Portuguese-Canadian Alexandra Mendes will run for the presidency of Canada’s federal parliament for the second time, a position she considers “very important for civic culture.”
“These are not the circumstances I would have liked. The way we ended up in this situation was very sad and dramatic, but given the circumstances and the ambitions I had two years ago, they remain the same. It is a position that I am happy to fulfill. the opportunities I have as Deputy Vice President. It is with great pleasure that I do so, in a role that is extremely interesting. I think it is very important for our civil culture,” said Alexandra Mendes, 59 years old, speaking to the Lusa agency.
Canada’s House of Commons will choose a new leader after the election speaker Anthony Rota resigned on Tuesday after inviting a veteran of the Nazi Waffen SS unit during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech on September 22.
“There is no more to be said on this issue, it has been more than just debated. It was an absolutely unacceptable situation. We hope we have learned a lesson, that if we are going to officially recognize someone in the House of Commons, we must be absolutely certain that this person is worthy of being recognised. That is fundamentally the lesson,” the Portuguese-Canadian stated.
After the speech by the President of Ukraine, Canadian delegates from the various parliamentary groups gave a standing ovation to Yaroslav Hunka, 98 years old, when Anthony Rota introduced him as a war hero who fought for the First Ukrainian Division during the Second World War. division that fought alongside Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime.
The First Ukrainian Division was also known as the Waffen-SS Galicia Division, or 14th Waffen SS Division, a volunteer unit under Nazi command.
Liberal federal deputy Alexandra Mendes was elected vice-president of Canada’s parliament in 2019 and has held the position of assistant vice-president since 2021, after running for the position of speakerin which Anthony Rota was the winner.
The Portuguese-Canadian said that this second candidacy has a number of advantages, as some of her colleagues in parliament, who were younger at the time, “have more experience” and know her style of leading debates in the House of Commons, in the “many hours she spends in the ‘chair’, as the chair of the President of Parliament is known”.
The function of speaker in the Canadian parliamentary system “is a little different” from that of the Speaker of the Assembly of the Republic in Portugal. It is a neutral, impartial position, without party nomination, using a black and white uniform to reflect this neutral position.
However, the positions of vice-president of parliament and deputy vice-president can now remain linked to the parties for which they were elected.
In addition to Alexandra Mendes, at least a dozen deputies expressed interest in the position, with conservative Chris d’Entremont (current vice president of parliament) and new democrat Carol Hughes (vice vice president) confirmed.
The new speaker It will be voted on in the House of Commons on Tuesday, October 3 at 10 a.m. local time (3 p.m. Lisbon).
Born in Lisbon, Canada since 1978, the Portuguese-Canadian has been serving her fourth term as deputy since 2015, representing the constituency of Brossard-Saint-Lambert (Montreal). Between 2008 and 2011 she represented the Brossard-Saint-Lambert district (Montreal). La Lambert (Montreal), Prairie.
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, awarded Alexandra Mendes with the Order of Camões on September 15 in Toronto, during a ceremony attended by the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, after visiting an exhibition celebrating 70 years of official Portuguese immigration to Canada.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Alexandra Mendès (@plcalexandramendeslpc)
“It would be two wonderful gifts this year: the award of the Presidency of the Republic, and if you are elected President of the House of Commons,” he concluded.
Source: DN
