QP: Senate reform questions from the past

Posted on by

Even thought it was Thursday, half of the desks in the House of Commons were empty, and not one leader was present. Even the Speaker was absent, if that tells you anything. Peter Julian led off pointing to Brian Mulroney’s comments on Senate reform, apparently forgetting the years of drama that led up to the Supreme Court reference on the matter. Paul Calandra reminded him of said reference, and there was another round of the same in English, where Calandra more forcefully reminded him of a thing called the Consititution. Julian tried to wedge in a Duffy reference, at which point Paul Calandra brought up the NDP satellite offices. Niki Aston then got up to demand a national inquiry on missing and murdered Aboriginal women, and Kellie Leitch gave her standard reply of the action they are taking. Ashton demanded action by the government on First Nations files, to which Mark Strahl read a statement about action the government took with residential school survivors. Carolyn Bennett was up for the Liberals, and wanted a commitment to acting on all of the recommendations in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, to which Strahl gave the talking points about thanking the TRC for their work. Emmanuel Dubourg asked the same in French, got the same answer in English. To close the round, Dubourg asked about the slow GDP growth, at which points Pierre Poilievre got up to decry supposed Liberal tax increases.

Round two, and Dennis Bevington and Jonathan Genest-Jourdain demanded fixes to Nutrition North (Strahl: Stop opposing our investments in the North), Annick Papillon and Andrew Cash demanded immediate action on legislative measures on pay-to-pay legislation (Sorenson: We have already obtained a commitment from banks), Jinny Sims and Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet asked about families who missed the deadline for the new child benefits (Poilievre: [infomercial]), Guy Caron demanded job creation measures (Poilievre: Yay our child benefits) and a Peggy Nash decried the low GDP growth figures (Poilievre: You want to raise taxes). John McCallum also decried the GDP figures (Poilievre: Kathleen Wynne!), and Rodger Cuzner asked about the proposed sick leave changes for public servants (Clement: The current system isn’t fair). Randall Garrison and Rosane Doré Lefebvre asked about the government attempting to throw out the class action lawsuit by female RCMP members (James: This is before the courts), and Doré Lefebvre and Garrison asked about the Privacy Commissioner’s concerns over biometric data collection (Alexander: We consulted the Commissioner; the new measures won’t apply to Canadians).

Round three saw questions on the retroactive legislation on RCMP records destruction, the Senate audit, the RCMP being under-equipped, GHG emissions targets, supply management, Nutrition North, visa bans on countries with Ebola, Montreal’s plans for a supervised injection site, and some harassing tax assessments.

Overall, it was a pretty lame day. Peter Julian leading off on senate reform was like something out of a time tunnel to 2007, and the fact that they blatantly ignored the Supreme Court reference made it all the more boneheaded. The deputy Speaker should have also called out their questions on the Senate audit as being out of order, but said deputy Speaker was pretty useless. The energy levels and quality of questions were more reminiscent of a Friday than a Thursday, but it’s all the more evidence that MPs have already checked out, and that this parliament is just running on fumes.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Lisa Raitt for a black dress with white rectangular patterns with a white sweater, and to Maxime Bernier for a tailored black suit with a crisp white shirt and pocket square with a red striped tie. Style citations go out to Jonathan Genest-Jourdain for a black jacket with white pinstripes, a grey shirt and jeans and a beige paisley tie, and to Marie-Claude Morin for a black dress with side panels that had both bright fluorescent and leopard print patterns, with a short-sleeved short black sweater over top. Dishonourable mention goes out to both Cheryl Gallant and Leona Aglukkaq for yellow jackets with black tops and trousers.