Active CAPFG elects 2015-16 Executive Committee

Active CAPFG elects 2015-16 Executive Committee – 

Ottawa, – The Canada-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group (CAPFG) held its annual meeting on March 25, 2015. More than a dozen members of the House and Senate were on hand to discuss issues important to both Canada and Armenia, including the upcoming Motion on naming April as the month dedicated to preventing Genocide. The first item on the agenda was the election of the new Executive committee. The outcome of that election was the following:

Harold Albrecht, Cons – Chair

Brad Butt, Cons – Vice Chair

Francois Pilon, NDP – Vice Chair

Stephane Dion, Lib – Vice Chair

Senator Raynell Andreychuk, Cons – Exec Committee Member

Gary Schellenberger, Cons – Exec Committee Member

Stephen Woodworth, Cons – Exec Committee Member

Alexandre Boulerice, NDP – Exec Committee Member

Corneliu Chisu, Cons – elected as Exec Committee Member (elected in absentia was absent though)

Other CAPFG members present during the meeting were:

Chungsen Leung, Cons

David Sweet, Cons

Rathika Sitsabaiesan, NDP

Jasbir Sandhu, NDP

Following the election results, the Armenian Ambassador to Canada, Armen Yeganian addressed the group with his assessment on the positive and developing bilateral relations between the two both countries. He concluded by reiterating the invitation to Canadian government representatives to travel to Armenia for the on April 24 Genocide Centennial commemorations.

Dr. Girair Basmadjian, President of the Armenian National Committee of Canada, for his part, called on all parties to unanimously adopt the Genocide Motion and stressed the importance of including all genocides recognized by Parliament in the present motion in order to make the motion it complete.