Canada's first sanctions against Russia
While the government is discussing the situation, businessmen and ordinary citizens cannot stay away.
On Saturday afternoon, thousands of people turned out for anti-war rallies in various Canadian cities: Ottawa, Vancouver, St. John's, Montreal, Halifax and Winnipeg. In the latter city, the event was organized by the Congress of Ukrainians of Canada, which held rallies in an attempt to raise public awareness back in early February. At least 2,000 people gathered near monuments to Taras Shevchenko and the girl with five spikelets, symbolizing the Holodomor in Ukraine in the 1930s.
On the evening of February 26, Canada, like many other countries, lit up a local landmark in Ukraine with flowers: the Samuel de Champlain Bridge in Montreal. Also, many provincial governments decided to donate large sums as humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
Mobile operators Bell Canada, Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp. and Shaw Communications Inc. announced that until the end of March they will not charge for calls and text messages to Ukraine, as well as for roaming for those customers who are in Ukraine.
On Friday, Trudeau announced his intention to impose sanctions against Vladimir Putin and his inner circle and spoke of severing trade relations with Russia, but no concrete measures have yet been taken. Canadian companies selling alcohol were the fastest to react with their own sanctions: two varieties of Russian Standard vodka and the Romanian vodka Stalinskaya Serebryanaya disappeared from store shelves.
The global oil market is already in chaos, with Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude prices climbing to record highs and fluctuating wildly in recent days. Canadian financial analysts predict the price of gasoline in Canada will rise by an average of $0.05 CAD per liter this weekend and continue to rise.
