Statement by Hon. David Kilgour

Member of Canadian Parliamentary Delegation to Presidential Election in Ukraine

Unian Media Centre

Kiev, Ukraine

November 4, 2004

Dobre Den,

Ladies and gentlemen of the media of Kiev,

My comments will focus on some well known activities by President Putin and the Russian government in the first round of your presidential election.

A brief word first on the special relationship between almost 50 million Ukrainians and 31 million Canadians, which my colleague Senator David Smith has already mentioned.

Canada’s government was the first Western government to recognize the independence of Ukraine in 1991.

My country is immensely proud to have among us more than one million citizens of origin in Ukraine - one of the largest diaspora communities anywhere.  Approximately six hundred thousand live in Western Canada.  In Edmonton, Alberta, for example, we have writers, teachers, medical doctors, lawyers, business people, public servants and every other occupation with Ukranian Canadian leaders.  Ukraine is a language taught in some of our public schools.

You can thus see why so many Canadians take such pride in the emergence of a free, independent and democratic Ukraine.  The political birth and prosperity of Ukraine is vital to Canada and the world.

President Putin’s role

How can President Putin and his government treat Ukraine as if it were today a province of Russia during this very important presidential campaign?

Here are only a few of his well-known interferences with the election thus far, which have been brought to the attention of our delegation:

• Three days before the first vote on October 31, Pres. Putin came to Kiev to support Viktor Yanukovych.  Leaders of democratic countries do not interfere openly in the elections of other countries.  This is why Paul martin, our own Prime Minister, did not come to Kiev recently although he was in the region – to avoid giving anyone the impression that he was interfering in your election.

• As everyone knows, government-owned television stations in Russia, which broadcast into this country, are campaigning openly for Mr. Yanukovych.  Our delegation was told that there are billboards up in central Moscow which give the same message.  Is such interference not shockingly inappropriate to any fair-minded democrat anywhere?  It is.

There are, as you know, good indications that Mr. Putin’s advisors are working for Mr. Yanukovych.  Russian money - large amounts of it – has evidently also been enlisted in the same cause.  If so, are such tactics not illegal under Ukraine’s election laws - and back firing with proud Ukrainians everywhere in this country?

One young Kiev resident, who voted for Mr. Yanukocych in the first round, told me that she is concerned about the role of Mr. Putin in Ukraine’s election.  Another Kiev resident, who did not even vote in round one, is so appalled by Mr. Putin and the abuses by Pres. Kuchna’s government that he said he will vote in round two. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, the role of our delegation is not to support any candidate.  Like all international observers, we want only to see a free and fair run-off election after the abuses evident in the first in some oblasts such as Lubansk.

It was not encouraging to learn yesterday that eleven senior officials, who are responsible for the counting of votes, were fired without explanation when all of them are in oblasts where voters favoured Mr. Yushchenko.  Election fairness must not only exists, but must be seen to exists by voters.  That is the goal of all fair-minded democrats in this election.

Thank you.

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