Justin Trudeau’s “sincere apologies” in the House of Commons, for the invitation of an ex-combatant to a Nazi unit, are not personal enough for the conservative opposition.
It is “on behalf of all the people present in this House [des Communes] » which the Canadian Prime Minister apologized on Wednesday, to thunderous applause from the Liberal benches.
“For all of us who were present, paying tribute to this individual, without knowing who he was, was a terrible mistake, in violation of the memory of those who suffered at the hands of the Nazi regime,” he said. he chanted.
Criticized for several days by the Conservative leader for having “hid under a rock”, or “hid at his cottage”, the Liberal leader was present in Parliament to answer questions from the opposition on Wednesday. Almost all were devoted to the affair which caused the resignation of the Speaker of the Commons, Anthony Rota, the day before.
The leader of the official opposition, Pierre Poilievre, kept coming back with different versions of the same question: “Will he personally apologize, on his own behalf?” »
Resigning President Anthony Rota took all the blame for inviting Yaroslav Hunka, a former Nazi fighter who lives in his constituency, to Parliament. All elected officials, and even the visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, applauded the 98-year-old man, presented as a “hero”.
Lack of checks
The Conservatives argue that Justin Trudeau could have checked the invitations to ensure that no one dangerous or annoying was in the stands. Especially since President Zelensky is being targeted as the leader of a country at war.
Justin Trudeau has repeatedly described last Friday’s incident as “unacceptable.” However, he maintained that “the independence of Parliament from the government of the day” prevented it from deciding who can be invited, or not, to the galleries of the House.
“It is not up to the government of the day to have a veto on who the president or the opposition parties want to hear in the House […]. On this side, we respect the independence of the presidency,” he expressed, to some boos from the opposing benches.
” It’s your fault ! » shouted conservative elected officials, some pointing the finger at the Prime Minister, during the tense exchanges. Justin Trudeau responded to his opponent Pierre Poilievre, affirming that “the truth is not a concern for this leader of the opposition”, and that his questions are “only partisan attacks”.
Blame the president
Just before entering the Commons, the Prime Minister repeated to journalists that “the Speaker of the House was solely responsible” for this invitation which scandalized Jewish groups and which was taken up by the Russian government.
The error was “a violation of the memory of the millions of people who perished in the Holocaust,” the prime minister said. He has made the list groups who may have been harmed: Jews, but also “Poles, Roma, 2SLGBTQI+ people, disabled people, racialized people and the millions of other people persecuted by the Nazi regime”.
The leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, expressed regret that the Prime Minister did not apologize to President Zelensky during a telephone call. In the New Democratic Party, Jagmeet Singh asked that the government begin a “healing process” with Jewish communities outraged by the invitation.
Even if the interim Speaker of the House is officially the Bloc Québécois MP and dean of parliamentarians, Louis Plamondon, it was once again Vice-President Chris d’Entremont who chaired the question period on Wednesday.
The conservative MP, and official candidate for the presidency, rebuked his own conservative colleagues by saying that they should not call members of the government a “disgrace” since he provoked “inflammatory and provocative” exchanges.
However, he did not demand any apology from Ontario MP Melissa Lantsman for having repeated this insult towards the government House leader, Karina Gould, the day before.