Peter Goldring to represent Canada on Ukraine mission
November 27, 2009
Edmonton – Edmonton East Member of Parliament Peter Goldring has been asked to represent the Government of Canada as an election monitor for the January 17, 2010, Presidential election in Ukraine as part of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly delegation. This will be the fifth time Mr. Goldring has monitored a Ukrainian election.Mr. Goldring says he knows first-hand the importance of having impartial observers who can tell the world the electoral process has been acceptably free and fair. “Given some of the uncertainty in Ukraine in recent years I feel it is especially important for Canada to again send observers to help in the monitoring process of this election, which may well have long-lasting effect on Ukraine’s future. Our Government has a commitment to promoting democracy worldwide, and it is important we do so with one of our most valued friends, Ukraine.”
Mr. Goldring says his selection as a Canadian observer is “in light of the work that I have been doing in democracy development in various countries around the world.” Earlier this year he presented a plan for the creation of a Canadian Democracy Development Agency to the Honourable Steven Fletcher, Minister of State for Democratic Reform.
Mr. Goldring recently met in Ottawa with Mr. Yaroslav Davydovych, former Chief Electoral Officer of Ukraine, to talk about the January presidential election. Mr. Davydovych emphasized the need for as many election monitors as possible.
Peter Golding was the only Canadian Member of Parliament to remain in Ukraine after the November 2004 run-off presidential election that sparked the Orange Revolution. For the ten days of the Orange Revolution, at considerable personal risk, he informed Canada and the world of the ongoing events, as well as addressing a crowd of 400,000 in Kyiv’s Independence Square. He subsequently returned to Kyiv for the December vote and has now served as an election monitor in Ukraine on four occasions, in Georgia twice and once in Albania, Haiti and Guyana.