Mr. Speaker, last month, the foreign affairs committee travelled to Ukraine to study the state of democracy as well as the status of projects funded by the Canadian International Development Agency.
We were privileged to have Taras Zalusky from the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Borys Potapenko from the League of Ukrainian Canadians and Bob Onyschuk from the Canadian Ukrainian Foundation accompany us and assist us with our task to help Ukraine move from a socialist system into a free market system, with free and fair elections.
In Canada there are 1.3 million Ukrainian Canadians.
Canada supports Ukrainians as they struggle to achieve the longing of their collective souls for a free Ukraine, free from servitude, free from corruption, free from the horrors of the Soviet past and free to live and prosper as an independent Ukraine.
This government stands with Ukrainian Canadians as they work in their churches, in their community organizations and as individuals in contact with relatives, to bring true democracy and freedom in Ukraine. We challenge the Ukrainian government to have a free and fair election next fall.