Special to National Post - Thursday
Linda McKenzie was born in Ottawa in 1979 and spent her teens in Courtenay, B.C., a small town halfway up Vancouver Island. Now Linda Petkova, she runs her own bakery and lives with her husband and two of their daughters; their third is off at university.
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The Petkov family: Mom Linda McKenzie was born in Ottawa and now runs own bakery in Sofia, Bulgaria. Husband Kiril was minister of the economy before being elected prime minister. The youngest two of their daughters are still at home.
So far, so normal.
Except that the young man she met at the University of British Columbia and later married, a new Canadian named Kiril Petkov, has just been elected prime minister of Bulgaria.
Petkova had never left North America and she knew nothing about Bulgaria, a country of seven million in Eastern Europe, before she met Petkov at UBC in the late 1990s.
“He told me (Bulgaria) was north of Greece and I still wasn’t that sure,” says Petkova.
“But then I never thought I was going to move here, so it didn’t really matter. I just kind of liked him.”
© Courtesy of Linda PetkovaKiril and Linda on a casual day out.
Petkov and his family had immigrated to Victoria when he was 14. He became good friends with Petkova’s twin sister at UBC and he started dating Petkova when she transferred to UBC in her second year.
Life moved fast for the young couple. They married when they were 20 and had their first daughter, Vanessa, a week before they were to start their fourth year. After Petkov graduated with a commerce degree in the spring of 2001, the young family took a trip to Bulgaria, driving all around the country in his parents’ Lada over 10 weeks.
“(It was) like a honeymoon period — with my husband but also with the country,” says Petkova.
Petkov took a job with the Canadian company McCain Foods in Brussels, Belgium, and that was where Petkova finished the last semester of her economics degree after taking off the semester right after Vanessa’s birth.
The Petkovs spent two years in Brussels before Kiril was transferred to Toronto, and then another two years in Cambridge, Mass., where he studied for his MBA and she worked as a research assistant at Harvard University.
After two years in the U.S., the Petkovs thought they would try living in Bulgaria for a couple of years and then see where life would take them; Petkov had accepted a job in its capital city, Sofia, managing Bulgaria’s first large retail park. But first, Petkova moved briefly back to Vancouver Island.
“I wasn’t comfortable enough to give birth (in Bulgaria) so I actually … moved in with my parents for two months to have her,” she says with a laugh, referring to their second daughter, Emma. The family left Canada for Bulgaria when Emma was just five weeks old, as soon as her passport was issued.
© JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images
So far, so normal.
Except that the young man she met at the University of British Columbia and later married, a new Canadian named Kiril Petkov, has just been elected prime minister of Bulgaria.
Petkova had never left North America and she knew nothing about Bulgaria, a country of seven million in Eastern Europe, before she met Petkov at UBC in the late 1990s.
“He told me (Bulgaria) was north of Greece and I still wasn’t that sure,” says Petkova.
“But then I never thought I was going to move here, so it didn’t really matter. I just kind of liked him.”
© Courtesy of Linda PetkovaKiril and Linda on a casual day out.
Petkov and his family had immigrated to Victoria when he was 14. He became good friends with Petkova’s twin sister at UBC and he started dating Petkova when she transferred to UBC in her second year.
Life moved fast for the young couple. They married when they were 20 and had their first daughter, Vanessa, a week before they were to start their fourth year. After Petkov graduated with a commerce degree in the spring of 2001, the young family took a trip to Bulgaria, driving all around the country in his parents’ Lada over 10 weeks.
“(It was) like a honeymoon period — with my husband but also with the country,” says Petkova.
Petkov took a job with the Canadian company McCain Foods in Brussels, Belgium, and that was where Petkova finished the last semester of her economics degree after taking off the semester right after Vanessa’s birth.
The Petkovs spent two years in Brussels before Kiril was transferred to Toronto, and then another two years in Cambridge, Mass., where he studied for his MBA and she worked as a research assistant at Harvard University.
After two years in the U.S., the Petkovs thought they would try living in Bulgaria for a couple of years and then see where life would take them; Petkov had accepted a job in its capital city, Sofia, managing Bulgaria’s first large retail park. But first, Petkova moved briefly back to Vancouver Island.
“I wasn’t comfortable enough to give birth (in Bulgaria) so I actually … moved in with my parents for two months to have her,” she says with a laugh, referring to their second daughter, Emma. The family left Canada for Bulgaria when Emma was just five weeks old, as soon as her passport was issued.
© JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomes Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kiril Petkov prior to their bilateral meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels on Jan. 27, 2022.
In 2007, most Bulgarians, especially older ones, didn’t speak English. But there weren’t many Bulgarian courses or resources available at the time. “(The language) was really difficult for me,” Petkova says.
