How a whole political career can be upended in minutes

Oh, how the mighty - and the merely competent - are fallen!

House Speaker Anthony Rota has resigned in response to his unfortunate (even if accidental) error in inviting an ex-SS Ukrainian soldier to the Canadian government's love-in with Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyy, and leading the whole assembly in a standing ovation for the frail 98-year old in full view of TV cameras and international press coverage.

It will be hard for Canada to claw its way back from a public relations faux pas of this magnitude, and Rota had no alternative but to resign amid heartfelt apologies to all concerned. It was, as Rota has made clear from the outset, all his own personal mistake - the Speaker of the House is functionally independent and has a good measure of autonomy in these matters - and, in theory at least, it should not cast shade over the Liberal government as a whole, or over Prime Minster Trudeau specifically, however much Poilievre and the Conservatives try to spin it (Poilievre knows perfectly well that it is not Trudeau's job to check up on the Speaker's every action, but he is happy to pretend otherwise if he sees a stick to beat Trudeau with).

The only reason Rota invited Yaroslav Hunka was because Hunka's son, a constituent of Mr. Rota's riding, requested it. No-one really knew who the guy was, including, it might be pointed out, President Zelenskyy himself and his wife, who gamely joined in the general applause and smiled widely.

But it was undeniably a Bad Thing, and Rota had to go. It has compromised the whole government, insulted the Jewish and Eastern European community, and potentially handed Russia a propaganda victory in its attempt to paint its "special operation" as a crusade to "de-nazify" Ukraine (although it has been a long time since Putin has relied on that particular mistruth to justify his invasion). There's no coming back from that.

What's interesting, though, is how a single action and two sentences at the wrong time and in the wrong place can instantly negate a whole career, which up to now has been admirable, even exemplary. Rota is by all accounts "a profoundly good man", but he tried to do something nice for President Zelenskyy, failed to do his homework and his due diligence, and ended up disgracing himself and the country as a whole.

In the blink of an eye, Rota, 62, has seen his whole career destroyed. He was a former city councillor in North Bay, Ontario, served as a Liberal MP from 2004 to 2011, and was then re-elected in 2019 and 2021. He has served as Speaker of the House since 2019, and deftly guided Parliament through the hard times of the pandemic and the tricky institution of hybrid attendance. He was pretty much universally lauded as a good Speaker.

But no-one will remember any of that now. Henceforth, he will be remembered almost exclusively as the guy who threw Canada under the bus. It's a shame really.