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. |