(OTTAWA) Government House Leader Mark Holland has asked Speaker of the House of Commons Anthony Rota to allow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to address the Canadian parliament next week.
Posted at 6:32 p.m.
Mr. Zelensky has accepted an invitation to speak to MPs and senators and Mr. Holland proposes that he do so next Tuesday at 11:15 a.m.
The Commons and Senate are not due to sit again until March 21 and Mr Holland says MPs were unable to pass a motion over Mr Zelensky’s speech before the break began two weeks.
Holland said it would give Canadians a chance to hear directly from Zelensky about the “urgent and dire” situation in his country, which was invaded by Russia just over two weeks ago.
He says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Mr. Rota, Senate Speaker George Furey, Interim Conservative Leader Candice Bergen, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and a Green Party member would also speak.
Mr Holland is also asking that all speakers be able to remove their masks and that guests be allowed in the galleries and on the floor of the House of Commons for the speech.