New Speaker to be chosen next Tuesday, Bloc Québécois MP Louis Plamondon to as interim Speaker in meantime
House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota leaves Parliament Hill after announcing his resignation as Speaker of the House of Commons in Ottawa on Tuesday. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
Liberal MP Anthony Rota is stepping down as House of Commons Speaker after inviting a former Ukrainian soldier who fought in a Nazi division to Parliament — a dramatic turn of events that will be welcomed by MPs on all sides who said the embarrassing incident was unforgivable.
Rota’s resignation will take effect at the end of the sitting day on Wednesday.
“I have acted as your humble servant, carrying out the important responsibilities of this position to the very best of my abilities. The work of this House is above any of us. Therefore, I must step down as your Speaker,” Rota said ahead of Tuesday’s question period.
“I reiterate my profound regret for my error in recognizing an individual in the House.”
Anthony Rota resigns as Speaker after calls to quit
Anthony Rota is resigning as Speaker of the House of Commons after facing calls to quit from all sides over his decision to invite a man who served in a Nazi unit to Parliament during a historic visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. ‘The work of this House is above any of us,’ Rota said as he announced he was leaving the sought-after position.
Rota said the “public recognition” he gave to a former Nazi soldier “caused pain to individuals and communities,” including Jewish people, Poles and “other survivors of Nazi atrocities.”
Rota’s decision to step aside means MPs will need to pick another presiding officer soon so the Commons can continue to function.
On Friday, Rota invited Ukrainian veteran Yaroslav Hunka, a constituent of his from North Bay, Ont., to sit in the parliamentary gallery during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address to Parliament.
Over the weekend, it emerged that Hunka was part of the First Ukrainian Division, also known as the Waffen-SS Galicia Division or the SS 14th Waffen Division — a voluntary unit under the command of the Nazis.
Poland takes steps toward extradition
The shockwaves from the 98-year-old’s appearance in Parliament are still being felt.
Poland’s education minister has said he wants Hunka be extradited to face criminal penalties for his role in the Galician division, a unit that committed atrocities against Poles in the Second World War. Przemysław Czarnek said he has “taken steps” to get Hunka to Poland.
The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre (FSWC), a Jewish rights group, said Rota’s action “compromised all 338 MPs” and “handed a propaganda victory to Russia.”
The FSWC is also calling on the Commons’ Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC) to hold public hearings, investigate what took place and examine “vetting process failures.”
B’nai Brith, another Jewish group, said the government must make the Duchesne Commission‘s 1980s-era report public in its entirety so the country can learn the true extent of Ukrainian Nazi activities in post-Second World War Canada.
Yaroslav Hunka, right, waits for the arrival of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the House of Commons on Friday. Several Jewish advocacy organizations condemned members of Parliament over the weekend for giving a standing ovation to Hunka, who fought for a Nazi unit during the Second World War. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press)
Reports suggest as many as 2,000 Ukrainian members of Adolf Hitler’s Waffen-SS were admitted to Canada after the war — after some British prodding. The commission said the number is likely lower than that.
But Jewish groups have long been critical of how these collaborators have been allowed to live in peace in Canada after voluntarily serving in Hitler’s war machine.
Historians have documented how soldiers like Hunka were trained at SS facilities in Germany, swore an oath to Hitler and received an education in Nazi doctrine.
“We cannot move forward as a country from Friday’s humiliating debacle without the government committing to finally opening its wartime records,” said Michael Mostyn, B’nai Brith Canada’s CEO.
Liberal House leader reacts to Speaker’s resignation
Karina Gould, whose family are Jewish Holocaust survivors, says that Speaker Anthony Rota’s decision to invite a Ukrainian who fought with the Nazis to Parliament was “beyond her wildest imagination.”
Parliament ‘tarnished,’ NDP MP says
Government House Leader Karina Gould, who is of Jewish descent, said she’s horrified she celebrated Hunka. The Ontario MP also posed for a picture with the man after Friday’s festivities.
“This is very emotional for me,” Gould said, holding back tears as she spoke to reporters after Rota’s departure.
“My family are Jewish Holocaust survivors. I would have never in a million years stood and applauded someone who aided the Nazis.”
She said Rota should have never invited “someone like this.”
She said the outgoing Speaker was also “very misleading” when he encouraged parliamentarians to stand and applaud a Nazi collaborator.