Bulgarian is written with the Cyrillic alphabet, the same script used to write Russian. But the alphabet wasn’t the main challenge for Petkova (or, in Bulgarian, Петкова).
“They have a lot more tenses than we do and they have the masculine and feminine, which I get wrong all the time…. I make a lot of mistakes still, but (Bulgarians) are so appreciative. They are so surprised that somebody from Canada can learn it.”
Petkova could soon talk to taxi drivers, who weren’t used to meeting people who had moved to Bulgaria. “Every taxi I got into was like, ‘Oh, do you know this guy, Ivan, from Toronto? He’s my cousin. It’s so funny that you’re here and he’s there!’”
It’s no wonder that taxi drivers were surprised. There has been a massive exodus from Bulgaria over the past 30 years, since the country’s borders opened after the fall of one-party communism.
© NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP via Getty Images
In 2007, most Bulgarians, especially older ones, didn’t speak English. But there weren’t many Bulgarian courses or resources available at the time. “(The language) was really difficult for me,” Petkova says.
Bulgarian is written with the Cyrillic alphabet, the same script used to write Russian. But the alphabet wasn’t the main challenge for Petkova (or, in Bulgarian, Петкова).
“They have a lot more tenses than we do and they have the masculine and feminine, which I get wrong all the time…. I make a lot of mistakes still, but (Bulgarians) are so appreciative. They are so surprised that somebody from Canada can learn it.”
Petkova could soon talk to taxi drivers, who weren’t used to meeting people who had moved to Bulgaria. “Every taxi I got into was like, ‘Oh, do you know this guy, Ivan, from Toronto? He’s my cousin. It’s so funny that you’re here and he’s there!’”
It’s no wonder that taxi drivers were surprised. There has been a massive exodus from Bulgaria over the past 30 years, since the country’s borders opened after the fall of one-party communism.
© NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP via Getty Images
Prime Minister Kiril Petkov (third from left) and his North Macedonia counterpart Dimitar Kovacevski walk by the Aleksander Nevski cathedral after an official welcoming ceremony in Sofia on Jan. 24, 2022.
So the Petkovs were bucking the trend when they moved there. After the retail park, Petkov started his own company, ProViotic, which produces the world’s first vegan probiotic from the snowdrop flower.
Financially independent from the success of ProViotic — a product recommended by both Oprah Winfrey and tennis great Novak Djokovic — Petkov turned his attention to the next generation.
He has taught Harvard-affiliated business and economics courses at Sofia University ever since he moved back, and for the past few years, he has also taught scientists to become entrepreneurs, all at no cost to the students.
The couple had their third daughter, Annie, in 2012. After arriving in Bulgaria, Petkova had done some volunteering, worked a bit for an NGO and then doing online sales for an American fashion company. Nothing quite fit; she was stuck in a rut and she wasn’t happy.
“I hadn’t had a full-time job in about seven years…. I wanted to quit and I didn’t know what else to do.”
In her spare time, Petkova baked. This was partly out of necessity, because a year after she arrived in Bulgaria, she says, “I found out that I had problems with my thyroid, which was due to gluten. And then, a couple years later, I realized all my daughters had the same problem. There were no resources here at all … so I just started making everything from scratch.”
On top of this, Emma, her middle daughter, was diabetic.
© Courtesy of Linda PetkovaFrom left: Kiril Petkov with his wife, Linda, and daughters Annie, Vanessa and Emma.
Petkova had some experience with these conditions — her mother, Margaret McKenzie, has celiac disease. A dietitian, she had developed her own flour mix.
“She was very much at the forefront of developing a lot of these gluten-free products and initiatives, even though she wasn’t commercial about it,” says Petkova.
She adapted recipes to be as gluten-free and as low-carb as possible for her daughters. Her friends started to ask her to bake for their kids’ birthdays and “everyone was telling me I should open a place.”
© Courtesy of Linda PetkovaThe couple, with baby Vanessa, on their first trip through Bulgaria, in 2001.
And three and a half years ago, “I opened a place!” They bought a little Belgian-chocolate shop, put in an industrial stainless steel kitchen “and we started making cake.”
This was the beginning of Amelie Sweet Shop, Bulgaria’s only gluten-free bakery. In addition to making goodies that her daughters can eat, Petkova offers baked goods to those following vegan, keto and raw food diets, too.
One day, a friend of a friend wrote to Petkova, saying that she was a fan of her cakes. Why not apply for MasterChef Bulgaria ? Petkova didn’t watch much TV and had never seen the Bulgarian version of the show before but thought — well, why not? At the least, it would be good advertising for her shop.
“It was just really fun, the whole thing, just because I didn’t take it very seriously…. Every time I went (I thought), ‘Oh my God, this is happening!’”
Petkova had a promising start to her MasterChef campaign in 2020, being fast-tracked to the Top 16 after preparing her signature dessert. But her journey was cut short by a pasta challenge; not eating gluten, she was at a disadvantage. Petkova finished 13th out of the 16 finalists.
