're discussing here today. As part of that, the group will have to look at what the actual amendment is and whether the amendment should be discussed with the entire committee or whether it should be discussed with the smaller group.
I think if it's going to go in the direction where the subcommittee looks at this, the subcommittee needs to be aware as to what the thoughts are of the different members of this committee or those of us who are subbing in on some of those different topics.
We do have three very important topics. We have Ukraine, vaccine equity and Taiwan. I know this committee has looked at all three of these topics, although there's still a lot of work to do. I think that as that subcommittee goes away and deliberates—if that's the direction that this votes goes—it's really important for that subcommittee to know what the different thoughts are of all of the different members of this committee.
Based on that, Mr. Chair, I would like to express that I think that Ukraine should be really top of mind for that committee—or that subcommittee, I guess it would be, if that's the way the vote goes.
With a lot of what I've talked about already, I've just started to set the table as to why the topic of Ukraine is so important right now, especially to Canadians. We do have a lot of Ukrainians coming to Canada. We're seeing them come into every one of our communities.
Earlier today, I was looking at my constituency emails. Every day I'm getting emails from constituents who are either trying to help Ukrainians who are coming into our communities or maybe they want to help nationally. I think as that subcommittee does their deliberations, if that's the way that it goes, they need the tools to be able to confidently talk about the different members of this committee or those of us subbing on and where our thoughts are in order to prioritize which of the studies they are going to prioritize.
Based on that, Mr. Chair, I would like to bring up a couple of other points on why Ukraine would be a topic or study that subcommittee should really be considering as a top priority. We can look not even locally here, but internationally to other news articles and conversations.
For example, I will bring up The New York Times, and its article “Ukraine Invasion Threatens Global Wheat Supply”. I won't get into it because I know there were some members who had some issues with talking about wheat, but again, I'm just setting the tone as to why Ukraine is important for the subcommittee to be considering if, again, it does go in that direction.
There are a couple of points on that I just want to bring up because this is a national conversation, it's an international conversation, and of course at this particular foreign affairs committee we do need to look nationally and internationally. There was an article that was published on February 24, 2022, by The New York Times. It was updated on March 23, 2022, and it really does outline the Russian invasion of Ukraine and how it was threatening a lot of supply chains. This was back in February and again updated in March. Since then we've now had several more months go by and we've seen how this has become even much more serious than it was back then.
I'll read into the testimony some of this article:
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is threatening to cut off some international shipments of wheat, spurring shortages and pushing the price of a vital crop higher when supply chain disruptions have already sent food costs spiraling.
Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade rose 5.43 percent on Thursday, outstripping gains by other commodities like corn and soybean oil.
Russia and Ukraine together export more than a quarter of the world's wheat, feeding billions of people in the form of bread, pasta and packaged foods. The countries are also key suppliers of barley, sunflower seed oil and corn, among other products.
In recent days, the price of agricultural commodities has fluctuated sharply as tensions around the Black Sea threaten to disrupt global shipments of wheat, corn and vegetable oil. Disruptions and rising prices for those commodities—as well as the cost of fuel and fertilizer, important inputs for farmers—could further buffet global food markets and threaten social stability, analysts said.