After a successful landing in Ottawa visiting the House of Commons and the last stop of the Holodomor Flame tour, President Viktor Yushchenko visited various other provinces. Unfortunately the President missed his first and only stop in Alberta to visit the Ukrainian village and Albertan Premier Ed Stelmach who is of Ukrainian descent. Blaming a tight schedule, this would have been a historic meeting of the only Ukrainian government figureheads in the world. Although an article printed weeks ago already anticipated this cancellation, citing a political struggle between Stolmach and Harper:

Considering the average Ukrainian wedding lasts three days, six hours of face time with Yushchenko seems downright inhospitable. But was it deliberately designed that way by Harper and his envious Ottawa Conservatives? Especially with the PM trying to hog the spotlight by recently promising to back Ukraine’s bid to join NATO.

Off to Winnipeg next to meet with Premier of Manitoba Gary Albert Doer. The two signed an agreement between Dnipropetrovsk region and Province of Manitoba in trade-economic, agricultural, scientific and humanitarian cooperation. He also spoke at the Manitoba legislature and promised to ensure the Holodomor is featured in the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, a national museum planned for Winnipeg, which is still in the fundraising stage. (Pictures and Video).

Yushchenko was in Toronto last night at the Economic Club, saying Ukraine was on the verge of becoming the next modern power (Article + Video):

“We are in a very dynamic process … that has never been like this before,”

…

“Three years ago no one in the world recognized us as a market economy. Today we are the 152nd member of the WTO (World Trade Organization).”

Yushchenko also met with Toronto mayor David Miller as well as Toronto’s Ukrainian community (article + video) in the West End.