Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan says Canada cannot accept the results in Ukraine's presidential elections.

"Considering the allegations of serious and significant electoral fraud from international and Canadian election observers, the government of Canada cannot accept that the announced results by the central election commission reflect the true, democratic will of the Ukrainian people,'' McLellan said Wednesday to a standing ovation from both sides of the House of Commons.

"Canada rejects the announced final results."

McLellan added the Canada wants a full transparent review of the election process, warning that Canada may have "no choice but to examine its relations with Ukraine" if the will of the Ukraine people of not heeded.

Similar declarations were made in the U.S. and in Europe following allegations from foreign observers that last weekend's presidential vote was a fraud. Some said they observed ballot stuffing, voter intimidation and other irregularities

One of those observers was former transport minister David Collenette, who says the list of election violations is lengthy.

"We don't have time to go through the whole litany of things," he told CTV's Canada AM in an interview from Ottawa on Wednesday.

"There were people bussed in, there was mass use of absentee ballots, there were people removed from the list, there was physical intimidation.

"In the poll that I was in, there was invisible ink used in the pens before Yushchenko's people discovered it, and we've got one of the pens."

Dan McTeague, parliamentary secretary to the Foreign Affairs minister, said Canada's ambassador to Ukraine, Andrew Robinson, also has a list of fraud-related concerns.

Officials with the Ukrainian Embassy in Ottawa issued a statement late Wednesday afternoon, that said: "Official comments by (the Canadian government) ...are taken very attentively by the Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Canada ... Canada's voice has been particularly important and essential..."

Canadian protests

With more than one million people of ethnic Ukrainian origin now living in Canada -- representing approximately three per cent of the former Soviet Republic's overall population -- outrage over the election result has sparked protests here in Canada as well.

Pro-Yushchenko rallies were held in Montreal and Winnipeg Wednesday, following protests in Regina, Edmonton and Vancouver Tuesday.

In Winnipeg, about 300 people who gathered at a statue of Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko at the Manitoba legislature cheered and waved orange banners when told of the federal government's decision not to recognize the election.

And in Toronto, about 2,000 people gathered at the Ukrainian consulate, demanding that Canadian officials insist on a new election.

Despite the protests around the world, Ukraine's Central Election Commission has declared the Russian-backed candidate, Viktor Yanukovych, the winner.

The Central Election Commission insists Yanukovych narrowly beat Liberal opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko. According to the commission, Yanukovych got 49.61 per cent of ballots cast, compared to 46.61 per cent for his challenger.

Yushchenko has rejected the official results and claimed his own victory. He has also called for a general strike to shut down factories, schools and transportation -- a move that risks provoking a crackdown by outgoing President Leonid Kuchma's government.