House foreign affairs committee to probe decision to waive sanctions on Russian titanium

Airbus and Bombardier were granted the exemptions recently, allowing them to get around sanctions imposed on the company VSMPO-AVISMA, one of the world's largest producers of the critical mineral.

The decision drew outrage from Ukraine's ambassador to Canada, Yuliya Kovaliv, who said allowing the companies a pass to continue to use Russian titanium — when there are other suppliers elsewhere in the world — serves to feed the Kremlin's war machine.

In February, Canada became the first Western government to ban Russian supplies of the strategic metal as part of a package to mark the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Two major military procurement projects — the acquisition of both new fixed-wing search and rescue planes and new transport and refueling aircraft — could have been affected by the sanctions imposed by Global Affairs.

In a statement issued to CBC News, the defence department sidestepped the question of the impact of the sanctions, acknowledging only the fact that some components are made of titanium without pointing to a source.

Prior to that, he covered defence issues and politics for CP in Nova Scotia for 11 years and was bureau chief for Standard Broadcast News in Ottawa.