Document disclosure court challenge

In July 2021, the Liberal government took the unprecedented step of taking Speaker Rota to court after Rota ruled that the government did not have the legal authority to withhold documents requested by members of Parliament. The documents requested related to the transfer of samples of the level 4 viruses from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China and the lab's dismissal of two of its scientists.

Subsequently, Speaker Rota reprimanded Iain Stewart, the President of the Public Health Agency of Canada for PHAC's "contempt" of Parliament, after Stewart failed to comply with multiple House and Commons committee orders to produce these unredacted documents.

The Liberal government’s legal challenge centered on whether or not courts can overrule the Parliamentary powers under the Westminster system. Speaker Rota had upheld the principle that the judiciary has no jurisdiction over the operations of the House and that only Parliament can decide how the law applies to its institutions.

The Liberal government subsequently dropped the court application after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called an election in August, dissolving Parliament and thus terminating all business before the House, including the orders to produce the PHAC documents.^[11][12]

On November 22, 2021, Rota was reelected as the speaker of the House of Commons.^[13]

Scandal and resignation

On September 22, 2023, following an address to the Canadian parliament by visiting Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Rota introduced and recognized Yaroslav Hunka, a Ukrainian-Canadian retiree from North Bay, in the parliamentary galleries. He identified Hunka as a "war hero" who fought for the First Ukrainian Division, saying, "We have here in the chamber today a Ukrainian Canadian war veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians and continues to support the troops today even at his age of 98. His name is Yaroslav Hunka. I am very proud to say that he is from North Bay and from my riding of Nipissing—Timiskaming. He is a Ukrainian hero and a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all his service. Thank you."^[14] Following Rota's introduction, Hunka was applauded with two standing ovations by members of all parties.

Subsequent media reports identified Hunka as a member of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division (also known as the 1st Galician Division) of Nazi Germany's Waffen-SS during the Second World War; the unit was responsible for anti-partisan reprisals in Poland, Slovakia and the Austria–Slovenia border. Rota issued an apology two days after his initial statement, saying, "In my remarks following the address of the president of Ukraine, I recognized an individual in the gallery. I have subsequently become aware of more information which causes me to regret my decision to do so." Rota apologized to "Jewish communities in Canada and around the world" and accepted responsibility for his action, saying that neither the Ukrainian delegation nor other MPs were aware that he would recognize Hunka.^[15][16][17] The next day, he faced increasing demands from political parties and organizations to resign.^[18][19]

On September 26, Rota announced his resignation as House Speaker, effective on September 27.^[20][21] Rota was the seventh House Speaker to resign in Canadian history, and the first to do so since John Bosley in 1986.^[22]