Michael Cooper, Conservative Shadow Minister for Democratic Reform, released the following statement on the NDP and Bloc refusing to investigate how a former Nazi solider was recognized during the Ukrainian President’s address to Parliament:

“Last month, Justin Trudeau caused the single biggest diplomatic embarrassment in Canadian history by allowing a former Nazi solider to be recognized in Parliament. This is the result of a series of failures on the part of several government bodies, all of which ultimately report to the Prime Minister.

“As this failure took place in Parliament, it is only right for Parliament to investigate how it occurred. Only then can we be satisfied that this will never happen again. Due to this, Conservatives brought forward a motion to the Government Operations and Estimates Committee to immediately begin this investigation.

“We thought the Bloc and the NDP would also want to get to the bottom of this scandal. After all, an NDP member of the committee said that they ‘want accountability for what happened and to make sure it never happens again.’ Similarly, a Bloc MP said, ‘It's important to get to the bottom of what happened, to find out exactly how this person was able to enter the House of Commons, and to determine how we can prevent this kind of situation in the future.’

“After Conservatives brought forward a motion to investigate the Prime Minister’s serious and deeply embarrassing mistake in committee, both the Bloc and NDP decided to protect Justin Trudeau. Despite the fact this incident had embarrassed all Canadians, caused great offence to Canada’s Jewish community and the Polish diaspora and handed Putin a major propaganda victory in his illegal invasion of Ukraine.

“The NDP and Bloc need to stop covering for Justin Trudeau and his international scandals. Common-sense Conservatives will call every witness, demand all documents and ask every question necessary to find out how this international embarrassment was permitted to happen.”