QP: Repeated questions about sick mothers

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Monday, and the only leader in the Commons was a sheepish Elizabeth May, fresh from her morning apology tour after her off-the-rails speech at the Press Gallery Dinner on Saturday. The NDP chose their other, other deputy leader, David Christopherson, to start things off by shouting out a pair of questions regarding the PMO trying to whitewash the Duffy audit. Paul Calandra said it was before the court. Christopherson shouted a question about Senate residency rules for appointments, to which Calandra reminded him of their satellite offices that needed repayment. Christopherson changed topics, and shouted about a mother who couldn’t get sick benefits while on parental leave, while Pierre Poilievre, calmly, said he couldn’t comment on a specific case, but noted they had sympathy for people in cases like that which was why they tabled legislation in 2013, solving it for future cases. Sadia Groguhé asked the same question in French, got the same answer in French, and then Groguhé asked it again, getting yet the same answer. Ralph Goodale led for the Liberals, asking about the trade deficit and job numbers, and wondered why the government would use income splitting to help the wealthy instead of single mothers. Despite Joe Oliver being present, Poilievre responded with talking points about things the Liberals would supposedly do. Goodale gave some talking points about the Liberal plan, Poilievre responded with some fabrications about the fictitious Liberal plan, and when Goodale hit back, Joe Oliver finally stood up, and read some talking points off a cue card.

Round two, and Peggy Nash demanded some job creation measures (Oliver: You have some nerve criticising out record on job creation), Irene Mathyssen read another question about those mothers who couldn’t get sick leave (Poilievre: We fixed this in 2013), Robert Aubin denounced the government raiding the EI fund (Poilievre: We topped up the fund during the recession, and now the fund is paying it back), Jack Harris and Élaine Michaud asked about the third video posted while showing soldiers’ faces (Calandra: The video was vetted), Sylvain Chicoine trolled for support for the supply day motion on veterans (O’Toole: We have new benefits in legislation before committee), and Peter Stoffer asked about veterans healthcare (O’Toole: The federal government pays for it). Emmanuel Dubourg and Eve Adams asked about the TFSA doubling (Poilievre: Why do you want to raise taxes?) and Rodger Cuzner returned to the story about the mother who couldn’t get disability (Poilevre: We made changes in 2013). Ève Péclet tried to return to the issue of PMO interfering in the Senate audit (Calandra: Satellite offices), and Charlie Angus tried to get an answer on the residency rules for appointing senators (Calandra: You were cited for trying to gerrymander).

Round three saw questions on support for Thalidomide victims, a dementia strategy, disease risks with fish farming, a cellphone tower going up on a decrepit light house near an elementary school, the cuts to Omni television, Quebec forestry, community mailboxes, the St. Lawrence Seaway, and crab fisheries.

Overall, it was not a terribly edifying day, with the same couple of questions being asked about eleventy times and getting *gasp!* the same answer, rather than challenging the response that was given. Because, as you know, scripts. While Joe Oliver deigned to show up, he was mostly kept seated, not that his answers were of any substance when he did get up. The Liberals were a bit better today in that their lead question was not boosterism for their platorm – but their second question was, and I really hope this won’t be how the rest of the sitting is going to go.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Megan Leslie for a teal jacket, white patterned top and black skirt, and to Colin Carrie for a dark grey suit with a pale lavender shirt, tie and pocket square. Style citations go out to Rob Clarke for a black suit with a faded eggplant shirt and a maroon patterned tie, and to Ève Péclet for a black dress with a loud floral print with a blue jacket. Dishonourable mention goes out to Jasbir Sandhu for a black suit with a pale yellow shirt and tie.