The Bloc Québécois stands with the New Democratic Party (NDP) to demand the resignation of the Speaker of the House of Commons, blamed for having invited a veteran to a Nazi unit during the Ukrainian president’s visit last week.
“The Bloc Québécois can only note, on the one hand, the damage caused by the presidency’s error, and on the other hand, the loss of confidence of the House which it needs to exercise its function,” ruled the leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, in a statement early Monday afternoon.
The position comes more than an hour after a tense debate in the Commons, during which the NDP was the first to demand the resignation of President Anthony Rota, despite his numerous apologies.
“This is an unforgivable error and one that damages the reputation of this forum. Unfortunately, I believe that a sacred trust has been broken,” said NDP MP Peter Julian, during the first minutes of the sessions Monday morning.
The Bloc Québécois instead appealed to its “wisdom” to decide whether its apologies are sufficient.
Franco-Ontarian Liberal MP Anthony Rota has been Speaker of the House since 2019. Last Friday, he invited federal elected officials to applaud “a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero” from his riding of Nipissing — Timiskaming in front of the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky , visiting Ottawa.
It was later revealed that the man in question, Yaroslav Hunka, 98, fought in World War II on the side of the Nazis and against resistance fighters in Eastern Europe.
“My intention was to demonstrate that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is not new, that Ukrainians have unfortunately been subjected to foreign aggression for too long and this must stop,” Mr. Rota explained Monday, the voice broken by emotion.
He apologized repeatedly during 35 minutes of speaking on this subject on Monday, without announcing his departure. “My sincere apologies to each of you in this House and to all Canadians who I put through this horrible moment. »
Anthony Rota insists that he is solely responsible for this invitation. Several conservative elected officials, on the contrary, accuse the government and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of not having filtered the invitations correctly.
“What message does this send to Canada’s partners and allies? “, asked MP Andrew Scheer, former leader of the Conservative Party and also former Speaker of the House of Commons, in a moment of great tension. The conservatives had not yet formally called for Mr. Rota’s resignation as of early Monday afternoon.
“The government had no idea that this individual was invited or that he would be recognized by Parliament,” assured the government House leader, Karina Gould, who herself has family members who were victims of the Shoah. .
The Russian embassy in Ottawa used the embarrassing invitation to criticize Canada. “Yet another insult from the Trudeau regime to the memory of the sons and daughters of Canada,” could we read on his social networks Sunday.