I’ll admit my initial reaction to learning that the Canadian government gave two standing ovations to a 98-year-old who literally fought for the Nazis was to feel sorry for the guy responsible: Anthony Rota.
Before resigning earlier this week, Rota served admirably as speaker of the House of Commons. He was remarkably nonpartisan, despite having to deal with an unrelentingly unprofessional Conservative party. And he obviously isn’t a Nazi, or Russian propagandist, or anything like that.
Plus, as somebody who can make them from time to time, my general position is this: People shouldn’t be defined by their mistakes, unless their mistakes define them.
But this sense of compassion has since given way to new feelings: contempt and curiosity.
First: contempt. Everybody makes mistakes, sure; but this mistake is absolutely massive. It’s one thing to take a very old man at his word when he tells you about his time in the war; it’s another to not google his name before shouting him out in front of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Rota meant well, of course. But he may as well have accidentally fired a missile by sitting on the launch button, considering all the damage he has done to the Liberals. How could he and his staff be so careless when this situation so obviously called for so much care?
Which brings us to my second delayed reaction: curiosity. Just how bad is this going to turn out for Trudeau? Because – while I know it seems inconceivable now – our deeply unpopular prime minister was just on the cusp of making a comeback.
Trudeau had finally taken steps to fix Canada’s housing crisis – both by waiving the GST for new rental construction and by beginning to talk openly about the fact that home prices can’t keep going up (sorry, homeowners).
Whatever you think of him, Trudeau’s better-late-than-never plan is the same or better than the one put forward by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.
And Trudeau had just taken a stand against food price inflation that could be accurately described as “gangsta.” He summoned the leaders of Canada’s biggest grocery chains to Ottawa, berated them, then ordered them to stabilize prices by Thanksgiving “or I will.”
Whatever you think of him, that’s some cold-blooded shit to say to Galen Weston — and as the kids say, I’m here for it.
Plus Trudeau had just let Indian prime minister Narendra Modi know that he’s not somebody to fuck with after Modi tried to stonewall an investigation linking the Indian government to the murder of a Canadian Sikh in B.C in June.
Whatever you think of him, that’s a power move to take against a superpower — and it’s forcing our allies to publicly admit what they privately know about India’s interference in diaspora communities.
And then of course there was the Zelenskyy visit itself… prior to the Nazi thing, I mean. The Ukrainian president spent two days thanking Canadians — but Trudeau in particular — for steadfastly supporting Ukraine and courageously condemning Russia.
So things really were starting to look up for the prime minister. But then he was dealt this fresh disaster. And all that really matters now is: How will Trudeau respond — and how will we?