QP: Eco-terrorists and auto support

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Monday being the new Friday in QP, there were no major leaders in the Chamber to start off the week — Mulcair in Halifax, Trudeau in the 905, and Harper, well, elsewhere. That left Peter Julian to lead off, demanding oversight over national security agencies, and Stephen Blaney to respond by insisted that freedoms would not be curtailed and invited them to support it. Julian pointed out contradictions in government messaging, to which Blaney noted that Parliament itself came under attack. Julian worried that any protests could be considered “Eco-terrorism,” which Blaney insisted he read the bill instead. Peggy Nash then asked about possible plans to steel GM shares at a loss to balance the budget, to which Andrew Saxton read a statement about the “decisive action” taken during the recession. Nash asserted that the government didn’t really care about the auto sector, to which James Moore gave an impassioned refutation. Dominic LeBlanc was up for the Liberals, and lamented the government’s lack of action on the middle class, for which Pierre Poilievre insisted that the Liberals just want to raise taxes. Ralph Goodale gave more of the same in English, Poilievre repeated his answer, and when Goodale listed the many ills of the government’s budgeting, Poilievre fell back on the usual “your leader thinks budgets balance themselves.”

Round two, and Rosane Doré Lefebvre asked if the government would support their reasoned amendment to halt the progress of C-51 (Blaney: Extremist jihadi terrorists!), Françoise Boivin asked about the lack of resources for public safety (Blaney: We increased their budgets seven times) and she and Irene Mathyssen asked about the lapse in spending at the RCMP child exploitation centre (Blaney: We increased their budget so much that they find it hard to get human resources), Hélène Laverdière asked whether the government would sent troops to Libya (Kenney: We are going to consider our success in Iraq before going forward), and she and Jack Harris whether the mission would extend to Syria (Kenney: We are in consultation with our allies), and Wayne Marsdon asked about Mohamed Fahmy (Yelich: We continue to call for his release). Emmanuel Duboug asked about advertising on income splitting in the face of other needs (Bergen: We are helping families while balancing the budget), Scott Brison asked about the $11 million increase in ad spending (Bergen: Same answer), and asked another round with attention to veterans and public health (Bergen: Under you guys services went down and taxes went up). Christine Moore and Murray Rankin asked about health fees and transfer cuts (Ambrose: We are transferring more money to the provinces than ever before), and Andrew Cash and Charmaine Borg asked about usage-based billing (Moore: We defended consumers on this file, and we are ensuring more Canadians have Internet access).

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Round three saw questions on food inspectors being intimidated, job losses in a riding, the Target closure, the upcoming roundtable on missing and murdered Aboriginal women, Russian sanctions, cyber-attack communications strategies, Mohamed Fahmy, the operation of the National Capital Commission, Thalidomide victims, and the RCMP report that calls anti-petroleum activists “ideologues.”

Overall, it wasn’t a terribly brilliant day, and there were no memorable exchanges. Instead, we got some non sequitur answers and some backbench questions on provincial issues, which is mystifying as to how the Speaker didn’t disallow them. It’s great to see the way in which MPs are keeping things relevant. Oh, wait…

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Michelle Rempel for a powder blue long-sleeved dress with matching suede pumps, and to Greg Rickford for a dark taupe suit with a crisp white tie and a light green tie and pocket square. Style citations go out to Charlie Angus for a medium grey suit with a bright teal sweater with a white shirt and an indigo tie, and to Diane Finley for a blue and red tartan jacket over a dark blue top and black skirt. Special mention goes out to Ruth Ellen Brosseau for a leopard print sweater over a black top and skirt, and to John Weston for a shimmery blue and black Asian-cut jacket with a mandarin collar.