FOR THE RECORD: Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow addresses UWC (12/27/98)

FOR THE RECORD: Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow addresses UWC

Below is the text of the speech delivered by Premier Roy Romanow of Saskatchewan at the Ukrainian World Congress gala luncheon on December 3.

... I want to begin by welcoming those of you from outside Canada, and to wish you the very best during your visit to our country. And I certainly extend my warmest invitation to come and visit us in my native province of Saskatchewan. Come now if you can - but you would be wiser to visit us in summer!

I bring you greetings from the government of Saskatchewan. And, more personally, I bring you greetings from our people - not only from those who are proud to know Ukraine as their ancestral homeland, but from all of us, wherever our families originated.

For it has been the hard work of all our citizens, toiling together in pursuit of a common dream, who have built a new and tolerant homeland in this multicultural nation called Canada.

This great and tolerant nation has allowed people from everywhere on earth, from every ethnic or linguistic background, from every circumstance, to live that dream.

The Ukrainian patriot Valentyn Moroz once said: "Canada has created harmony and cooperation among ethnic groups, and it must take this experience to the world."

I believe Canada has done this.

I believe that Canada has taken its experience to the world, and that by working together, we have built a nation that has been a "shining light" of tolerance, diversity and respect.

And although our nation faces challenges in its long journey, we can - and we will - keep working together to keep building that dream, and this nation. To be a model for the world.

A model for the world, in proving that there is strength in diversity. Valentyn Moroz, of whom I spoke earlier, also said: "Ukrainian people in Canada are not forced to abandon their roots. This is the message Canada sends to the world."

That is true.

Without abandoning our heritage - indeed, while celebrating our roots - Ukrainian Canadians have been instrumental in building this nation. As a people, we have come from serfdom to freedom in less than a century, from humble beginnings as small farmers and laborers to positions of influence and renown - sometimes in only one generation.

My own father came here in 1928 from a homestead near Lviv. He was a farmer's son, and he wanted nothing more than to be a farmer himself. He got here just as the Dirty '30s were starting - Dad's timing wasn't the best, I guess! - so, like many others, he got a laborer's job, working for the Canadian National Railway.

It was hard, hard work, but he did it, because he was determined to make a better life for his son and his daughter - the life we enjoy today. To put it another way, we succeeded because he succeeded. I think that if there's a common thread to the experience of Canada's immigrants - not just Ukrainian, but all immigrants, it is this: If we have any success, as second- or third- or fourth-generation Canadians, that success is an enduring testimony to their courage and determination.

If we express ourselves with any eloquence at all, it is because they practiced their few words of a new language on the boats and trains that brought them to their new homeland.

If we have any material rewards and comforts, they are the dividends paid on their investment of time, work and optimism. The Saskatchewan folk-singer Connie Kaldor calls our prairie landscape "harsh and unforgiving," and it can be.

But when those Ukrainian emigrants saw that land, they didn't see its harshness. They saw its promise, they saw home. They saw land that reminded them of where they had come from, and land that held the hope of a new home they wanted to help build. And help they did.

At the national level, we see Ray Hnatyshyn, who served as the governor-general of Canada, the first Ukrainian Canadian to represent the Queen in Canada. And we see his father, John Hnatyshyn, a senator. We see such towering figures as the late Justice John Sopinka, a judge in our Supreme Court and one of the finest legal minds this nation has ever produced.

We see Sylvia Fedoruk and Steven Worobetz, who served as lieutenant governors of my province of Saskatchewan.

In my own government, many ministers are proud of their Ukrainian heritage. And though we are proud to be Ukrainian Canadians, we always keep in mind the contributions made by all Canadians, from all their many backgrounds. We have built this nation, made our contributions, not in isolation from our neighbors, not separate and apart from them - but together with them. The Canadian journalist John Galt once described how Canada differs from most other nations in the world. He said, "In older countries, the future was inherited, largely predetermined by their past. Here, if we had the will, we could choose what we would become."

We did choose. We chose to become a democratic nation, based on values and ideals. We chose to build what Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier called "a partnership of mutual trust," based on our values of democracy, freedom, tolerance and respect for diversity.

