This wasn’t exactly a ‘Dear Justin’ love letter filled with pledges of eternal friendship and gratitude for support already provided.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky wrapped a big ask inside the emotional wallop he delivered Tuesday, an address unlike any other visiting dignitary’s speech to the House of Commons.
These celebrity speeches are usually humorous, self-deprecating, graciously-scripted appreciations of the honour delivered by recipients flown in aboard government jets to sleep in nice hotels after a fawning reception.
Not so for Zelensky, dressed for battle and holed up in a sandbag-fortified office deep inside a Kyiv ringed by future Russian war criminals while facing the very real risk of every day being his last.
He challenged MPs to envision his workday as if it was a made-in-Canada conflict; artillery pulverizing Vancouver and Montreal while missiles raining down on the CN tower with our terrified children asking what to do when the air raid sirens sound at 4 a.m.
That’s daily life Ukrainian style right now, he sighed, delivering such powerful, thought-provoking imagery that tears were flowing among my family members.
Sure, there was expressed gratitude for Canada’s humanitarian and lethal weapon support, which I guarantee will ramp up in the groundswell of public empathy created by this address.
But there were also signs Zelensky is weary of carrying the democratic world on his shoulders while a global political audience watching TV from their reclining chairs applauds the effort.
Hundreds of his soldiers and civilians are dying daily from incoming Russian missiles and bombs streaking across an open sky which could be closed with the help of fighter jets from Ukraine’s allies like Canada.
“What I’m trying to say is you all need to do more to stop Russia, to protect Ukraine and protect all over Europe. We're not asking for much, we're asking for justice, we're asking for real support," he said.
In other words, it’s great you stand with us, but it’s time to fly with us.
But, tragically, that’s an unanswerable ask, even if only to protect fleeing civilians from Russia’s aerial bombardment.
It’s easy for interim Official Opposition leader Candice Bergen to call for a no-fly zone over humanitarian corridors in Ukraine, but one deadly dogfight between a Russian and a NATO jet turns the untenable into the unthinkable amid global military and potentially nuclear fallout.
Following Zelensky’s speech, the other opposition leaders delivered heartfelt pledges to help Ukraine, insofar as they have zero influence on decision-making for this far, far away conflict.
But Prime Minister Trudeau, who was banned from entering Russia by its foreign office even while he glowingly introduced Zelensky, must now find ways to act on what will become an even louder crescendo from Canadians demanding he deliver more help on the ground, if not the air.
Zelensky skillfully imprinted his horrors onto our cerebral cortex, making sure democracies know that, right here and right now, We Are All Ukrainian.
While there was considerable cost to flying back hundreds of MPs on a parliamentary break week for his 13-minute speech they could watch on television, it was a tab worth picking up.
If the leader of the world’s democratic epicentre takes time out from a world-defining confrontation to address and arm-twist Canadian MPs and senators, well, that’s a call that must be answered with a full House of Commons.
Watching him is to marvel at this comedian-turned-Churchillian figure, who seemed to be far over his head after being the winner as a joke candidate in a 2019 election.
Zelensky now fills a hunger to hear from politicians who are authentic, eloquent and brave, who speak from their soul instead of a script and do not run for cover when the going gets rough.
But there’s always the worry he won’t be around long if Russia decides the risk of keeping a world-influencing enemy alive is greater than the risk of creating a martyr by having him killed.
Let’s hope for a future in the near term when Volodymyr Zelensky returns in person to address Canada’s Parliament while a movie about the miracle of Ukraine’s repelled Russian invasion is up for an Oscar - with the president playing himself.
That’s the bottom line.
