Peter Goldring’s call for study accepted

Ottawa – The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development agreed today to “undertake a study on the progression of rights and democracy over the past 10 years in Ukraine.” The study had been requested by Peter Goldring, Member of Parliament for Edmonton East.

Mr. Goldring says it is appropriate and timely for the Committee to examine the subject given the recent apparently politically motivated and arbitrary prosecution and conviction of former Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

As well as being a member of the Foreign Affairs committee Mr. Goldring is vice-chair of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary group and has visited Ukraine six times since his first visit as an election monitor for the failed 2004 presidential election. He was the only Canadian Member of Parliament to remain in Ukraine for the entire Orange Revolution, where he personally witnessed and photographed massive electoral ballot box stuffing.

A date has not been set for the Committee’s hearings into the topic.