QP: Rerunning the AG questions

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On caucus day, we finally had all of the leaders present in the Chamber. Thomas Mulcair led off, returning to yesterday’s Auditor General report about the Nutrition North programme, seeing as he wasn’t there yesterday to ask when the topic was fresh. Stephen Harper insisted that the government spends over $60 million to help those in the North, and there has been an increase in the amount of food shipped and a decrease in the cost to families. Mulcair noted the APTN report about people in the North scrounging in landfills for food, to which Harper insisted that they are trying to help people in the North. Mulcair brought up the report on mental health services for wait times, to which Harper selectively quoted the report’s findings on the complexity of the process and the commitment to improve it. Mulcair asked about those soldiers being released before being eligible for pensions, to which Harper insisted that the report noted important health measures were in place. Mulcair then turned to thalidomide survivors, to which Harper reminded him of the minister’s comments that there was a settlement in the 1990s and the department and minister are meeting with groups. Justin Trudeau was up next, and brought up the École Polytechnique tragedy and tied it to concerns with the current gun control bill being debated. Harper insisted that there were no conceal and carry provisions and that there were restrictions on transportation. Trudeau pressed, stressing that decisions on classification were being taken away from police and given to politicians. Harper called Trudeau’s statements “reckless and false,” and accused him of wanting to bring back the long-gun registry, despite Trudeau explicitly saying otherwise. Trudeau changed topics to spouses of veterans suffering from mental health issues, to which Harper again selectively quoted the AG report.

Round two, and Megan Leslie asked about the wait time for veterans mental health (Gill: Thanks to the AG for recognising out robust and timely system), Leslie and Peter Julian the problems with the universality of service provisions (Nicholson: They are provided up to three years to prepare to release; Gill: We are standing up for veterans), and Murray Rankin, Charlie Angus and Ève Péclet brought up the privacy breach at CRA (Findley: We are taking this seriously and an internal investigation has been launched). Marc Garneau and Frank Valeriote returned to the questions of spouses needing support for veterans with mental health issues (Gill: We have a strong record of supporting veterans), and Joyce Murray asked about a case of a veteran with PTSD being shot by RCMP after years not getting support (Gill: We have consistently increased support for veterans). Jean Crowder asked about Labrador Inuit not getting the same treatment for residential school survivors (Valcourt: We are abiding by the agreement of all parties), Romeo Saganash asked about residential school documents languishing in the Library and Archives backlog (Valcourt: We provided the commission with $1.6 million to research through LAC) and he and Dennis Bevington asked about the AG report on Nutrition North (Valcourt: Our government supports northern residents).

Round three saw questions on the AG report on the auto bailout, Buy America restrictions on a project in Canada, municipal infrastructure, the lack of disclosure on costs for the Iraq mission, trains running at night in a community, and the Quebec opposition to Energy East.

Overall, much of the the first two rounds were a rehash of yesterday with little additional effort added to press Harper and his front bench on the use of selective quotes or taking the supposed praise out of context. Instead, it was blanket condemnation through an ideological lens rather than substantive criticism. There was one noteworthy exchange, where the issue of Buy American provisions applying to a Canadian project, was being debated. Rather than follow on the same vein as the two NDP questions that preceded her, where the minister echoed their concerns, Judy Sgro ditched her script to ask specific questions on when the minister knew and what he has done. Sgro normally reads her questions, and today she thought on her feet and did not. We need more of this.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Peter MacKay for a dark grey pinstriped suit with a crisp white shirt and a light blue tie and pocket square, and to Annick Papillon for a grey tartan dress with a black jacket. Style citations go out to Cheryl Gallant for a maroon dress with a shiny multi-coloured striped jacket, and to Paul Dewar for a medium grey suit with a dull blue shirt and a maroon and grey striped tie.