Canada-Russia Relations to Improve if Conservatives Lose Election

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko — Russian-Canadian relations will improve if the ruling Conservative party loses the October 19 federal elections, Andrew Carkner, candidate from the Green Party of Canada, told Sputnik.

Currently, CBC’s Poll Tracker predicts a victory by the Liberal Party with some 35 percent of polled popular support. The ruling Conservatives party and the leftist New Democratic Party (NDP) have some 30 and 24 percent correspondingly in a tight three-way race according to the polls.

“Relations with Russia have been hostile during the Conservative government. If they are replaced by a different government, relations are sure to improve,” Carkner said.

Current Prime Minister Stephen Harper is notorious for his heated anti-Russia rhetoric, and has exacerbated the downward movement of relations between the countries since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine. Supported by a vocal Ukrainian diaspora in the country, Harper has assisted Ukraine with financial and material aid.

Canada, alongside the United States and the European Union, supported economic sanctions against Russia over the Ukrainian crisis. In response to the Western restrictive measures, Moscow announced in August 2014 a one-year food embargo on products originating in states that imposed the anti-Russia sanctions, a move later extended for an additional year.

The Federal elections in Canada will take place on Monday, October 19. The ruling Conservative party is challenged by the leftist New Democratic Party (NDP), the main opposition, and centrist Liberals. The Bloc Quebecois and the Green Party follow the frontrunners.