That respect for diversity has been a source of strength for this nation. And I believe the Ukrainian experience in Saskatchewan and Canada has demonstrated this strength for many years. Today, after a century of immigration, there are 500,000 Ukrainian-Canadians. This diaspora gives Canada a special cultural, linguistic and academic linkage with Ukraine - links that give us both the incentive and the capacity to build a special governmental relationship with Ukraine. And we have worked to build that relationship, to enhance Ukraine's status as a member of the family of independent nations.

From the time that Canada first recognized Ukraine's autonomy, Canada has remained a key friend of an independent Ukraine. In 1993, Canada pushed to have Ukraine's delicate economic condition put on the G-7 Naples agenda - at a time when other G-7 countries doubted Ukraine's viability.

In 1994, Canada organized the Conference on Ukraine in Winnipeg, which consolidated global support for President [Leonid] Kuchma's first comprehensive reform program.

At the same time, our federal government tried to improve the commercial aspects of Canada's relationship with Ukraine through the bilateral Canada-Ukraine Agreement on Economic Cooperation. Working closely with the Ukrainian government, three priority sectors were selected in order to help build a strong economy: oil and gas, which is key as Ukraine struggles to lessen its dependence on Russia and other foreign suppliers; agriculture, particularly dry-land farming technology and equipment as well as advanced plant and animal genetics, areas in which Saskatchewan has much expertise to offer; and construction and building materials.

Canada has been at the forefront of NATO's work to build a partnership with Ukraine, and recently made significant contributions toward shaping the content of the recently initialed NATO-Ukraine relationship. And in January, Prime Minister [Jean] Chrétien will make an historic first official bilateral visit to Ukraine, where he will meet with President Kuchma, sign a governance project agreement and meet with business leaders. This historic first visit will further strengthen the bonds of co-operation between Ukraine and Canada.

And those strong bonds, that enduring relationship between Canada and Ukraine is mirrored in the relationship between Ukraine and my province of Saskatchewan.

Just weeks after being elected as Premier of Saskatchewan in November 1991, I watched with fascination the emergence of an independent and free Ukraine. Of course, like many of the citizens of my province with a Ukrainian heritage, it was impossible for me to simply watch developments from the sidelines.

My government established a community-based advisory committee, and asked it to help design a framework agreement for expanding formal relations between Saskatchewan and Ukraine.

A draft agreement was then negotiated with Ukraine's national government before my own mission to Ukraine in 1995. And I can tell you that it was one of the proudest moments in my life when I stood with President Kuchma at the Mariinskii Palace in Kyiv as we signed the Saskatchewan-Ukraine Memorandum in October of 1995. The first plan of action under this agreement included very practical commercial projects in oil field development, electrical systems renovation, agriculture and the cultural industries. Most of the initiatives in this first plan of action have now been completed. So, three months ago, our advisory committee recommended a second plan of actions.

I'll just list a few of the new initiatives: a beef and forage development project at the Pereiaslav Khmelnytskyi demonstration farm, with partners such as the Volhyn Scientific and Industrial Company, the Ukrainian Academy of Agrarian Sciences and the Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture; the Youth for Health project, which is aimed at helping develop a sustainable national health strategy in Ukraine by assisting with the implementation of youth health policies; the Canada-Ukraine Ag-Biotech Regulatory Development project, which is exploring the possibility of a regulatory memorandum of understanding between the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Ukrainian Ministry of Science and Technology; and the Canada-Ukraine Legislative Cooperation Project, which since early 1996 has allowed Ukrainian legislators to visit Canadian legislatures. Saskatchewan has been a leading participant in this project, and we are currently looking forward to a visit in March from Ukrainian legislators interested in the social sector.

The second action plan also includes cultural partnerships in the areas of publishing and film.

Friends, these are exciting developments. A nation's enduring legacy can be found in its literature, and both Saskatchewan and Ukraine have strong and distinct literary histories.

And since film has been called the "literature of the 20th century," and will certainly be a vital cultural medium in the 21st century, it has a place of importance as well.

