John Robson: The Irresponsible Ignorance of Applauding a Nazi Soldier Extends Well Beyond History

 

Yaroslav Hunka (R) waits for the arrival of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the House of Commons 

If you were to compile a short list of basic political do’s and don’ts, “Don’t applaud a Nazi” would be pretty high up, right? Che Guevara T-shirts are cool. But swastikas? Don’t go there. So how did our entire House of Commons get it wrong?

Well, my own list of political maxims, more strategic than tactical, would include “Study history.” Or nowadays “Study history, don’t erase it.” And it’s pretty clear that none of them realized if someone fought the Russians during World War II he wasn’t on our side. Unless he was Finnish or Polish before 1941, an aside on which I would not want to quiz these Solons.

Perhaps you think me too snide. But I was apparently the only person who balked when François-Philippe Champagne, minister of Foreign Affairs for over a year before flitting into Innovation, Science and Industry, recently tweeted, “Canada and Japan are, and always have been, strong allies and partners.”

What an insult to the Winnipeg Grenadiers and Royal Rifles of Canada… if he’d heard of the Battle of Hong Kong. Or knew we fought Japan in World War II. Instead he just regurgitated saccharine clichés from a bureaucracy as ignorant as it is massive.

To be fair, someone posted a clip of House Speaker Anthony Rota stumbling briefly over “a Ukrainian-Canadian war veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians.” But then he resumed reading… well, what?

His subsequent “Statement” trying to defuse the matter, and exonerate the prime minister, said that “no one, including fellow parliamentarians … was aware of my intention or of my remarks before I delivered them.” But he certainly sounded like someone cold-reading unfamiliar words.

Worse, the “Statement” ended, “I accept full responsibility for my actions.” But only in the modern sense of accepting no consequences. Move along. Nothing to see here folks. Not that we see much anyway.

Pierre Poilievre claimed “Justin Trudeau personally met with and honoured a veteran of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (a Nazi division). Liberals then arranged for this Nazi veteran to be recognized on the floor of the House of Commons during the visit of the Ukrainian President.” Which the Liberals deny and is far from clear, but facts shmacts.

Actually, the point isn’t to pin partisan blame in as moronically nasty a way as possible, another of my “don’ts.” It’s that every MP present gave Yaroslav Hunka a standing ovation, so none of them even had Speaker Rota’s flicker of unease.

This irresponsible ignorance extends well beyond history. Sheila Gunn Reid notes that the Speaker’s “Statement” requires us “to believe there were no real vetting protocols when a visiting foreign leader under constant threat of [assassination] attended the House of Commons.” Which the PMO maintains, and unfortunately it might very well be true.

The degree to which nobody in government knows anything, and doesn’t much care, is astounding. As with the Freedom Convoy, where the authorities were as good at hallucinating Nazi flags as they were poor at gathering intelligence or making plans. And Blacklock’s Reporter revealed Sept. 25 that only one of Canada’s used subs, HMCS Windsor, has even been to sea since late 2021, and last year for just 43 days.

Did I just veer off-topic? No, because cabinet had told Parliament: “Canada’s four Victoria-class submarines form the core of the Royal Canadian Navy’s underwater surveillance capabilities. Covert, well-armed and capable of patrolling vast distances, these submarines provide support to maritime law enforcement in investigating narcotics trafficking, smuggling and polluting cases as well as conducting domestic and international operations.”

It’s not that they were lying. It’s that they didn’t know and didn’t care. Nobody read this statement, dimly recalled maintenance-issue rumours, and went um guys let’s double-check. It was just posture and forget. As with our “sanctions” on Russia (where this incident is grist for their Zelenskyy-is-a-Jewish-Nazi propaganda); evidently we’ve seized no assets at all… unlike the Freedom Convoy.

Since World War II seems to have people’s attention briefly, let me tell our MPs that after Hitler’s Germany invaded Stalin’s USSR in June 1941, “Operation Barbarossa” to pedants, lifelong anti-communist Winston Churchill explained the subsequent ghastly alliance of convenience with: “If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.”

Given communism’s evil nature, if some Ukrainians had tried to kill both Bolsheviks and Nazis I would sympathize, especially given the Holodomor. But 14th SS “Galizien” division members did not want to kill Nazis. They wanted to kill Jews.

Our MPs stood and clapped as one, wanting to seem cool, without any real idea what was going on so they followed the crowd. Yet another of my political “don’ts,” for reasons I’d hope were obvious. But these days you just don’t know.