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Sri Lanka – Canada Parliamentary Friendship Assn:

Canada, long standing development partner

Canada has been a long standing development cooperation partner of Sri Lanka, beginning from the days of the Colombo Plan, Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody said.


Chandima Weerakkody

He was speaking at a meeting to revive the Sri Lanka–Canada Parliamentary Friendship Association held in Parliament on December 8.

Canadian High Commissioner Bruce Levy attended the event at the invitation of Speaker, Chamal Rajapaksa.

Deputy Speaker Weerakkody who chaired the meeting, nominated Prof Rajiva Wijesinha MP as President. Suresh Premachandra, Lohan Ratwatte and Harsha de Silva were elected Vice Presidents. Ramesh Pathirana was elected Secretary and E Saravanaparvan Assistant Secretary, with Talatha Athukorale as Treasurer.

The Deputy Speaker also noted the diplomatic links between Sri Lanka and Canada for well over half a century. Special projects which Canada had supported included the Bandaranaike International Airport, the Hardy Technical Training Institute in Ampara, the Maduru Oya Reservoir project under the accelerated Mahaveli Development Scheme and the extension of Gal Oya transmission lines.

Weerakkody noted the high levels of Sri Lankan migration to Canada, as well as developing economic relations, with the Sri Lanka-Canada Business Council promoting bilateral relations for 20 years.

High Commissioner Levy thanked the Parliament personnel for having quickly acted on his suggestion to set up a Friendship group.

He noted the existence of such a group in the Canadian Parliament, and added that Parliamentarians would be amongst the best placed to breakdown any distrust and build on ties, as was also being done through the recently launched Sri Lanka, Canada Alumni Association.

He noted that Canada had one of the largest Sri Lanka diaspora in the world, which could present a challenge to him as well as Sri Lanka.

This was not because of a small minority that might engage in unacceptable activities in pursuit of old agendas but because 300,000 people could be an incredible source of growth for this country.

Promoting constructive engagement for them to develop their homeland would forestall objections to efforts to deepen bilateral ties, he said.

Levy noted that in addressing grievances that had led to so much tragedy. It was for Sri Lanka to find specific answers.

This was not the job of the international community, but Canada had experience in dealing with multiple cultures and languages that might be useful to policymakers in Sri Lanka, he said. In his vote of thanks, Prof Wijesinha thanked the High Commissioner for the fresh approach he had brought to bilateral relations.

“Though doubtless this was due to pressures of the sort the High Commissioner had touched upon, there had been worries previously about the Canadian approach to our problems with terrorism.”

These seemed to have been assuaged in the last year, and the positive role the High Commissioner was playing was appreciated.

It was to be hoped that Canadian Parliamentarians would be able to engage in frank discussions with their counterparts to promote understanding of and support for the efforts of the government to promote development with equity all over the country, Prof Wijesinha said.

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