QP: Carry on the middle-class talking points

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As Monday is the new Friday, none of the main leaders were in the House — Harper in Europe, Mulcair in Quebec City, and Trudeau across the river in Gatineau, having just laid out his party’s new tax plan. When QP kicked off, Megan Leslie led off, asking about job losses in the manufacturing sector. Pierre Poilievre took the question, and listed off some talking points about how great their family tax cuts were. Leslie noted the media reports that Conservative MPs will personally benefit more from income splitting than others, but Poilievre was undaunted from his talking points. Leslie then changed to the topics of coalition air strikes in Syria hitting civilians. Rob Nicholson noted that they had a 12-month commitment. Jack Harris then asked about Harper’s comments that they were not sure how effective the bombing campaign was. Nicholson noted it was a precision campaign, and wanted the NDP to thank the men and women in uniform. Harris then asked about reports about allegations of mistreatment of Taliban by military police. James Bezan insisted that they were taking the allegations seriously. Dominic LeBlanc led off for the Liberals, praising their recent announcement and wondered why the government wouldn’t adopt it (Poilievre: Yay our plan), and Ralph Goodale got increasingly critical of that plan Poilievre was touting (Poilievre: You just said you want to raise taxes on people making $60,000 — blatantly untrue).

Round two, and Christine Moore returned to the question on prisoner mistreatment (Bezan: Taking it seriously), and the report on the friendly fire death of Sgt. Doiron (Bezan: We will release the report shortly), Rosane Doré Lefebvre noted that the new appointments to SIRC were not adequate oversight for national security (Blaney: There are several oversight mechanisms in the bill), and she and Jean Crowder the mounting opposition to the bill (Blaney: Look at the people who praised it), Murray Rankin and Isabelle Morin asked about enriching the CPP (Poilievre: Yay TFSAs), Guy Caron asked about tax loopholes for stock options (Moore: We are helping investment in the manufacturing sector), and Nathan Cullen offered some kitchen sink outrage (Moore: We have these innovation funds). Emmanuel Dubourg, Judy Sgro and Marc Garneau accused the government of not helping the middle class (Poilievre: You want to hike taxes). Sylvain Chicoine and Jonny Sims asked about dissatsifaction with Veterans Affairs (Lemieux: We just hired 100 new case workers), and Peggy Nash and Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet asked about the waiting lists for affordable housing (Bergen: We have been working with the provinces, and yay our family benefits).

Round three saw questions on the phase-out of some rail cars, the lack of consultation with First Nations on mining projects, more questions about the military prisoner mistreatment allegations, the Doiron report leaks, IT contracts going over budget, aid for Nepal, community super mailboxes, the Temporary Foreign Worker changes in Quebec, and forestry jobs in Quebec.

Overall, it was not a brilliant day, but Pierre Poilievre’s bald fabulism about the Liberal announcement, complete with his attempt to get “Trudeau Tax™” to be his new slogan — despite repeated warnings by the Speaker — was a little over the top. So much for a more mature Poilievre once he got into cabinet.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Charmaine Borg for a white long-sleeved top and white and yellow striped skirt, and to Greg Rickford for a light grey suit with a crisp white shirt and a blue tie and grey pocket square. Style citations go out to Larry Miller for a medium grey suit with a faded dark green shirt and a brown striped tie, and to Françoise Boivin for an off-white jacket with a brown and blue feathered pattern.