That's why Saskatchewan has undertaken to support and promote this important medium, to encourage our artistic and cultural community to explore film to tell our stories to our people.

Not long ago, in fact, I had the chance to attend the first showing of a new Saskatchewan film about the Ukrainian experience - and I was proud to see that this story will be told to our people. And I look forward to two new film co-productions between film-making partners in Saskatchewan and Ukraine - partnerships that again strengthen the bonds of friendship and cooperation.

I sincerely hope that our Canadian partnership, as well as my own province's projects, will help in building that dream, and creating opportunity and prosperity for all.

Through these projects, and hundreds of others, we are forging a respectful and understanding partnership with Ukraine. "Respectful" means that we in Canada should recognize that we have as much to learn from Ukraine as we have to teach.

We can teach our democratic values and the structure of institutions that have served us well; and we can learn: new methods of governance, new models of cooperation, new ways to build institutions, indeed new ways to approach democracy itself, by watching the exciting growth of the Ukrainian democratic experience.

At the same time, "understanding" means that we in Canada must recognize the enormous challenges involved in such major democratic and economic transitions.

We must understand that such changes take time, and must be undertaken carefully. Let us always remember that the seeds of a new economy do not grow easily. They require careful and patient tending. Likewise, the seeds of a new democracy do not grow easily. They require tolerance and faith in the future.

Like so many other Ukrainian-Canadians, I have such a faith in the future of Ukraine.

Our nations, though they are separated by vast distances of land and sea, are joined - by the bonds of history and shared experiences. And our futures are likewise joined, by bonds of common aspirations, our shared dream.

We know very well that the Ukrainian people have always been able to make things grow, as they've proved from time immemorial. They've done so in Ukraine, they've done so in Canada - and everywhere else they have had the chance to put plow into soil. And just as that Canadian soil was sown with hope and dreams of Ukrainian immigrants, so too can Ukrainian soil be fertile ground for the seeds of tolerance, freedom and respect - the seeds of hope and democracy!

Ukraine faces challenges, of course.

But the truth is that all countries around the world are subject to stresses and strains, and Canada has its share.

On Monday of this week, a separatist provincial government was re-elected in the province of Quebec.

It is a testament to the strength of Canadian democracy - and to the fundamental strength of the unity of this country - that this can happen in the calm, serene manner that it did.

It is also a testament to the continuing attachment of Quebeckers to Canada that 57 percent of them voted for parties who do not favor any more referendums on separation. The overwhelming majority of Quebeckers confirm this view in public opinion polls. A healthy and growing majority indicate they would vote to keep Canada united if a referendum was held.

Provincial governments outlined what we mean by this in a declaration signed by all federalist premiers in Calgary a year ago. The first phase to implement the Calgary Declaration is to affirm and strengthen Canada's social union - the social programs through which we express shared Canadian values of compassion and community. It's time to get back to work.

It's time for serious, good-faith negotiations between the federal government and the provinces over the social union. It's time for real, forthright negotiations involving appropriate give-and-take.

Here is what we should not do.

We should not be boxed into a rigid, inflexible negotiating posture designed to fail. Nor should we be boxed in to a rigid, inflexible timetable designed to fail.

Canada is one of the world's great achievements. I have every faith that we will find the road through our distempers and our disputes, in the quiet, incremental, consensus-building way this country was built.

I believe we can do it.

I believe that we can collectively create the winning conditions for Canada. To me, that means building a better, stronger, more cooperative federation, in which all governments work together in the interests of citizens. And we can start by successfully completing our negotiations on the new social union for Canada.

And I have faith that the resilient, hard-working people of Ukraine can meet and beat their own daunting challenges to become a prosperous and peaceable member of the democratic community of nations.

I believe we can do it - and I believe Ukrainians can do it. Friends, Prime Minister Laurier once advised Canadians, "to let hope in our future be the pillar of fire to guide us." In Ukraine, you have used hope as your torch throughout this tumultuous decade.

I believe in the future. I believe in the future of the Canada-Ukraine partnership. And I believe in the future of a free, democratic and proud Ukraine. Thank you very much. God bless Ukraine, and God bless Canada.

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