Canadian Ps and Bs president calls for stronger Canadian-Ukrainian ties (10/08/00)

Canadian Ps and Bs president calls for stronger Canadian-Ukrainian ties

by Christopher Guly
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

OTTAWA - On the eve of a visit to Ukraine by a Canadian Cabinet minister, the president of the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation (UCPBF) is calling on the Canadian government to increase its involvement with Ukraine along the lines of the British Commonwealth model.

In an interview with The Ukrainian Weekly, Oksana Bashuk Hepburn said Ottawa should forge closer ties with Kyiv through cultural, educational and sports exchanges, as well as beef up its relations with the Ukrainian government at all levels.

"We have good Canadian-Ukrainian interactions in place in defense and health, but we should also have that in environment, banking, consumer relations, citizenship, immigration, communication and culture, through partnerships between the Canadian National Library and National Archives and their counterparts in Ukraine," she explained.

"We've got about 50 departments and agencies in Canada - all of them should have a look at where it is they should be interacting with Ukraine because Ukrainians are a founding people in Canada," she added.

About a week before Canadian Minister for International Cooperation Maria Minna, who is responsible for the federal government's Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), was scheduled to make her visit to Ukraine, the UBPBF held a roundtable on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. The September 16-17 event included a discussion on future Canadian-Ukrainian relations, featuring such panelists as Peter Daniel, vice-president responsible for Central and Eastern Europe at the CIDA.

According to Ukrainian-born Ms. Bashuk Hepburn, Canada should not focus exclusively on establishing trade-related ties with Ukraine. "Canada needs to be working from the perspective that Ukraine needs a fair amount of support in order to not slip back into the Russian sphere of influence and not be sucked into the corruption world that is led by Russia," she explained.

Since Ukraine secured its independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, Canadian aid has focused on supporting the country's transition to a market-based economy, promoting democracy and increasing Canadian trade and investment links with Ukraine.

As of late 1999, the CIDA has committed more than $280 million (about $190 million U.S.) toward bilateral assistance programs.

During a June visit by Ukrainie's Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk to Ottawa, the federal government had increased its contribution to helping his country decommission the Chornobyl nuclear power plant to $48 million ($33 million U.S.) and announced another $10.4 million in new money for scientific, export-stimulation and anti-corruption programs in Ukraine.

However, the UCPBF wants CIDA to increase its technical-assistance budget "to more favorably reflect the tax base of some 1 million Canadians of Ukrainian descent," or about 1/30th of the national population, according to a document prepared by the federation.

Currently, the annual CIDA budget for Central and Eastern Europe amounts to nearly $90 million (about $61 million U.S.), or almost 5 percent of Canada's total allotment for international assistance.

The UCPBF, which has nearly 4,000 members across Canada, is also calling on Ottawa to provide tax credits to Canadians who support family members in Ukraine, and is asking the federal government to establish a world-class policy and study center on Ukraine in Canada.

In addition, Ms. Bashuk said the federation is lobbying the Canadian government to involve Ukrainian Canadians "with meritorious expertise and language skills" to deal with Canada-Ukraine relations "at the highest levels."

While Ukrainian Canadians have held senior positions in the country, from former Governor General Ramon Hnatyshyn (also the UCPBF's patron) to the late Supreme Court of Canada Justice John Sopinka, the community has never had one of its members serve as ambassador to Ukraine.

"Sometimes the ambassador is not from the ranks of Foreign Affairs, sometimes it's an outside appointment," said Ms. Bashuk Hepburn.

"And we will help the federal government find the best person," added Ms. Bashuk Hepburn.

It just so happens that there will soon be a major job opening.

On September 18 Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy, who has been to Ukraine and hails from the Prairies (where there are more than a few Ukrainian Canadians), announced he would not stand for re-election.

"It would be absolutely delightful to have a minister of Ukrainian origin as the new foreign minister," said Ms. Bashuk Hepburn, who has visited Ukraine nearly 20 times over the past decade.

"If we can't have a minister, certainly people at the top echelons of government departments that deal with Ukraine, and that's CIDA and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade," she continued.

She explained that the dream successor to Mr. Axworthy in the foreign affairs portfolio would be Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow, who she said is rumored to be leaving politics. [In fact, news of the resignation of Mr. Romanow, Canada's longest serving provincial premier, was reported in The New York Times on September 27. - Ed.]

"If that is the case, he might be interested in being maybe a super-ombudsman or champion for Ukraine," explained Ms. Bashuk Hepburn. "There is a role for someone like Mr. Romanow to lead Canada's contribution on the international scene in dealing with Ukraine."

Should the Ukrainian Canadian premier stick with politics, he would have to make the switch to the federal scene, and change party affiliation.

Mr. Romanow is leader of Saskatchewan's New Democratic Party, which happens to have formed a ruling coalition with the province's Liberals, whose federal counterparts hold power in Ottawa.

If she were asked to run as a Grit for a seat in the House of Commons during the next national election, 59-year-old Ms. Hepburn Bashuk admitted she would consider the request.

However, whether Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's government responds any time soon to the UCPBF's own request for more Ukrainian-Canadian representation in high-profile positions is anyone's guess - though there appeared to be little interest from within his Cabinet in showing up for the recent roundtable.

While invited to attend, Hedy Fry, secretary of state for multiculturalism, did not. Nor did she send a representative.

"We were most disappointed," said Ms. Bashuk Hepburn.

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