A member of the Canadian Conservative Party in the House of Commons said that a future government formed by his party will renegotiate with Ukraine regarding the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement.

James Bezan, who represents a district in the province of Manitoba in west-central Canada, added that a Conservative-led government will ensure that the agreement with Ukraine contains no mention of carbon pricing, and also that no other trade agreement Canada signs will include this matter.

''We will not include a carbon tax in any of our trade agreements, including the agreement with Ukraine,'' Bezan confirmed.

Bezan made this comment in an interview conducted last week by the "Kontakt" television channel (Kontakt Ukrainian TV), which targets the Ukrainian community in North America and the Ukrainian audience in his country as well.

The interview was broadcast after the Conservative Party voted against a new free trade agreement with Ukraine last Tuesday.

The House of Commons ratified this updated agreement thanks to the votes of all MPs except the Conservative MPs in favor of it.

Ukrainian associations in Canada said they had hoped all parties would support the bill opposed only by the Conservatives.

Liberal minority government leader Justin Trudeau said that the Conservative Party mimics the Republican Party in the United States that wants to cut aid to Ukraine.

Trudeau added that the Conservative vote against the updated agreement, signed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last September, is ''unbelievable.''

Liberals argue that the updated free trade agreement will ultimately enable Canadian companies to help Ukraine recover from the war launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin two years ago.

Since that large-scale military invasion on February 24, 2022, Canada has spent $2.4 billion on weapons, military ammunition, and other equipment provided to Ukraine.

Bezan said in the interview with "Kontakt" channel that the inclusion of carbon pricing in the agreement is a ''poison pill'' that the Conservative Party cannot support, adding that the Conservatives will also amend the agreement by adding provisions related to insurance.

''It will be a better free trade agreement and will ensure our ability to trade,'' Bezan continued.

Bezan added that a future Conservative government will also ensure that Canadian and Ukrainian defense systems can cooperate better, so Ukraine becomes capable of producing its own weapons.

The Conservative Party spokesman, Sebastian Skamsky, said the party intends to ''strengthen trade relations between Canada and Ukraine and cancel Justin Trudeau's harmful and costly provisions related to the carbon tax.''

Skamsky also referred to the latest comments by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre on this subject.

It is noted that after the vote on the updated free trade agreement last week, Poilievre said that the Conservatives will not respect what he called the ''carbon tax amendment,'' but he did not specify what he intends to do about the agreement.

Poilievre defended his party’s vote against the agreement by saying that the previous Conservative government led by Stephen Harper essentially launched the free trade agreement with Ukraine.