QP: More questions on income splitting

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With the three main leaders at the RCMP funeral in Moncton, it was due to be another relatively quiet day in the Commons. Libby Davies led off QP by quoting the Broadbent Institute report that said that income splitting won’t benefit nine out of ten Canadians. Kevin Sorensen said that income splitting was good for seniors, and that it would be good for families. After another fruitless round, Davis moved on to the procurement process for the fighter jet replacements, to which Diane Finley praised the independent review process that they undertook, but noted that they had not yet come to a decision. Sadia Groguhé repeated the same question in French and got the same response, her follow-up bringing up the promises for industrial benefits by some bidders, not that Finley’s response changed. Ralph Goodale led off for the Liberals, bringing up the middling performance of our economy, hoping for something more than “mediocre talking points.” He was, however, disappointed as that was all that Sorensen had to offer. Stéphane Dion closed the round, lamenting the changes to the Building Canada Fund that would mean most municipalities missing an entire construction season, though Sorensen kept up with his good news talking points.

Round two, and Jack Harris and Élaine Michaud brought up rumours that the government may rewrite the new fighter jet specifications (Finley: We launched our Seven-Point Plan™ to ensure that we get the right decision), François Choquette and Megan Leslie decried the Prime Minister’s comments about jobs being affected by GHG regulations yesterday (Carrie: The only thing the NDP says yes to is a carbon tax), and Guy Caron and Nathan Cullen returned to the issue of income splitting (Sorensen: Look at all of our beneficial tax measures!). John McCallum noted the working conditions for temporary foreign workers in several sectors and the lack of enforcement against abuses (Kenney: We have taken important steps to correct the system and to punish abusers), and Joyce Murray wondered if the process to rig the fighter jet procurement process was “a Seven-Point Plan™ or a seven-point scam?” (Finley: It was reviewed by a panel of independent experts). Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe and Andrew Cash asked about the constitutionality of the citizenship bill (MacKay: It’s the responsibility of the committee to examine bills — never mind that the government has been abusing their majority on it; Alexander: Canadians are unanimous is saying that people who obtained their citizenship fraudulently should have it stripped).

Round three saw questions on why the airspace above Quebec jails be declared no-fly zones after two helicopter escapes, businesses sharing personal information without informing customers, opposition to the Northern Gateway pipeline, document delays for residential school survivors, the actions of the Canadian government with combatting Boko Haram in Nigeria, the poor performance of the Social Security Tribunal, Hungary being on the designated country of origin list, and temporary foreign workers in the fast food industry.

Overall, it was a little rowdier than yesterday, and the “we’ll never heckle” NDP benches were called out for drowning out a minister at one point — only to stand up and applaud sanctimoniously when the Speaker named one Liberal MP in particular for being disruptive. Apparently there is neither self-awareness nor irony left in the Commons, and when Elizabeth May tried to raise a point of order about how a female MP was singled out but male MPs haven’t been, she too was shut down. Then again, this is the silly season.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Rona Ambrose for a cherry red jacket that had some pretty cool structure to it, with a black skirt, and to Bernard Trottier for a dark grey suit with a lavender shirt and a grey and purple striped tie. Style citations go out to Jean Rousseau for a khaki suit with a bright orange shirt and a cream-orange striped tie, and to Megan Leslie for a translucent floral top with a black skirt. Dishonourable mention goes out to Gail Shea for a bright yellow top with a black sweater.