Every year since Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party formed government, I’ve tried to come up with a list of ways they might embarrass themselves, our institutions or our country. But I never had, ‘invite a Nazi to the House of Commons’ — but that’s exactly what they did..How on earth could this happen?.Well, Liberal MP for Nipissing-Timiskaming and Speaker of the House of Commons, Anthony Rota, invited 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka, a member of his riding, to Parliament to be part of the spectators to see President Zelensky address our government.. Anthony RotaAnthony Rota .The Speaker regularly invites guests to observe house proceedings, so that in and of itself is no big deal. Except Mr. Hunka was not a regular guest, he was a WW2 veteran who fought against Russia, which was then known as the USSR..The imagery the government sought was perfect, but appallingly flawed..History is where the problem lies. The USSR was on the allied side in Second World War and if you fought against the allies, then by default you were a part of the Axis forces. Turns out that Yaroslav Hunka served with the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division — which was a Nazi unit..That’s bad, really bad, and yet somehow Rota managed to make it worse. He called attention to Mr. Hunka, proclaiming “He’s a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all his service. Thank you.”.I’ve been told by my editor that I’m not allowed to write expletives in my columns, so I will abide by that rule — but if I could, this is where I would insert it..Following his recognition by the Speaker, Hunka stood and received an enthusiastic applause from everyone in attendance..Imagine those who were there and their absolute mortification when they learned later exactly who they had feted in the House of Commons. This is the same democratic institution that sent thousands of Canadian youth off to Europe during WW2 to fight, and die, against, you guessed it — Nazis..So who is to blame?.The vetting of guests the Speaker invites to parliament is a responsibility of his office. Obviously, the process failed spectacularly, or they didn’t bother at all because astute watchers of the live proceedings identified him and his previous affiliation almost immediately..But they’re not the only ones at fault..The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is also culpable because Hunka also met privately with Trudeau and Zelensky. You don’t meet the PM of Canada and a foreign president without being properly vetted — or perhaps you do..This is bad for everyone and I don’t just mean the politicians and staffers who should be typing their resignation letters and packing their personal office effects into a box..This will absolutely have a negative effect on our country’s reputation on the word stage. But worse than that, this is a serious slight to those around the world who’ve suffered directly or indirectly from the stain of Nazism on this world..President Zelensky and his officials must be absolutely furious too..The Honourable Member from Nipissing-Timiskaming has given Putin, Russia and their nefarious online social media agents a veritable gift horse to use for propaganda and misinformation..After all, one of the reasons Russia said it was invading Ukraine was to wipe the scourge of fascism from Europe. Now they have video of the Ukrainian President applauding someone who served in a Waffen SS division..If polls are the vital signs of a political party, then the health of the Liberal government and it’s leader are not looking too good. This latest debacle won’t help either. It must be some sort of chaos theory or political stratagem to go from calling parents hateful bigots for wanting agency over their kids educations to inviting Nazis to parliament..Realistically, this Liberal government’s numbers are so bad, it’s already on life support, in the form of the NDP. Despite the fact an election is still two years away, Canadians are right to wonder if there is a political equivalent to Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) that could be offered to this government..I’m not even being totally facetious about my last remark. One of the criteria to be considered eligible for MAiD is “in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability.” That is the quintessential definition of Justin Trudeau and his government..Our government has an ethics problem — a very serious one..Yaroslav Hunka is but the latest in a line of questionable characters the Liberals and the government have failed to properly screen. Joshua Boyle, Jaspal Atwal, Laith Marouf, all preceded him. And every time Canadians were promised changes would be made and it wouldn’t happen again..But it did, and that’s not all..Canada has ignored and protected extreme Khalistan separatists within its borders..It gave $10.5 million to Omar Khadr, a Taliban Terrorist..It abandoned our embassy in Afghanistan and Ukraine when they were most required..They let Paul Bernardo be transferred to a more comfortable prison..And, believe it or not, they are in the process of turning a blind eye to women who are returning home who supported ISIS..It needs to stop..This isn’t the type of change that can be implemented from the bottom up, it needs to start at the very top. That means our elected officials and public servants must be held to account for these egregious errors all the time, not just during election season..To his credit Anthony Rota has taken ownership for the scandal and apologized. That’s good but realistically he must resign if he, or our House, is to regain any semblance of honour. If he doesn’t then Trudeau must demand that resignation..Until he does every MP in the house, regardless of party ought to strike “honourable” from their title..They’ve all been sullied by allowing a Nazi in their midst.
