On Parliament Hill

As the Member of Parliament for Provencher, I would like to extend my best wishes to all those who celebrated the 23rd anniversary of Ukraine’s independence as a nation. Ukrainians are known worldwide as a resilient and hard-working people with rich culture and traditions.

I commend the tremendous contributions that the Ukrainian people have made in here in Provencher and across the country. Canada is home to third largest Ukrainian population in the world, with over one million people of Ukrainian descent who continue to contribute to Canada’s rich and diverse heritage.

In 1991, Canada was the first Western country to recognize Ukraine’s independence, and today Canada’s support for Ukraine remains unwavering. At the outbreak of the current crisis in Ukraine, our Conservative Government was one of the first voices on the international stage to offer explicit support for the Ukrainian people in their struggle to restore democracy, freedom and the rule of law.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper was the first G7 leader to visit Kyiv and our Government continues to take action to help restore stability and prosperity in the country. We froze the assets of members of the Yanukovych regime and imposed travel bans and economic sanctions on Russian officials responsible for the crisis in Ukraine. Indeed, our Government has strongly condemned Russia’s illegal military intervention in Ukraine and continues to pressure Russia to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

To demonstrate our support for the Ukrainian people’s aspirations for freedom and democracy, our Government sent observers to monitor the recent presidential election. Senator Raynell Andreychuck and former Ontario premier Mike Harris led the Canadian bilateral election observation mission to Ukraine, joining hundreds of Canadian election observers to help ensure the integrity of the electoral process. Prime Minister Stephen Harper reaffirmed Canada’s support for the Ukrainian people at the swearing-in ceremony of Petro Poroshenko, the newly elected President of Ukraine.

This Ukrainian independence day, our Government recommits to continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Ukrainian people. We will continue to support Ukraine as it takes steps to restore political stability and economic prosperity. And, we will continue to work with our international partners to help ensure Ukraine’s borders are respected and Ukrainians are able to determine the future of their country.