QP: Gross mischaracterizations and repetition

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The second-last Monday QP of the 41st parliament, and it looked like it was going to be a bit of a sleeper. Thomas Mulcair showed up on a Monday, which was unusual, and possibly because he’ll be at Jacques Parizeau’s funeral tomorrow. None of the other leaders were here either, however, so it was going to be pretty weak sauce. Mulcair led off by grossly mischaracterizing the AG revelation on Senate Speaker’s spending, saying that Speaker Housakos has a “spending problem.” Paul Calandra said that the Speaker had answer the question for itself. Mulcair demanded to know if the PMO was orchestrating the response to the recent Senate scandal, to which Calandra responded that the Senate invited the AG in and would answer for themselves. Mulcair asked again in French, got the same answer also in French, and then he moved onto the G7 communique on climate change. Colin Carrie got to respond to this one, reading that the G7 came up with a strong and unanimous statement on climate change. Mulcair demanded action on climate change,and got another talking point about our “clear” record. David McGuinty led off for the Liberals, asking in French about contradictory statements the government has made about infrastructure spending at the G7. Denis Lebel insisted that the facts were wrong, and that they were making record investments. Adam Vaughan blasted the government for their false assurances at the Federation of Canadian Munipalities meeting, to which Lebel insisted that the former Liberal government didn’t live up to promises. Vaughan hammered on the government and their messaging, to which Joe Oliver got up to insist that money would be available when projects needed them.

Round two, and Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, Hoang Mai, Nathan Cullen and Matthew Kellway read press releases about NDP infrastructure plans (Lebel: You want a carbon tax), Ève Péclet, Irene Mathyssen and Charlie Angus concerned trolled about Senate Speaker Housakos (Calandra: You owe for satellite offices). Chrystia Freeland asked about the continued delays to ratifying CETA (Fast: If you factor in the decline of energy prices, our exports are increased), Francis Scarpaleggia asked about the lack of ambition to the G7 agreement on climate change (Carrie: Same talking points), and John McKay asked about fugitive methane emissions (Carrie: You did nothing on climate change). Élaine Michaud and Jack Harris asked about the Canadian Forces trying to cut their recruitment targets for women (O’Toole: Canada is one of the leaders for women in leadership positions), Harris asked about the fact that service members can’t get adequate help for replacement IDs (O’Toole: No government has recognized the service and sacrifice more than ours), and Michaud asked about a military decontamination project (O’Toole: DND is working with the community).

Round three saw questions on the ongoing litigation against Cindy Blackstock, having the PM use his visit to the Vatican to raise the residential schools issue with the Pope, the blogger sentenced to lashes in Saudi Arabia, the response to the Deschamps Report, the delays with Shared Services Canada, and the Energy East pipeline.

Overall, it was a very repetitive day, but Mulcair’s lead question, making aspersions about Senate Speaker Housakos and his apparent “spending problem,” was beyond the pale. It was a gross mischaracterization of what the flagged spending was, and would probably be libellous if he wasn’t protected by parliamentary privilege. But what do facts matter while the NDP do their best to smear the Senate and its members? That they’re getting away with it unchallenged is a real problem when it comes to the confidence that Canadians have with all of our institutions — not just the ones they happen to like or dislike.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Maxime Bernier for a chocolate brown suit with a crisp white shirt and pocket square and a peach tie, and to Judy Foote for a navy blue tailored pantsuit with a white top. Style citations go out to Cathy McLeod for a white three-quarter sleeved jacket with a sparkly blue and ornate paisley pattern and a black skirt, and Malcolm Allen for a dark tan jacket — not long from a chesterfield — along with a black shirt and trousers and a yellow tie.