Madam Chair, under Justin Trudeau's watch, a former soldier of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS was shamefully recognized and honoured in Parliament during the state visit and address by the President of Ukraine.
This should never have happened. It is a stain on the reputation of the institution of Parliament. It caused enormous hurt and offence to the Jewish community across Canada and around the world and dishonoured the more than six million Jews who were murdered at the hands of the Nazis during World War II. Likewise, it caused hurt and offence to Ukrainians, Poles and Slovakians and embarrassed all Canadians.
It is an insult to the veterans and members of the Canadian Armed Forces, one million of whom fought valiantly to defend freedom and defeat the evils of Hitler and his murderous genocidal Nazi ideology, including more than 45,000 Canadians who laid down their lives to secure freedom and to defeat Hitler and the Nazis.
This shameful recognition is a massive propaganda win for Russia as Ukraine fights to defend its freedom and sovereignty in the face of Russia's illegal invasion. It has brought irreparable damage to Canada's international reputation and is perhaps Justin Trudeau's biggest international embarrassment in a long list of international embarrassments. This is a Prime Minister who was already regarded by our allies as simply not up to the job on the international stage.
Under this Prime Minister's watch, a series of inexcusable errors resulted in this disgraceful occurrence, and Canadians are left wondering how in the world this happened. How in the world did this happen? There is one person and one person only who bears the ultimate responsibility, and that person is Justin Trudeau.
It was Justin Trudeau's responsibility to invite President Zelenskyy to address Parliament. It was Justin Trudeau's responsibility to see that President Zelenskyy's visit was a success. It was Justin Trudeau's personal departments, the Privy Council Office and the Office of Protocol of Canada, which ultimately report to Justin Trudeau, that are responsible for arranging and vetting all guests and the programming of state visits of this kind.
This international embarrassment can be summed up in one sentence: Justin Trudeau failed, and in so doing, he brought significant hurt and humiliation.... In the face of that hurt and humiliation, caused as a result of Justin Trudeau's scandalous incompetence, what did he do? He hid in his cottage for five days and threw the now former Speaker under the bus. To this day, he has failed to take any responsibility and refuses to personally apologize for this colossal debacle.
Canadians deserve answers. They deserve to know how this happened under Justin Trudeau's watch. The responsibility to see that Canadians get these answers falls on this committee. That's why this motion calls for hearings to call witnesses from all of the departments and agencies that can shed light on this series of errors under Justin Trudeau's watch that led to this international embarrassment.
The motion also orders the production of emails, memos and documents from the relevant departments and agencies, as well as the Speaker's office and the Prime Minister's Office, concerning this debacle.
This motion ensures that Canadians can get the answers they deserve and that Justin Trudeau is held accountable for this stain on the institution of Parliament and this disgraceful international embarrassment, the biggest ever under his watch, which is, I repeat, saying something.
I surely would expect this motion will receive the unanimous support of this committee as we endeavour to get answers.
Thank you, Madam Chair.