The Speaker of the House has resigned.
No, not our Speaker — the Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons. Sorry, didn't mean to get your hopes all up there. But goodness, what a mess (and a mystery) they have up in Ottawa.
A quick recap: Ukrainian President Zelenskyy visited the capital last week to a rapturous reception (well, maybe from everyone except the Conservatives). During the festivities in the House, a 98-year-old Ukrainian Canadian, a guest of the Speaker, was introduced as a hero who fought the Russians in World War II. Big ovation. Nobody seemed to have heard of him before, but if he fought the Russians, then...
Wait a minute. If he fought Russians, who had he been fighting for? Apparently the Speaker's office never thought to ask, but it came out over the weekend that the House had cheered a 98-year-old former Nazi. Or, at least, a former member of the First Ukrainian Division, a.k.a. the Nazis' SS 14th Waffen Division. Awkward!
Trouble, as you imagine, ensued. The Speaker, who serves independently and answers only to the House, apologized. But he couldn't outrun the calls to step down, which he did today. (He was also supposed to host a garden party for MPs at his official residence tonight. Little surprise that it was canceled at the last minute.)
The Tories decided to try to yoke Canada's Liberal government to the Speaker's woes, with leader Pierre Poilievre calling him "the Liberal Speaker" and even claiming that Prime Minister Trudeau had met with the Nazi privately during the Zelenskyy visit. (This was a lie.) But the questions still abound: How had the guy been invited in the first place? Why hadn't he been appropriately checked out? After all, Zelenskyy must top every Russian list of assassination targets, so why be so lax about whom they were letting in the same room with him?
As it turns out, the Speaker's office says the Nazi's son requested the invitation. Which starts a whole new round of questions.
We'll keep tabs on this bizarre story — especially now that Poland is mulling extraditing the guy, provided they can prove he committed war crimes there as a Waffenmeister. But the whole thing is awfully fishy, isn't it? We cats like fish, but not when it smells. So we HISS.
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