But she did it all in Bulgarian and she got the advertising she wanted.
© DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP/Getty Images
So the Petkovs were bucking the trend when they moved there. After the retail park, Petkov started his own company, ProViotic, which produces the world’s first vegan probiotic from the snowdrop flower.
Financially independent from the success of ProViotic — a product recommended by both Oprah Winfrey and tennis great Novak Djokovic — Petkov turned his attention to the next generation.
He has taught Harvard-affiliated business and economics courses at Sofia University ever since he moved back, and for the past few years, he has also taught scientists to become entrepreneurs, all at no cost to the students.
The couple had their third daughter, Annie, in 2012. After arriving in Bulgaria, Petkova had done some volunteering, worked a bit for an NGO and then doing online sales for an American fashion company. Nothing quite fit; she was stuck in a rut and she wasn’t happy.
“I hadn’t had a full-time job in about seven years…. I wanted to quit and I didn’t know what else to do.”
In her spare time, Petkova baked. This was partly out of necessity, because a year after she arrived in Bulgaria, she says, “I found out that I had problems with my thyroid, which was due to gluten. And then, a couple years later, I realized all my daughters had the same problem. There were no resources here at all … so I just started making everything from scratch.”
On top of this, Emma, her middle daughter, was diabetic.
© Courtesy of Linda PetkovaFrom left: Kiril Petkov with his wife, Linda, and daughters Annie, Vanessa and Emma.
Petkova had some experience with these conditions — her mother, Margaret McKenzie, has celiac disease. A dietitian, she had developed her own flour mix.
“She was very much at the forefront of developing a lot of these gluten-free products and initiatives, even though she wasn’t commercial about it,” says Petkova.
She adapted recipes to be as gluten-free and as low-carb as possible for her daughters. Her friends started to ask her to bake for their kids’ birthdays and “everyone was telling me I should open a place.”
© Courtesy of Linda PetkovaThe couple, with baby Vanessa, on their first trip through Bulgaria, in 2001.
And three and a half years ago, “I opened a place!” They bought a little Belgian-chocolate shop, put in an industrial stainless steel kitchen “and we started making cake.”
This was the beginning of Amelie Sweet Shop, Bulgaria’s only gluten-free bakery. In addition to making goodies that her daughters can eat, Petkova offers baked goods to those following vegan, keto and raw food diets, too.
One day, a friend of a friend wrote to Petkova, saying that she was a fan of her cakes. Why not apply for MasterChef Bulgaria ? Petkova didn’t watch much TV and had never seen the Bulgarian version of the show before but thought — well, why not? At the least, it would be good advertising for her shop.
“It was just really fun, the whole thing, just because I didn’t take it very seriously…. Every time I went (I thought), ‘Oh my God, this is happening!’”
Petkova had a promising start to her MasterChef campaign in 2020, being fast-tracked to the Top 16 after preparing her signature dessert. But her journey was cut short by a pasta challenge; not eating gluten, she was at a disadvantage. Petkova finished 13th out of the 16 finalists.
But she did it all in Bulgarian and she got the advertising she wanted.
© DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP/Getty Images
Former Bulgarian president Boyko Borisov was leader of the Bulgarian conservative GERB party. Here, he is at a polling station during the 2013 general election.
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Sofia for weeks on end in 2020. They accused Boyko Borisov, the prime minister for most of the previous decade, of widespread corruption and the judicial system of protecting him.
In 2021, Bulgaria had two elections that ended without the party with the most votes being able to form a government. During this time, an independent caretaker government ruled the country, and it was in this government that Petkov held office for the first time when he was appointed minister of the economy.
Petkov’s friend and fellow Harvard alumnus, Assen Vassilev, with whom he had taught the Harvard-affiliated courses at Sofia University, was also appointed to this government as the minister of finance.
For last November’s new elections, Petkov and Vassilev decided to strike out and create their own party, We Continue the Change. They ran on an anti-corruption platform — in Petkov’s words, “zero tolerance for corruption — so not small, not limited, but zero” — and won the greatest number of seats.
Petkov and Vassilev negotiated with other parties to form a government and, in mid-December, Petkov was formally inaugurated as prime minister, with Vassilev returning as minister of finance.
© Stoyan Nenov / Reuters
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Sofia for weeks on end in 2020. They accused Boyko Borisov, the prime minister for most of the previous decade, of widespread corruption and the judicial system of protecting him.
In 2021, Bulgaria had two elections that ended without the party with the most votes being able to form a government. During this time, an independent caretaker government ruled the country, and it was in this government that Petkov held office for the first time when he was appointed minister of the economy.
