QP: A debate or a vote

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The President of Germany was visiting the Centre Block today, no matter that Harper was still in New York for the United Nations, and Justin Trudeau was off campaigning in Oshawa, leaving Thomas Mulcair once again the only major leader present. He led off by asking about the Prime Minister’s revelation in New York that we were being asked to contribute more troops to Iraq. Rob Nicholson responded by saying that the request was just received and that it would be reviewed, along with our current non-combat mission at the end of the 30 days. Mulcair wanted the letter made public, and asked how many more troops were being asked. Nicholson repeated that it would all be part of the review. Mulcair wanted the disclosure of the permission given by Iraq, to which Nicholson assured him that they had proper permission. Mulcair moved onto the burgeoning refugee crisis in Turkey, to which Chris Alexander gave a pro forma response about how many refugees from Iraq we have already settled and how many more we planned to. Mulcair pressed for detail on Syrian refugees, and Alexander said that more than 1500 Syrian refugees were present in Canada. Marc Garneau led off for the Liberals, and asked for details on the new Iraq request, and that it would be brought for debate in the House. Nicholson repeated that they would be reviewing everything. Joyce Murray noted the recall of Parliament in the UK to debate their Iraq deployment, to which Nicholson invited the opposition to use their supply days to debate further. Adam Vaughan reiterated the need for debate in parliament before any deployment was extended, and Nicholson noted how forthcoming the government has been.

Round two, and Mulcair got back to his feet and demanded a vote on any deployment (Nicholson: Why don’t you want to deal with ISIS?), Irene Mathyssen and Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet accused laxity on abuses of temporary foreign workers (Kenney: We have all kinds of new mechanisms), Guy Caron and Chris Charlton asked about the “low-wage agenda” (Sorenson: Look at all of the things we’ve done for low-income people; Kenney: Provinces establish minimum wages), and Nathan Cullen asked a pair of convoluted questions about jobs (Sorenson: Look at all the things!). Judy Sgro wanted the Liberals’ EI premium plan implemented (Sorenson: 45-day work year! You stole $60 billion from the EI fund!), Ralph Goodale decried the government’s economic plans (Sorenson: You’re wrong! We are projected to be one of the best growing economies in the G7), and asked about youth unemployment (Sorenson: You don’t get how small business works). Paul Dewar and Rosane Doré Lefebre asked about the response to Ebola (Ambrose: We have been at the forefront including donations and sending a mobile lab), and Doré Lefebvre and Randall Garrison asked about refugee claimant detentions in Canada (Alexander: We’re very proud of our fair asylum system).

https://twitter.com/pmlagasse/status/515204520960622592

Round three saw questions on agriculture trade with the U.S., drug monitoring, wait time for family reunifications, the increase in oil shipments by rail, factory ships on the St. Lawrence, international tax evasion information not being given to the PBO, a veteran’s case, a local youth programme, and the expense of $20 million on media monitoring.

Overall, it was a better day for responses today that weren’t entirely non-sequiturs, though it did seem that Kevin Sorenson was simply picking talking point cards at random, and he got more incoherent as time went on. But it certainly did feel like there was an actual effort at answering some questions today, which was encouraging to see (for a change). Let’s hope that this isn’t just a temporary shift after the embarrassment of earlier in the week. More important was the distinction between the Liberals demanding a debate on a potential extension of the Iraq deployment, while the NDP demand a vote. The former respects the Crown prerogative of military deployment and is the appropriate way to hold a government to account, while the later launders said prerogative and gives the government political cover for when things go wrong. This distinction should be highlighted at every opportunity. One more note – supply days are supposed to be used by the opposition to debate why the government shouldn’t be granted the money they ask for, not for debating things the government doesn’t want to.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Rick Dykstra for a charcoal suit with a crisp white shirt and a light blue spotted tie, and to Lisa Raitt for a blue and white patterned v-necked too with a black suit. Style citations go out to Marie-Claude Morin for a black dress with white and red panels that had words printed across them, and to Bal Gosal for a grey-blue suit with a custard shirt and yellow striped tie.