Communists and oligarchs want to turn back the clock on my country's democratic success, says ousted prime minister VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO. Stand by us, Canada
VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO

I cannot but feel proud about the changes that have taken place in Ukraine over the past year and a half. After the last presidential election in November, 1999, we were able to bring in economic reforms and slash social debts. During our tenure, for the first time in our modern history, we saw real growth.
Not only did the country not borrow new money, we made serious reductions in our debt, and began to eliminate non-monetary transactions (barter schemes).
These economic reforms were systemic. Today's economic trends should lead to long-term growth. Speaking figuratively, what we did last year was clear the building site; this year we started the actual construction. In the space of 17 months this government has proved that a wise economic policy inevitably leads to good results. Our efforts were recognized by the international community and supported by the Ukrainian people. Yet on April 26, Ukraine's parliament voted no confidence in the government. This week I was replaced as prime minister.
Why? We have stability in the currency market, and a budgetary surplus. We've increased salaries in the fields of education, health care, science, culture, and in old-age pensions; a broad agricultural reform has created nearly 6.4 million Ukrainian landowners. Financial stability and trust in the national currency have become the norm.
The formal reason for the no-confidence vote is because the government failed to win the support of parliament. The real reason is that members of parliament moved against those of our government's policies aimed at denying preferences for certain financial-political groupings. They moved against our policy of honest, transparent and equal rules of the game for all, particularly in the area of large-scale privatization.
It's clear that the initiators of the no-confidence vote were the Communists and their tactical allies. Historically, Communists have allied themselves with their ideological opponents on numerous occasions in order to gain power. Such unnatural alliances offer little hope for economic reforms. They can only slow them down.
In this case, the Communists' allies were the oligarchs, unhappy because we were raising the standard of living in the country -- among other things -- at the expense of the underground economy, which limited their ability to get resources for the next elections. For their part, the Communists could not forgive the government for easing Ukraine's social problems because this eroded their electoral base; the Communist vote is usually a protest vote, and the traditional Communist motto remains, "The worse things get, the better for us."
Neither the oligarchs nor the Communists want transparent, democratic political and economic processes in Ukraine. No wonder the government, which operated under these principles, won a no-confidence verdict from the Communist-oligarchic alliance.
Our government fell not because it couldn't solve problems, not because it didn't enjoy popular support, not because it caused confrontations. That's why I'd suggest that the current situation in Ukraine cannot be called a government crisis. Rather, it is a systemic crisis of the power structure. Without a reorganization of Ukraine's institutions of power, effecting further reform is impossible.
That's why appointing a new government is not enough to solve the crisis. For the no-confidence vote also has exposed the crisis within Ukraine's parliamentary majority. Formulas that once cemented the majority of votes in parliament have disappeared. As a rule, short-term alliances made among unlikely ideological combinations are making it impossible to offer a single idea that would be supported by a majority of deputies. As a result, our current parliament no longer meets the needs of Ukraine's democratic development. Parliament has demonstrated that it is beholden to clannish and oligarchic interests, unable to be guided by the national priorities.
Now is the time to begin doing everything possible to elect a Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council) that would be able to rally the people around the main idea: formation of a sufficiently large reformist bloc. This now is my main goal.
We need a broad democratic alliance, one that would not dwell on confrontation, but emphasize constructive activities; one that would aim its efforts not against individuals, but rather promote new ideas with new people, able to build a new Ukraine -- one in which such declared principles as the rule of law and human rights would become the reality.
Such a political alliance, armed with an effective program of reforms, able to institute a new style of governance and launch a new era in Ukrainian politics, must win the next parliamentary elections. Ordinary people are beginning to realize that they can and should influence political processes, that political activity can solve problems and achieve desired goals when it pays attention to public opinion; that open political contests can bring forth leaders able to serve various social groups.
In this respect, the experience of leading Western countries is invaluable for the young Ukrainian state. Today, more than ever, Ukraine needs assistance from countries that passed this stage of development a long time ago. Canada strikes us as a paragon. If we can understand the principles operating in Western democracies such as Canada, it can only help us build a democratic, market-oriented, independent Ukraine.
There can be no thought of any reduction or cooling in Ukrainian-Canadian relations because of some perceived change in Ukraine's orientation. On the contrary, our co-operative programs should grow in order to adapt the Canadian experience to Ukrainian realities. For Ukraine, Canada's assistance is especially effective and valuable in the development of medium and small business, in farming, in the area of media policy and the protection of cultural sovereignty, in environmental safety.
We remember well that almost 10 years ago, Canada was the first Western nation to offer diplomatic recognition of Ukraine's independence. And it is Canada's support that helps Ukraine to pursue its interests in G-7 and NATO. We greatly appreciate Canada's technical assistance (among the highest from Western nations). We were delighted when Canadian antidumping authorities recognized the market-economy status of Ukraine's metallurgy sector. During my government's tenure, our bilateral trade doubled.
The 10th anniversary of Ukraine's independence coincides this year with the 10th anniversary of Ukrainian-Canadian diplomatic relations. I do hope that the level of Canadian involvement will not change as the result of recent events in Ukraine. We are friends and we should remain friends. Ukraine has a great future. I am certain Canada will play a major role.

Until this week, Viktor Yushchenko was prime minister of Ukraine.