Despite it being Thursday, the Commons had a lot of empty desks and none of the major leaders present. Megan Leslie led off, asking about Joe Oliver’s admission that his office did not do their own analysis of the EI tax credit. Oliver insisted that their reduction would create jobs, but the NDP would raise taxes. Okay then. When Leslie pressed, Oliver touted the government’s job creation figures. Leslie moved onto the $1.1 billion in lapsed spending on veterans, to which Parm Gill insisted that it was false. Nycole Turmel asked the same is in French, to which Gill repeated his answer. Ralph Goodale was up for the Liberals, asking about spending on housing and infrastructure, to which Denis Lebel said that if Goodale was so concerned, he should have done more when he was finance minister. Goodale laughed, and raised the lapsed veterans spending, to which Parm Gill howled that the Liberals put the Forces through a decade of darkness. Marc Garneau asked the same question again in French, and Gill gave a slightly less hysterical answer about how much they’ve spend on veterans.
Round two, and Mike Sullivan and Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet demanded a national housing strategy (Bergen: We have signed agreements with provinces to meet their housing needs; the agreements that are ending are for projects that have paid off their mortgage), Rathika Sitsabaiesan and Sadia Groguhé asked about child poverty (Bergen: We have lifted 225,000 children out of poverty), Groguhé and Jinny Sims asked about daycare spaces (Bergen: We have increased transfers to the provinces, who created the spaces), Robert Aubin asked about EI earnings for those who work in seasonal industries (Bergen: We have created 1.2 million net new jobs), and Peter Julian delivered a vague question about poverty and jobs (Oliver: Look at all the great things we’ve done). Frank Valeriote returned to the lapsed funding for veterans (Gill: Decade of darkness!), Joyce Murray asked about the cuts and clawbacks to the military cutting the navy to the bone (Nicholson: We will never go back to the way things were under the Liberals), and Scott Brison asked about the lack of analysis on the EI tax credit (Oliver: It will create jobs). Libby Davies and Djouida Sellah asked about the Ebola vaccine (Ambrose: The Chief Public Health Officer said he has no concerns), and Sylvain Chicoine and Peter Stoffer returned to the issue of veterans spending lapses (Gill: That’s false and you should familiarize yourself with the figures).
Round three saw questions on the ballooning number or prisoners in provincial jails, CBC funding, Syrian refugees, fish processing affected by trade, Quebec cheeses affected by CETA, underspending the aid budget in low-income countries, yet more questions on the veterans funding lapse, service cuts to Canada Post, and increasing humanitarian aid to displaced Syrians in Lebanon.
Overall, it was a fairly average day, but with Jason Kenney away, Joe Oliver was forced to answer questions for himself today (albeit there were none on income splitting), while Candice Bergen was the real star, answering the bulk of questions through the day and doing it without reading any of her talking points, seeing as she has memorized them all. It’s a good start, anyway, and shows her growth in her role.
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Emmanuel Dubourg for a finely tailored navy suit with a crisp white shirt and bright blue tie, and to Candice Bergen for a dark grey jacket and skirt. Style citations go out to Megan Leslie for an otherwise fine black short-sleeved dress, but the fuchsia tights and jade green necklace clashed, and to Ron Cannan for a black suit with a fluorescent light blue shirt and a grey striped tie.