Despite it being Thursday, none of the major leaders were in the Commons to carry on the great exercise of accountability. Stephen Harper made an announcement in Markham, Thomas Mulcair was preparing to jet off to Paris for the weekend, while Justin Trudeau was in St. John’s. That left Peter Julian to lead off, asking about the personnel cuts at Veterans Affairs. In response, Julian Fantino robotically praised the new operational stress injury clinics that they were opening. Julian read off more questions about cuts to veterans services, but Fantino stayed true to his programming, and praised the government’s commitments to veterans. Jean Crowder then asked a pair of questions about a First Nation who was taking the government to court over Site C, to which Colin Carrie insisted that they had extensive consultations and that the generation project would generate the fewest GHGs. Marc Garneau led off for the Liberals, asking about the recycled funds being used for veterans research, and added the call for Fantino’s resignation. Fantino insisted that the opposition let veterans down by voting against them. Joyce Murray asked about a veteran fighting the government for his pension, to which Fantino accused the Liberals of being responsible for the problems in the system today. Frank Valeriote closed the round asking about court cases against the department, to which Fantino said he wouldn’t comment, but then slammed the Liberals for voting against veterans.
Round two,and Sylvain Chicoine and Irene Mathyssen carried on the theme of veterans cuts (Fantino: We have put forward initiatives and support systems), Niki Ashton demanded action on violence against women (MacKay: We are taking all kinds of actions; Leitch: We have taken action), Mylène Freeman asked about missing and murdered Aboriginal women (Leitch: We moved forward with an action plan), and Libby Davies asked a blanket question about gender inequality in Canada (Leitch: You haven’t supported our initiatives). Geoff Regan asked about the renewed efforts in Brussels to get oil sands oil branded as “dirty oil” thanks to government inaction on the environment (Fast: We continue to encourage the EU to follow science), and Yvonne Jones demanded an apology from Aglukkaq for her arrogance on the Nutrition North issue (Valcourt: Nutrition North is working because more healthy food is being shipped). Romeo Saganash kept up questions on Nutrition North (Valcourt: The record is clear, and the AG has made recommendations to improve the efficacy of the programme), and Ève Péclet and Pat Martin lamented partisan appointments (Ritz: All candidates go through a rigorous hiring process and are hired by the board).
Round three saw questions on funding at the Canadian Institute of Health Research, demanding an independent mandate for Radio-Canada, avian flu being detected in the Fraser Valley, the lack of concessions for dismantling the Canadian Wheat Board and being turned over to an American company, childcare spaces, a port authority member donating to the Conservative party in contravention of the rules, Canada Post service cuts, a UNESCO site in danger of losing its status, and international agreements on climate change.
Overall, it wasn’t a terribly rowdy day with a couple of exceptions, and the Speaker was trying to tone things down by reminding MPs that even when they say they are addressing questions “through the Chair,” their subsequent use of the second person showed that they were not actually addressing their questions or responses to the Chair. Now if only we could get him to crack down on questions relevant to government business, or people using — abusing — prepared scripts…
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Peggy Nash for a short-sleeved blue dress, and to James Bezan for a black suit with a lavender shirt, a lavender and purple striped tie, and a purple pocket square. Style citations go out to José Nunez-Melo for a brown jacket with a burgundy shirt and a paisley tie, and to Isabelle Morin for a blue and white knitted jacket/sweater hybrid with frayed edges over a cream top and black trousers. Dishonourable mention goes out to Jonathan Tremblay for a black suit with a lemon yellow shirt and tie.