Trudeau Minister Admits Goal is Regime Change in Russia

Melanie Joly, Canada's foreign minister, during an interview in Montreal, Quebec, Can
Christinne Muschi/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Chris Tomlinson

Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly has admitted that the Canadian government’s goal is not just to see Russia leave Ukraine but to topple the government of Russian president Vladimir Putin itself.

Foreign Minister Joly, a senior member of the cabinet of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, made her remarks as Canada has enacted new sanctions against the import of Russian aluminium and steel, outright mentioning the proposal of regime change.

“We’re able to see how much we’re isolating the Russian regime right now — because we need to do so economically, politically and diplomatically — and what are the impacts also on society, and how much we’re seeing potential regime change in Russia,” Joly stated, the National Post newspaper reports.

“The goal is definitely to do that, is to weaken Russia’s ability to launch very difficult attacks against Ukraine. We want also to make sure that Putin and his enablers are held to account,” she added.

The comments are the first time Joly has mentioned the prospect of regime change in Russia and were met with scepticism from the Russian ambassador to Canada Oleg Stepanov, who stated the Minister’s comments may have been a “Freudian slip of the tongue.”

“What she or other decision-makers in Ottawa don’t want to recognize is that the current Russian policy is supported by the ultimate majority of the nation,” Stepanov said.

While calls or proposals for toppling the government of President Putin by the Trudeau government are new, many others in Canada have called for the Russian ambassador and others to be expelled from Canada entirely, including the opposition Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), who made the demand shortly after the Russian invasion last year in February.

CPC leader Pierre Poilievre, who has also been fiercely supportive of Ukraine in the ongoing conflict, remarked last week that Prime Minister Trudeau has not given enough to the Ukrainian war effort.

“The problem with this government is not that they don’t spend enough, it’s they don’t achieve enough results for the spending they do,” Poilievre said and added, “they spend too much on back office bureaucracy and not enough on frontline military equipment.”

Part of the frontline military equipment already earmarked for Ukraine by Trudeau has been over $400 million for air defence systems, despite the fact Canada lacks its own air defence systems and the systems being purchased have been requested by the Canadian military for a decade.

Talks of regime change in Russia have been a subject of conflict among some allies of Ukraine since the start of last year’s conflict, with U.S. president Joe Biden stating in March of last year, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” in reference to President Putin.

However, Biden administration officials later clarified that the remark was not part of the prepared speech for Biden and tried to walk back the comment, claiming the united states was not, in fact, calling for Putin to be toppled.

Others, however, have been more explicit, including Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, who stated last May, “From our standpoint, up until the point the current regime is not in power, the countries surrounding it will be, to some extent, in danger. Not just Putin but the whole regime because, you know, one might change Putin and might change his inner circle but another Putin might rise into his place.”

French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, has rejected regime change discussion altogether.

“Let’s be clear, I don’t believe for one second in regime change, and when I hear a lot of people invocating for regime change I ask them, ‘For which change? Who’s next? Who is your leader?” President Macron said last month.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.

 

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