House of Commons debacle making for tough questions for Skeena-Buklley Valley MP

Speaker of the House of Common Anthony Rota went off script a bit
last week paying tribute to a resident of his constituency during the
Speeches in honour of President Zelenskky of Ukraine. A moment of
celebration that has since turned into an international incident for Canada

The now global embarrassment  of the Canadian House of Commons somehow paying tribute to a member of the Waffen SS in the Second World War is making news around the world and none of it is a positive look for Canada.

The controversy came during the recent appearance of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week in the House of Commons, a day of rousing speeches of support for the Ukrainian people in their fight against Russian aggression.

Those in the House of Commons applauded Yaroslav Hunka 
as part of the salute to Ukraine last week, the applause now 
making for much embarrassment for Canada on the world stage

The day of tributes included the Speaker calling attention to a member of the Gallery, who served in World War Two.

"We have here in the chamber today a Ukrainian Canadian war veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians and continues to support the troops today even at his age of 98. His name is Yaroslav Hunka. 

I am very proud to say that he is from North Bay and from my riding of Nipissing—Timiskaming. He is a Ukrainian hero and a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all his service. Thank you."

However at that point of the presentation while the vast majority of MP's and guests in the Chamber including the Prime Minister and President applauded;  it's likely that maybe a few of those in the House who studied history in high school ...  might have had an uncomfortable feeling that the Speaker's carefully crafted narrative had gone a bit sideways. 

While today the Russians are the aggressors against Ukraine, in World War II they were among the Allied forces fighting the Fascism of Adolph Hitler.

And has since been chronicled extensively in the Canadian and Global media, that would mean that Mr. Hunka in his fight against Russian aggression, had actually aligned with the Nazis of the Second World War.

And that is a revelation which has served to bring much embarrassment to the House of Commons, the Prime Minister, the President of Ukraine and Canadians in General.

Now, the Member of Parliament for Skeena-Bulkley Valley is probably not on the list of researchers for the Speaker of the House, or for the Prime Minister's Office.  

Both of which somehow didn't do much in the way of research prior to the salute for Hunka to the gallery.

But, in the enthusiasm of the moment of the event, the MP did however make note of the larger House of Commons presentation when it took place ...

And as a result,  like many MPs this week, Taylor Bachrach is feeling the heat on the horrible optics of the Canadian House of Commons paying tribute to a member of the Waffen SS.

With the comments section to his Social Media page delivering  a few questions related to the embarrassing fall out of the event.

Like many MP's it seems, the Skeena-Bulkley Valley Member has yet to find his footing on how to address the situation, with no comments in follow up since the events in the house last week to express shock or concern as to how it all happened.

Something that Mr. Bachrach should probably attend to sooner than later.

Whether the Speaker of the House survives the mess he created is in some doubt today, with a growing volume of calls for him to resign. 

Update: The Speaker resigned his post on Tuesday 

How many others that may fall as a result of the lack of simple research is something that may be fascinating to watch for in the days ahead.

We have chronicled some of the fallout from the House of Commons troubles through our political blog D'arcy McGee. 

More notes from the House of Commons can be reviewed here.