Mr. Speaker, Michael Ignatieff has been parachuted by the Prime Minister into a Toronto area riding to run for the Liberals. Mr. Ignatieff has repeatedly expressed a disdain for Ukrainians and the independent state of Ukraine. According to Mr. Ignatieff, Ukrainians conjure up images of “embroidered peasant shirts, the nasal whine of ethnic instruments, phoney Cossacks in cloaks and boots”.
Ukrainian Canadians are understandably outraged that the Prime Minister is promoting a candidate who refers to Ukrainians as “little Russians”. It has been almost one year since 1,000 Canadians were deployed as election observers to help foster democracy in independent Ukraine, Europe's second largest state and ancestral homeland for 1.2 million Canadians.
On behalf of the Conservative Party of Canada, I would like to state our unqualified and continuing commitment to freedom, democracy and an independent Ukraine.