Trudeau apologizes to head of Ukrainian Canadian Congress for hockey joke

OTTAWA – Justin Trudeau says he’s apologized for his flippant joke about Ukraine.

In a tweet, Trudeau said he’s spoken to Paul Grod, head of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, and told him he was sorry for speaking lightly of the threat Russia poses to Ukraine.

He has followed up with another tweet saying the Liberals take the situation in Ukraine very seriously and pointing to the party’s emergency resolution on the upheaval in the country, passed in Montreal over the weekend at the party’s policy convention.

The Conservatives and the NDP put Trudeau on the hot seat on Monday after he made a joke linking the events in the Ukraine to Russia’s Olympic hockey woes during a pre-taped appearance on a humour-infused Radio-Canada current affairs program.

Trudeau suggested Russia, peeved about being eliminated from the medal round, might retaliate by getting involved in Ukraine.

The country’s president is currently in hiding, his regime in tatters, following months of pro-Western protests that claimed the lives of dozens of people.

Follow Lee-Anne Goodman on Twitter at @leeanne25