House Speaker Anthony Rota resigns over Nazi veteran invite

Anthony Rota has resigned from his prestigious position as Speaker of the House of Commons over his invitation to, and the House’s subsequent recognition of, a man who fought for a Nazi unit during the Second World War.

Rota announced his unprecedented decision to step aside after meeting with the House leaders from all parties on Parliament Hill Tuesday afternoon. His move comes amid days of steadily growing pressure from MPs of all stripes for him to “do the honourable thing” and vacate the Speaker’s chair.

Rota’s departure, which he says will be in effect within days, will prompt a new process to elect his replacement, which members of Parliament are imminently going to be grappling with.

His decision was met with applause in the chamber.

RESIGNATION FOLLOWS ALL-PARTY PRESSURE

On Tuesday morning, senior Liberal cabinet ministers and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre joined the NDP and Bloc Quebecois in indicating they’d felt that Rota lost the confidence needed to continue in the role, due to what they described as the deep embarrassment he’d caused Parliament and Canada.

While earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would not comment on whether he still had confidence in Rota, he spoke about the need to “ensure the dignity of the House going forward.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly was the first cabinet minister to publicly call for Rota to “listen to members of the House and step down.”

“What happened on Friday is completely unacceptable. It was an embarrassment to the House and to Canadians,” Joly said. “It was completely unacceptable.”

After fielding all of the opposition questions on the controversy in the chamber on Monday, stopping short then of asking for Rota to resign, Government House Leader Karina Gould changed her tune Tuesday.

“Look, I think given what happened on Friday… I can’t see based on the conversations that I’ve had that he will continue to have the support of Liberal members of Parliament,” Gould said.

“I think it’s time for him to do the honourable thing.”

While the Conservatives have centred their condemnation of there being “a Nazi in the chamber,” and the impact this international incident has had on Canada’s reputation, on Trudeau, Poilievre joined the chorus calling for Rota to resign on Tuesday.

Poilievre said that even if Rota stepped down, it would not excuse “Justin Trudeau’s failure to have his massive diplomatic and intelligence apparatus vet and prevent honouring a Nazi.”

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh also called for Trudeau to come forward with a plan to remedy the negative impact this international headline-grabbing incident has had.

JEWISH GROUP CALLS FOR HEARINGS

The incident that’s put the Speaker in an unprecedented position of acrimony took place during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address to Parliament on Friday.

Following Zelenskyy’s remarks, Rota drew the room’s attention to a man in the viewing gallery that he described as “a Ukrainian Canadian war veteran… who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians” and “a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all his service,” prompting a standing ovation.

The prime minister office has said the federal Liberal government had no advanced notice that 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka, a Ukrainian veteran who fought in a volunteer unit under Nazi command, would be present, as he was a guest of the Speaker and the list of attendees was not shared, per parliamentary protocol.

Rota apologized to all MPs Monday, taking full responsibility for the mistake, and for not being aware until after the controversy exploded of his constituent’s historic involvement with the Waffen-SS Galicia Division.

After Jewish community and advocacy groups initially called for, and received, an apology, the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center joined the calls for Rota to step down and imploring the Procedure and House Affairs Committee to launch public hearings to investigate the vetting failures and measures needed to ensure a similar incident does not happen again.

“Speaker Rota’s decision… has left a stain on our country’s venerable legislature with profound implications both in Canada and globally,” said the organization in a statement on Tuesday.

“This incident has compromised all 338 members of Parliament and has also handed a propaganda victory to Russia, distracting from what was a momentously significant display of unity between Canada and Ukraine. It has also caused great pain to Canada’s Jewish community, Holocaust survivors, veterans and other victims of the Nazi regime.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

Rota was not in the Speaker’s parade on Tuesday morning, seeing deputy speaker Conservative MP Chris d’Entremont leading proceedings.

As Speaker of the House of Commons, while Rota has been a Liberal MP since his first election in 2004, the rules of the House of Commons require him to operate outside of partisan lines and at all times “show, and be seen to show, the impartiality required to sustain the trust and goodwill of the House.”

In Canada’s Parliament, the Speaker is responsible for maintaining order and upholding the rights and privileges of members. The Speaker is also the head of the House of Commons administration.

The Speaker job comes with a $92,800 top-up—the same amount a minister receives—on the base $194,600 MP salary, and an official residence called The Farm in Kingsmere, a community within Chelsea, Que.

According to the latest edition of the House of Commons Procedure and Practice, only two of the 36 speakers elected since Confederation were elected mid-session. In 1899, it was because the Speaker died while in office, and then in 1984 a replacement was needed because the Speaker resigned to become governor general.

Rota, who represents the Northern Ontario riding of Nipissing-Timiskaming, was first was elected as Speaker in 2019. He was re-elected as the 37th Speaker of the House at the outset of the 44th Parliament, on Nov. 22, 2021, stating then that he’d treasure the “confidence” MPs had placed in him for the rest of his life, promising to be “fair and respectful.”(opens in a new tab)

Now that Rota has resigned—a historic and extremely rare occurrence—the House will be thrust into a secret-ballot election of his replacement. Precisely how, and when this will unfold is still developing.