House Speaker Rota and the fallout from recognition of former Nazi soldier

Members of the media may directly contact:

Steve Chaplin (English and French)

Part-time Professor, Faculty of Law-Common Law Section and Fellow at the Public Law Centre, Faculty of Law.

schaplin@uottawa.ca

Professor Chaplin is a visiting scholar who is the former senior legal counsel for the House of Commons.

“This is a constitutional problem and not a government one, so it's not up to the government to resolve it. This is a matter for the house to resolve but to resolve it when it’s sitting is the thing. Almost every time a speaker has resigned is when the house is proroged or between sessions. If Rota resigns, they will have to move to elect a speaker right away, which can cause a disruption to the business of the house.”

Pierre Martel(English and French)

Part-time Professor, School of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences

Pierre.Martel@uottawa.ca

Professor Martel is a former senior executive in the Government of Canada with expertise in ethics, public affairs and government machinery.

"Speaker Rota has embarassed Canada with his actions and he has lost the confidence of many MPs. I can only see one solution, that he do the honourable thing and resign."

 

Jan Grabowski (English and French)

Full Professor, Department of History, Faculty of Arts

jgrabows@uottawa.ca

Professor Grabowski is an expert on topics revolving around the Holocaust and World War II.

"A possible extradition request has all to do with Polish internal politics and the upcoming general elections."