OTTAWA – A few months ago, the presence of the former Ukrainian veteran Yaroslav Hunka in the House of Commons on the occasion of the visit of President Volodymyr Zelensky led to the resignation of Speaker Anthony Rota, after it emerged that Hunka had also fought for Nazi Germany. Now, it turns out that the former veteran was actually also invited by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, along with other Ukrainian veterans, to attend an event in Toronto honoring Zelensky.
“It turns out”, we write, because Trudeau had not said this when Rota decided to resign taking full responsibility for the affair. A responsibility which, according to what emerged today, should have been at least divided in half between Rota himself and Trudeau.
But what emerged today, exactly? The multimedia news portal Rebel News published the invitation – obtained through a request for access to information – which had been sent to Hunka to participate in a demonstration in Toronto on the days in which Zelenskyj’s visit was scheduled. Well, that invitation was sent on behalf of Trudeau through the Protocol Office of Canada.
On Monday, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) confirmed to CBC that Hunka had indeed been invited to the rally in Toronto, where Zelenskyy was scheduled to meet with members of the Canadian-Ukrainian community. “Last September, there was a community event with the President of Ukraine in Toronto with over 1,000 people invited. Hundreds of Canadians were invited” the PMO note read. “The individual in question’s name was submitted by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. The individual did not attend. Knowing what is known now — the individual shouldn’t have been invited”. However, he was invited both to Toronto (by Prime Minister Trudeau’s office) and to Ottawa (by Speaker Rota’s office) where he was then even given a standing ovation.
An international fool, following which Rota resigned, “dumped” by Trudeau himself who did not defend him but limited himself to taking note of his resignation.
Now, the Conservatives are placing all the blame for the incident on Trudeau and accusing him of not being truthful about the invitation. “It is frightening and disconcerting, if entirely predictable, that Justin Trudeau could embarrass our country and undermine our relationship with an ally” commented Sebastian Skamski, spokesman for Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.
And Poilievre himself then intervened on Twitter today: “So Trudeau lied again. For months he’s been saying that only the Speaker invited the former Nazi to the Ukrainian President’s visit. It caused global embarrassment & a Russian propaganda win. Trudeau threw the Speaker—another “random Liberal”—under the bus for the failure. Now we learn Trudeau’s office invited the former Nazi to meet the Ukrainian President”.
In the pic above, one of the meetings between Justin Trudeau and Volodymyr Zelensky (photo: Wikipedia / www.president.gov.ua)
