Manitoba Cabinet includes four Ukrainian Canadians (03/02/97)

Manitoba Cabinet includes four Ukrainian Canadians

by Christopher Guly

OTTAWA - Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon chose Christmas Eve according to the Julian calendar (January 6, to re-shuffle his ministerial Cabinet.

In so doing, Mr. Filmon, who claims Ukrainian and Polish descent, added a Ukrainian Canadian - bringing the number of Ukrainian Canadian membership in Manitoba's provincial Cabinet to four. New is Franklin Pitura, who was elected to the Manitoba legislature only two years ago. Now, the former farmer and member of the rural provincial riding (district) of Morris will serve as minister of government services.

The other three include Premier Filmon, now in his third term as head of the Manitoba government; Darren Praznik, who moved from the energy and mines portfolio to health in the recent shuffle; and Leonard Derkach, who remains minister of rural development. As the historical hub for Ukrainian migration to western Canada, having Ukrainian Canadians in key provincial government positions is not a big deal for Manitoba any more, noted Mr. Derkach. "Ukrainians are, by and large, in the mainstream," he recently said in a telephone interview. If anything, developing strong ties with Ukraine is the major focus for Manitoba, said the 52-year-old former teacher.

Two bilateral initiatives are now under way. One involves business and trade between Ukraine and Canada's three western provinces based on key provincial sectors. Manitoba is responsible for construction, Saskatchewan handles agriculture, and oil-rich Alberta oversees the energy industry.

The Manitoba government is involved also in a legislative exchange in which Ukrainian politicians come to the province to study its laws and system of government.

Last November, Mr. Derkach led a business delegation, which included members of Manitoba's and Alberta's construction industry, to Kyiv, Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk.

Though the former Manitoba education minister did not get a chance to visit his ancestral homeland in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, he said his first visit to Ukraine surprised him.

"With the wave of people who came from Ukraine to our [southwestern Manitoban] community - of course who came from rural villages - always gave me the impression that Ukraine was a very drab and suppressed country," said Mr. Derkach. "But when I stepped off the plane in Kyiv, I realized very quickly that it's a metropolitan city which is high-tech in many ways."

The member of the Manitoba legislature for Roblin-Russell may also be surprised that his province's Ukrainian Canadian population is a lot bigger than he thinks. When asked how large it is, Mr. Derkach said about 60,000.

However, according to 1991 census figures, about 165,955, or one out of nine Manitobans, claimed a Ukrainian heritage. Only Alberta and Ontario had larger Ukrainian Canadian populations.

Furthermore, Manitoba's capital city, Winnipeg, alone reported 105,890 Ukrainian Canadian residents - putting it just behind the Ukrainian Canadian capital of Edmonton, with 121,300.

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