Canada’s Leader of Opposition Pierre Poilievre has criticised the country’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for meeting and honouring a veteran of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (a Nazi division). He demanded an apology from Trudeau over the matter.
Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, Poilievre said Liberals arranged for Nazi veteran to be recognised on the floor of the House of Commons during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Canada this week. He called it an “appalling error” in judgement on the part of Trudeau, whose office is responsible for arranging and vetting all guests and programming for state visits of this kind.
In a post shared on X, Pierre Poilievre stated, “It has come out today that 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.”
He further added, “This is an appalling error in judgement on the part of Justin Trudeau, whose personal protocol office is responsible for arranging and vetting all guests and programming for state visits of this kind. No parliamentarians (other than Justin Trudeau) had the opportunity to vet this individual’s past before he was introduced and honoured on the floor of the House of Commons. Without warning or context, it was impossible for any parliamentarian in the room (other than Mr. Trudeau) to know of this dark past. Mr Trudeau must personally apologize and avoid passing the blame to others as he always does.” He made the statement in response to a post shared by Canadian-based human rights group organisation Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center’s (FSWC) post shared on X.
Meanwhile, Russia will seek a clarification from Canada over the honour accorded in Canadian Parliament to a Ukrainian Nazi who served in one of the units of Adolf Hitler’s Waffen SS during the Second World War, TASS reported on Monday. Russian state-owned news agency TASS cited Russian Ambassador to Ottawa, Oleg Stepanov to state that the Russian Embassy in Ottawa will send a note to Canadian Foreign Ministry and PM Justin Trudeau’s Office seeking a clarification on the issue.
