Goldring pays tribute to interns from Ukraine
OTTAWA - Peter Goldring, Member of Parliament for Edmonton East, vice-chair of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group and member of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, paid tribute in the House of Commons today to the 35 student interns from Ukraine taking part in the 21st Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program.
These students, “embracing the highest ideals of achievement and community service, have journeyed to Canada to gain valuable perspective and experience Canada’s most important democratic institution, the Parliament of Canada,” he said.
The students have been in Ottawa since mid-September working in different Parliamentary offices and learning about the Canadian democratic system.
Mr. Goldring also gave the students a message to take home with them: “Canada and Ukraine are inextricably linked by prior migration. Canada was there for Ukraine – recognizing independence in 1991. I was there for the Orange Revolution, giving support to Ukraine’s wish for electoral democracy. Once again democracy is on trial.
The people of Ukraine must not let the world-renowned example of democratic resolve of the Orange Revolution slip away.”
The full text of Mr. Goldrings’s statement is below:
CANADA-UKRAINE PARLIAMENTARY PROGRAM
Mr. Speaker,
I wish to congratulate the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program for 21 years of excellence.
Thirty-five young emissaries, including Stanislava Tsarkova, embracing the highest ideals of achievement and community service, have journeyed to Canada to gain valuable perspective and experience Canada’s most important democratic institution, the Parliament of Canada.
They bore witness to two issues in Parliament this past week.
A debate on democracy and a Foreign Affairs Committee meeting exploring the political chicanery in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s youthful ambassadors, Ukraine’s future, must return with this message:
Canada and Ukraine are inextricably linked by prior migration.
Canada was there for Ukraine – recognizing independence in 1991.
I was there for the Orange Revolution, giving support to Ukraine’s wish for electoral democracy.
Once again democracy is on trial.
The people of Ukraine must not let the world-renowned example of democratic resolve of the Orange Revolution slip away.