NDP House Leader, Peter Julian, in a statement regarding Anthony Rota’s decision to step down as Speaker of the House of Commons on Tuesday after MPs of all parties called for him to quit for inviting a man who served with a Nazi unit to attend a speech made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week on Friday, called it the right decision.

Julian said: “We fully accept Mr. Rota’s apology and believe that he didn’t intend to cause harm but, unfortunately, there are very real consequences to his lapse in judgement.

“The harm that this incident has inflicted on the Jewish community is unacceptable and we wish everyone who has been hurt peace and healing. We also acknowledge that President Zelenskky was invited to our Parliament by the Prime Minister, to shore up support for the ongoing war in his country.

“Already, Russia propaganda is weaponizing this incident to harm President Zelenskyy and undermine Ukrainians’ effort to protect their home from an illegal invasion. The Prime Minister has to apologize and help mitigate the harm that this has caused Ukraine and it’s leadership.

“And finally, Canada’s reputation has been harmed on the international stage. For these reasons, we felt that Mr. Rota lost the confidence of the House and he had to step aside.”

Julian added: “We want to acknowledge the hard work he did during the pandemic to ensure Canadians’ democracy could continue to function during unprecedented challenges. We wish him well and thank him for making this difficult decision.”