Canada’s image was tarnished by the applause of a former Nazi soldier in the House of Commons, and it will be difficult to “forget” this incident, and even more difficult for Speaker Anthony Rota to remain in his position.
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This is what Marie-Eve Doyon, founder of the public relations company MEDia, believes, who in an interview with Mario Dumont highlighted the seriousness of the blunder and its aftermath.
She explained in an interview: “With what we have seen in recent days, it is impossible, especially in light of the embarrassment that Canada places in comparison to its allies abroad and countries that want to give us a less good image.”
“We know that Russia has been using these images ever since to say: ‘Look at the Nazis being applauded,'” she points out. On Monday, Liberal Karina Gould even tried to introduce a motion to remove photos from documentation of the event and remove verbatim comments in Parliament. The Bloc Québécois was in favour, but the Conservatives were opposed.
For the communications specialist, it is “a very bad idea and only creates a circle around the spot.”
“Fifty years ago we might have been able to correct writings because newspapers were not published and letters were not delivered. also! Today’s “What’s on Wednesday is on the web.” “Today, from the moment something happened and someone saw it, there is an indelible trace,” explains Marie-Eve Doyon.
“It gives this government the image of a government that wants to change history, rewrite it, rewrite the past, rewrite the place of black people in Canada, and the place of homosexuals in society. We call this government woke, and there we see it trying to hide its ass with its hands, and this also gives a very bad image. This is what we blame dictatorships, China, Russia and other dictatorships… that they are trying to rewrite their history, to create the famous narrative that people who fall a little more on the side of the conspiracy. The observer adds: They did it publicly instead of behind closed doors.
House Speaker Anthony Rota apologized on Monday. “This was my decision, and I sincerely apologize for it. I don’t think so at any point that is regrettable, and I can’t help but feel sorry for certain people I’m sorry for, but I’m sorry.” », at-il dit la gorge nouée, Monday morning.
The guest in question, Jaroslav Hunka, who fought in an SS unit in Ukraine during World War II, received a standing ovation from all the elected representatives in the House of Representatives, including Justin Trudeau and other party leaders, as well as President Volodymyr Zelensky. Of Jewish origins.
The event was the occasion of a particularly strange question period, with the Conservatives dozens of times asking the government to take its share of the blame for the matter. It was not Justin Trudeau in his seat, but rather Parliamentary Leader Karina Gould, herself Jewish and whose family members died during the Holocaust, who was sent to the front to defend her government.
She asked Mr Rutte to clarify that the error was entirely his fault, and asked his Conservative counterparts not to “politicize” the new scandal.
Caught between the two, President Rutte continued to play his role as arbitrator while being at the center of the discussions.
***Watch the full interview with him in the video above.****
