QP: Listing off “real action”

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The first day of the final four-week stretch of sitting days for the calendar year, and everyone was a little more fresh-faced and cheerful — something that won’t last too long. None of the leaders were present today, Harper still on his way back from the G20 in Brisbane, Justin Trudeau off to Whitby—Oshawa for the by-election there, and Mulcair similarly absent, even Elizabeth May absent owing to the death of her father. That left David Christopherson to lead off, denouncing the government’s lack of commitment to GHG emissions reductions coming out of the G20 in Brisbane. Leona Aglukkaq stood up to remind him that major emitters like China and the U.S. were finally coming to the table. Christopherson pressed, and Aglukkaq read off a list of “real action” that they have undertaken. Nycole Turmel asked the same question in French and got pretty much the same answers from Aglukkaq, before turning to the topic of the family tax cuts. Joe Oliver praised them and how the measures will help all kinds of families. For the final question, Turmel threw a bunch of budget cut figures hoping to make something stick, and Oliver reiterated how great his family tax cut plan was. Ralph Goodale led off for the Liberals, noting the ways that the government actually raised taxes, be it payroll taxes or tariffs, and brought it all around to income splitting. Oliver read a talking point about how great income splitting was for families. Goodale demanded that the money spent on income splitting be spent instead on incremental infrastructure investments, to which Oliver decried the Liberal plan to raise taxes. Dominic LeBlanc closed off the round with another question of income splitting versus infrastructure investment in French, to which Jason Kenney rose to say that it was sad to watch the Liberals attacking families with children.

Round two, and Nathan Cullen decried wealthy people on Bay Street as an attack on income splitting (Kenney: Why do you hate families with children?), Jinny Sims asked about the lack of promised childcare spaces (Kenney: We made record transfers to the provinces), Sims and Robert Aubin asked about the lack of appointments to the Social Security Tribunal, and the lack of francophone appointees (Kenney: You’re wrong, and yay faster processing), Rathika Sitsabaiesan asked about the revelations about shortfalls to Syrian refugee commitments (Alexander: That is fact-free and we have over-fulfilled our obligation), Sadia Groguhé asked more broadly about not helping enough refugees (Alexander: 1782 Syrian refugees are already in Canada). Carolyn Bennett asked about shifting infrastructure funds to cover for under-funded education programmes on First Nations reserves (Valcourt: We have funded First Nations infrastructure to record levels), releasing more funds for education immediately (Valcourt: You should be ashamed for voting against it last year), and Kevin Lamoureux asked about violence against First Nations women and girls (Truppe: This was a horrific crime and we understand that police have made arrests). Françoise Boivin decried the partisan appointment process for Federal Court judges (MacKay: We make these appointments based on wide-ranging consultations and merit), and the lack of confidence in the court system by victims of sexual assault (MacKay: Support our Charter of Victims Rights), and Niki Ashton and Romeo Saganash demanded an action plan to combat violence against women (Truppe: Same answer as before).

Round three saw questions on the details for the development of the Ebola vaccine, tax receipts for Dean Del Mastro legal defence fundraiser, cuts to CBC’s funding, getting more Syrian refugees brought over as government assisted refugees, the Competition Bureau complaint against single-serve coffee pods, CN not repainting a bridge in Quebec, the Information Commissioner’s budget shortfall (Clement: We increased our responses to ATI requests by 27 percent), the need for greater liabilities for the transport of oil, and income splitting over broad-based tax relief.

Overall, there was a bit of excitement here and there today, but most curious was the way that Jason Kenney took over answering for Joe Oliver, and essentially became the back-up PM du jour, something that the government hasn’t done in ages, especially after Oliver floundered in his prepared responses for the first couple of questions. People who believe that Kenney is gunning for Harper’s job in advance of the next election were no doubt taking note of the performance. Also, watching Chris Alexander get increasingly flustered and angry over Syrian refugee questions was amusing to watch.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Michelle Rempel for a black long-sleeved dress with a silver front panel, and to James Bezan for a black suit with a crisp white shirt and a light green tie and pocket square. Style citations go out to Jean Rousseau for a grey striped suit with a bright fuchsia shirt and grey and fuchsia cross-hatched tie, and to Hélène LeBlanc for a dark grey jacket with half-sleeves and a matching skirt with a fuchsia turtleneck. Dishonourable mention goes out to Rathika Sitsabaiesan for a mustard jacket with a maroon top and black trousers.