Rota leaves the speaker’s entrance of West Block after announcing his resignation Tuesday. Bloc Québécois MP Louis Plamondon will take on the role on an interim basis until a new speaker is elected next Tuesday. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)
NDP MP Peter Julian, the party’s House leader, also welcomed Rota’s decision to leave.
It was Julian who first called for the northern Ontario MP to step away from the Speaker role.
“It’s not a happy day for us. It’s a sad day, of course. But the reality is, he made the right decision. The Parliament has been tarnished and so many people have been hurt by what happened last Friday,” Julian said. “Canada’s parliamentary reputation has taken a real hit.
“Imagine the Jewish community sitting down to Yom Kippur and having somebody that is affiliated with the SS and the horrific murders taking place in Eastern Europe being honoured in the House of Commons,” Julian added, referring to the Jewish high holiday.
How MPs ended up honouring veteran of Nazi unit
How did a Ukrainian veteran who fought for a Nazi unit during the Second World War end up being honoured inside the House of Commons? CBC’s John Paul Tasker breaks down the damage caused by Speaker Anthony Rota’s invitation and whether it could lead to his resignation.
Trudeau absent during question period
For a second day in a row, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was absent from question period Tuesday as the Opposition peppered the government with questions about the Rota mishap.
“Where is the prime minister? Why is he hiding?” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said.
“Our nation’s reputation is in tatters. Will he stand up and apologize for this mess he helped create?” he added, trying to link Rota’s invitation to the Prime Minister’s Office.
“Has there ever been a greater diplomatic embarrassment in the history of our country? I mean it literally. In coffee shops, in gyms and businesses and boardrooms around the world, people are reading about this massive and shameful disgrace that unfolded under the watch of a Liberal Speaker and a Liberal prime minister.
“And yet he can’t even show up for work. Where is he? Why is he hiding under a rock today?”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau walks to make a statement to reporters after Rota, not shown, accepted responsibility for honouring a man who fought with a Nazi unit during a recent Parliamentary address from the Ukrainian president. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
While Trudeau was in Ottawa early Tuesday for a cabinet meeting, he later left for Toronto to participate in a “fireside chat” with an automotive parts group.
Rota initially resisted calls to resign. But he lost the support of some key Liberal cabinet ministers — a sign that his position had become increasingly tenuous.
It wasn’t just the invitation — Rota also recognized Hunka as a “Canadian hero” in the House of Commons and prompted a standing ovation.
It wasn’t enough for Rota to apologize, some parliamentarians said.
Situation ‘completely unacceptable,’ Joly says
“What happened on Friday is completely unacceptable. It was an embarrassment to the House and Canadians,” Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly told reporters Tuesday.
Joly also said she’s spoken to her Ukrainian counterpart about the incident, which has had global repercussions.
Composite illustration featuring Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, left, and House Leader Karina Gould. (Hanna Johre/NTB/Reuters, Justin Tang/The Canadian Press )
Trudeau stopped short of saying Rota should resign but made it clear where he stands.
“This was deeply embarrassing for the House and for Canada,” Trudeau said.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Rota had to step down to protect Parliament’s reputation, something that has been on shaky ground since Hunka’s past came to light.
“This is the Parliament of Canada, which will outlast all of us. I’m really thinking about the institution, the office, and doing what is in the best interest of preserving the integrity of the institution,” Champagne said.
Health Minister Mark Holland, who recently served as government House leader and worked closely with the Speaker in that role, said Rota is “a profoundly good man” and the last few days have been “incredibly difficult” for him and those who know him well.
“I know he puts Parliament first,” Holland said.
While the NDP and Bloc Québécois said Monday that Rota needed to go, Poilievre and Conservative MPs spent the day blaming Trudeau for Hunka’s presence in Parliament.
A spokesperson for Rota has said the Speaker’s guest list was not shared with the Prime Minister’s Office or any of the other parties.
Rota’s picks to be in the gallery were sent to the House of Commons protocol office and the confirmed list of attendees was then shared with corporate security, which is partly responsible for security in the parliamentary precinct, including the Commons chamber in West Block.
New speaker to be elected next week
Late Tuesday, the House unanimously agreed to hold an election for a new Speaker next Tuesday.
Bloc Québécois MP Louis Plamondon will act as interim Speaker in the meantime.
Plamondon is what’s known as the “Dean of the House” — the MP with the longest unbroken sitting record who isn’t a minister or party leader.
One of the Dean’s roles is to oversee the election of the Speaker. Plamondon — who was first elected in 1984 — will do so for the sixth time when a new Speaker is chosen next week.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
