Ukrainian students face uncertainty in Canadian Parliament
Twenty-five Ukrainian students recently arrived in Ottawa to take part in the 2009 Canadian–Ukrainian Parliamentary Program. For two months, they will represent their universities and, to a certain extent, act as official ambassadors of their home country, holding formal meetings with federal MPs, directors of government departments, leaders of various Canadian NGOs and representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada.
For the past 19 years Ukrainian students have had an opportunity of receive hands-on training in the House of Commons by helping Canadian federal MPs and observe the overseas government offices operate. Thus, they have had an exceptional chance to compare the systems of state administration in Ukraine and Canada.
Winning a ticket to Canadian parliament was not easy. Young people had to go through several rounds of thorough selection, which involved writing a number of essays on sociopolitical topics, including Ukraine’s linguistic, cultural, and international politics. They also had to prove their command of English and Ukrainian and undergo an interview in which they were expected to show their communicative skills and prove that they are worthy to represent Ukraine abroad. But even after they had passed the formal selection procedure, the participants faced months of hard self-education, research on the work of various Canadian and Ukrainian government institutions, and study of foreign legislation on state administration and language policy. They also had to expand their knowledge of international politics, European integration, and Ukraine’s cooperation with its neighbors.
After this rigorous procedure, there is no doubt that the Ukrainian students have a high level of competence and training and truly treasure the unique opportunity they have received.
Last year the participants were not able to study all the nuances of parliamentary activities, because they arrived in Canada at the height of the election campaign and were immediately sent to federal MPs’ offices in their respective constituencies. Unlike in Ukraine, which has recently switched to the proportional system, Canada used the majority system for parliamentary elections, which increases each MP’s responsibility to his or her constituency.
This year the Ukrainian interns will witness a continuation of the intrigue in Ottawa. In the previous election the Conservative Party failed to secure a majority of seats in parliament, so it was forced to form a minority government. Interestingly, in Canada, if a party wins the election but fails to secure a majority of votes, it does not have to seek partners and get bogged down in unnatural coalitions or backroom arrangements with the other political players, because it has a right to form government on its own.
The other side of the coin is how efficient this government will be in realizing its program, because it will be forced into situational compromises with the other parties on each draft law. Still, the Canadian experience has shown that minority governments can operate for a number of consecutive years.
On the other hand, in this situation the official opposition is tempted into uniting minority parties in order to pass a vote of no confidence in the government, which automatically entails a re-election. This is nothing out of the ordinary for Canada: in the past five years the country has had four elections. Since early summer this year the Canadian media abound with forecasts to the effect that the Liberal Party, led by Michael Ignatieff, will eventually be tempted to settle the accounts with the Conservatives. However, the September 18 vote on amendments to the Budget showed that their attempts have so far been futile (even though this does not prevent all the factions in parliament from preparing for the new election).
This way or another, the Ukrainian students have already started working in the MPs’ offices in Ottawa. They run errands for the MPs, attend parliamentary sessions, and try their hand at this new activity. If a re-election is called within the next two months, the interns will disperse around the majority constituency districts all over the country and help their respective MPs there. Political forecasts are always unreliable, so the Ukrainian students have to wait and see whether they will receive an experience of a conventional training in parliament, electioneering, or both.
The Day’s FACTFILE
The Canadian-Ukrainian Parliamentary Program was launched in 1991 by the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto on the occasion of the declaration of Ukraine’s independence and the 100th anniversary of Ukrainians’ mass migration to Canada. In the past 19 years, 23 groups of Ukrainian students received training in the House of Commons and six more groups, in the federal elections. So every year 20 to 52 students received experience working with Canadian MPs.
At the moment, the program is under considerable financial pressure. If the organizers fail to attract adequate financing (through sponsorship from either charity organizations or large Ukrainian businesses), it will be closed in a year.
Yaroslav KOVALCHUK is the coordinator for the 2009 Canadian-Ukrainian Parliamentary Program, House of Commons, Otawa, Canada.