Petkov’s friend and fellow Harvard alumnus, Assen Vassilev, with whom he had taught the Harvard-affiliated courses at Sofia University, was also appointed to this government as the minister of finance.
For last November’s new elections, Petkov and Vassilev decided to strike out and create their own party, We Continue the Change. They ran on an anti-corruption platform — in Petkov’s words, “zero tolerance for corruption — so not small, not limited, but zero” — and won the greatest number of seats.
Petkov and Vassilev negotiated with other parties to form a government and, in mid-December, Petkov was formally inaugurated as prime minister, with Vassilev returning as minister of finance.
© Stoyan Nenov / Reuters
Bulgarian Finance Minister Assen Vassilev became acquainted with Petkov at Harvard.
Bulgarians have high expectations for their new leaders.
“The positive interpretation, from the optimists, is that these are two Harvard-educated young men” who will fix what needs to be fixed in Bulgaria, says Robert Phillips Jr., an associate professor of politics and international studies at the American University of Bulgaria, who has lived in the country for almost 30 years.
Phillips says Petkov needs to address corruption and the rule of law, the health-care system and the education system. If he manages to improve these, then perhaps more Bulgarian expats will come home.
Bulgaria has high expectations of its Canadian first couple
Bulgaria’s constitution states that ministers cannot be dual citizens, so Petkov had to give up his Canadian citizenship when he became minister of the economy in 2021.
High school and university in B.C. “are some my fondest memories,” says Petkov. “This is, of course, where I met Linda. Every time I think about Canada, I have really positive memories about my early life and the start of my career…. My connection to Canada is still in my heart.
“For me, (giving up Canadian citizenship) was a choice I had to make. But since I really had a strong desire to change my country right now, that was a price I was willing to pay….
“It’s amazing to think that seven million people — that their lives could be better by your work. It’s an amazing opportunity and a huge responsibility.”
And Petkov is proud of his wife, who has unwittingly proven to be a political asset.
“One lady told me, ‘Do you know why I will vote for you? … Because I saw your wife making a cake with her own hands last Sunday. I haven’t seen ministers’ wives baking cakes in a small bakery like that before.’”
It’s now been 14 years, far longer in Bulgaria than the two years the Petkovs initially planned for. Bulgaria now feels more like home to Petkova than Canada does. It’s also given her a confidence she might not have even known she had.
“I miss my family … but I really feel foreign when I go (to Canada) just because it’s a different lifestyle,” says Petkova.
“In Bulgaria, there’s this sense of chaos and freedom that there isn’t in Canada…. I have Amelie, which is something I couldn’t have done in Canada or at least I don’t know how I would have…. I don’t know if I could have afforded to do it or if I would have had the courage to do it.”
But she did, and with Amelie, Petkov says, his wife is also a Bulgarian changemaker in her own right.
Bulgarians have high expectations for their new leaders.
“The positive interpretation, from the optimists, is that these are two Harvard-educated young men” who will fix what needs to be fixed in Bulgaria, says Robert Phillips Jr., an associate professor of politics and international studies at the American University of Bulgaria, who has lived in the country for almost 30 years.
Phillips says Petkov needs to address corruption and the rule of law, the health-care system and the education system. If he manages to improve these, then perhaps more Bulgarian expats will come home.
Bulgaria has high expectations of its Canadian first couple
Bulgaria’s constitution states that ministers cannot be dual citizens, so Petkov had to give up his Canadian citizenship when he became minister of the economy in 2021.
High school and university in B.C. “are some my fondest memories,” says Petkov. “This is, of course, where I met Linda. Every time I think about Canada, I have really positive memories about my early life and the start of my career…. My connection to Canada is still in my heart.
“For me, (giving up Canadian citizenship) was a choice I had to make. But since I really had a strong desire to change my country right now, that was a price I was willing to pay….
“It’s amazing to think that seven million people — that their lives could be better by your work. It’s an amazing opportunity and a huge responsibility.”
And Petkov is proud of his wife, who has unwittingly proven to be a political asset.
“One lady told me, ‘Do you know why I will vote for you? … Because I saw your wife making a cake with her own hands last Sunday. I haven’t seen ministers’ wives baking cakes in a small bakery like that before.’”
It’s now been 14 years, far longer in Bulgaria than the two years the Petkovs initially planned for. Bulgaria now feels more like home to Petkova than Canada does. It’s also given her a confidence she might not have even known she had.
“I miss my family … but I really feel foreign when I go (to Canada) just because it’s a different lifestyle,” says Petkova.
“In Bulgaria, there’s this sense of chaos and freedom that there isn’t in Canada…. I have Amelie, which is something I couldn’t have done in Canada or at least I don’t know how I would have…. I don’t know if I could have afforded to do it or if I would have had the courage to do it.”
But she did, and with Amelie, Petkov says, his wife is also a Bulgarian changemaker in her own right.
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