OTTAWA — Canada has no plans to pressure Ukraine to hold wartime elections, instead focusing on broader democratic efforts.

Alexandre Lévêque, deputy minister for strategic policy at Global Affairs Canada, told a Senate committee that Ottawa supports efforts to eradicate corruption and engage civil society.

Mr. Lévêque said Ottawa would not raise the issue if Kiev chose not to hold a vote, stressing that “democracy is much more than just voting.”

Canadians have played an outsized role in overseeing elections in Ukraine since Ukraine’s independence in 1991.

The country’s constitution calls for a vote next spring, but also says it cannot take place during martial law.

During his visit to Ottawa last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky argued that it would be logistically complicated to organize a vote while Russia occupies entire regions and that this could result in people gathering at election offices being bombed would.

Mr. Lévêque added that Canadian officials are “monitoring and concerned” about the denial of support for Ukraine from the country’s neighbors as well as Washington.

“Actions speak louder than words,” he argued before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday.

“What is said during an election campaign and what actually happens with a NATO ally can be very different,” he said, adding that Canada, along with other countries, “has signed multi-year commitments that are much more difficult to honor “.

Slovakia recently elected a government whose political agenda was to reduce support for Ukraine, while Poland reduced its arms exports in an election that saw farmers complain that Ukrainian crops were hurting their activities.

Meanwhile, rumors are circulating in the Republican Party that the US should withdraw its support for Ukraine.

“It is important to sustain Canadian and international efforts during this time as Russia continues to rely on fatigue from Ukraine’s allies and partners,” he testified. We continue to see unprecedented unity among allies and friendly countries to effect change in a particular historical direction.”

Mr. Lévêque did not directly respond Wednesday when asked whether Canada had ever considered tying its foreign aid to poor countries to their support for Ukraine or Russia. Instead, he told senators that Canada would allocate aid based on need.

The idea of ​​cutting aid to developing countries that support Russia was floated by the right wing of Finland’s coalition government, although the proposal sparked a global backlash and was not pursued.

Meanwhile, Lévêque told senators that Canada is aware that countries are undermining sanctions against Russia by replacing exports with Western countries or transporting goods through transit points.

Mr. Lévêque pointed out that existing laws do not allow sanctions against third parties. He noted that Canada is trying to work with developing countries like Indonesia, Brazil and Turkey to educate their counterparts about how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is making the world more expensive and unstable.