Facing opposition from all parties in Ottawa, House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota announced his resignation ahead of Question Period on Tuesday.
“It is with a heavy heart that I rise to inform parliamentarians of my resignation as Speaker of the House of Commons,” he announced matter-of-factly.
His departure surprised no one in Ottawa, as Mr. Rota had gradually lost support among parliamentarians of various religious denominations. Several ministers in the Trudeau government and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre openly called for his resignation that morning.
A meeting of the leaders of all parties sealed his fate on Tuesday afternoon. The deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Conservative MP Chris d’Entremont, chaired question time in the afternoon.
Anthony Rota will officially leave office the next day, Wednesday, September 27th. The House of Commons must then prepare to elect a new referee for the debates.
The Chamber’s Franco-Ontarian president since 2019 briefly thanked his colleagues for their support during his term and reiterated his “deep regret” for inviting a former combatant to a Nazi unit during the Second World War during the visit to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
A requested departure
Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly indicated on Tuesday morning that there was “no alternative” to Mr Rota’s resignation as Speaker of the House of Commons as she entered the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning.
“If I were in President Rota’s shoes, I would resign,” Fisheries and Oceans Minister Diane Lebouthillier added. Prime Minister Karine Gould also said the man no longer had the support of the Liberals to remain in office.
The leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (PCC), Pierre Poilievre, has also been calling for this departure since Tuesday. “Trudeau [et son président libéral] brought shame to Canada. “The liberal president must resign,” the opposition leader wrote in a statement on his social networks.
The day before, both the Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party (NDP) called for the resignation of Anthony Rota, who had apologized extensively. The president took all the blame for the embarrassing invitation of 98-year-old Jaroslaw Hunka. He portrayed him as a fighter who “fought for the independence of Ukraine against the Russians” during World War II, drawing applause from all federal elected officials and President Zelensky.
The CCP did not immediately call for Rota’s resignation, but instead blamed the government and the prime minister himself for failing to carry out the necessary controls.
“Will the Prime Minister stand up and apologize for this massive and shameful failure,” Pierre Poilievre chanted during question time. He stood in front of an empty chair because Justin Trudeau was not present in the House of Representatives.
“Where is he today?” » repeated the opposition leader, not without eliciting a warning from Vice President Chris d’Entremont, since it is forbidden to refer to the presence or absence of a parliamentarian during debates.
The prime minister’s public schedule shows that he was scheduled to attend a meeting with the president of the Automobile Parts Manufacturers Association on Tuesday afternoon.
The prime minister should apologize, says NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, who also called on the government to “have a plan” to repair the damage caused by the affair.
The scandal also resonated widely in the National Assembly in Quebec. Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon announced his party would table a motion to distance itself from the ovation from Ottawa lawmakers. The Quebec Liberal Party also called for Mr. Rota’s resignation.
To watch in the video