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I am boggled by this whole thing.
Not that we (Canada) have ancient Nazis still living in comfort in Canada. I am sure there are more. Our WWII cred is actually pretty miserable. No, we didn't accept Jews fleeing the terror; no we didn't allow them to send us their children for safety. Once you know how we treated the British children sent to us for safety, any miserably selfish and cruel thing we think we can get away with is not surprising.
No. What I don't understand is how anyone part of this mistake thought anything else would happen.
What I have gleaned from various reports is that the man wrongly honoured lived in Anthony Rota's riding, and the man's son recommended his father for the honour.
First, wouldn't somebody - anybody - in the Speaker's Office have thought to do a little background checking - I mean: the man might have done something super heroic which could be mentioned. He didn't, but it's not like previous war honorees have not done super heroic mentionable things. Andrew Scheer says that just the mildest google search brought up worrying information. Andrew Scheer may not be Prime Minister material - but he is not an idiot.
Second, did the son think that nobody would care about his father's past? For heaven's sake, Poland wants to extradite the father now. I mean: the few geriatric Nazis that are left are pursued with firm and inexorable determination - see the German conviction of Irmgard Furchner.
I mean: I think some of this virtue is too little too late the-lady-doth-protest-too-much, but what it lacks in timeliness it makes up for in tenacity.
Perhaps the son did not know his father's past - it is not unusual for veterans of vicious conflicts to be reticent about their experiences. But the father would know - did he think no one would care?
This is such a fumble - such a complete fiasco.
I think I am more ashamed that we are so stupid. I mean: from this incident alone, one can't tell whether Canada is anti-Semitic or not; but one can tell that we are too stupid to realize that the answer is important.
Not that we (Canada) have ancient Nazis still living in comfort in Canada. I am sure there are more. Our WWII cred is actually pretty miserable. No, we didn't accept Jews fleeing the terror; no we didn't allow them to send us their children for safety. Once you know how we treated the British children sent to us for safety, any miserably selfish and cruel thing we think we can get away with is not surprising.
No. What I don't understand is how anyone part of this mistake thought anything else would happen.
What I have gleaned from various reports is that the man wrongly honoured lived in Anthony Rota's riding, and the man's son recommended his father for the honour.
First, wouldn't somebody - anybody - in the Speaker's Office have thought to do a little background checking - I mean: the man might have done something super heroic which could be mentioned. He didn't, but it's not like previous war honorees have not done super heroic mentionable things. Andrew Scheer says that just the mildest google search brought up worrying information. Andrew Scheer may not be Prime Minister material - but he is not an idiot.
Second, did the son think that nobody would care about his father's past? For heaven's sake, Poland wants to extradite the father now. I mean: the few geriatric Nazis that are left are pursued with firm and inexorable determination - see the German conviction of Irmgard Furchner.
I mean: I think some of this virtue is too little too late the-lady-doth-protest-too-much, but what it lacks in timeliness it makes up for in tenacity.
Perhaps the son did not know his father's past - it is not unusual for veterans of vicious conflicts to be reticent about their experiences. But the father would know - did he think no one would care?
This is such a fumble - such a complete fiasco.
I think I am more ashamed that we are so stupid. I mean: from this incident alone, one can't tell whether Canada is anti-Semitic or not; but one can tell that we are too stupid to realize that the answer is important.
