QP: Sad to see them go

Posted on by

On a snowy day in Ottawa, the parties were riled up after their caucus meetings, and ready to go for QP. Rona Ambrose led off, this time putting her mini-lectern on Andrew Scheer’s desk in order to get a different camera angle, and she wondered if the government was making up their deficit plans and they go along. Justin Trudeau chided the Conservatives for their decade of low growth, and noted their commitment to growth. Ambrose asked the same question in French, and Trudeau responded that they were creating jobs. Ambrose then moved to the issue of the CF-18s and noted an American General was “sad to see them go.” Trudeau retorted that our allies were glad that we stepped up our role in the fight against ISIS. Jason Kenney asked a meandering question about deficits and taxes, for which Trudeau praised investment in infrastructure, jobs and the middle class. Kenney wondered which taxes they would increase to pay for their deficits, to which Trudeau noted that the Conservatives had no idea about how to create growth in the economy. Thomas Mulcair was up next, and mentioned a First Nations community that was declaring a state of emergency for their everyday existence, and Trudeau thanked him for raising the issue and noted their promise to reset the relationship with First Nations. Mulcair moved to the question of a commitment to build a maintenance centre for Bombardier C-Series jets, for which Trudeau praised the agreement with Air Canada and Bombardier. Mulcair asked again in French, got the same answer, and for his final question, Mulcair demanded the stock option tax loophole, but Trudeau told him to wait for the budget.

Round two, and Kevin Sorenson moaned about the deficit (Champagne: You guys left a deficit) and demanded action on pipelines (Rudd: We are looking for the long-term demand in oil prices), Joël Godin asked about deficits (Champagne: Two months is not a year), Kelly Block worried about the Toronto Island Airport (Garneau: It’s great that Air Canada is buying Bombardier planes), and Stephen Blaney lamented a secret cabinet committee on procurement (Alleslev: No decision has been made on the tugboat project). Alistair MacGregor and Alexandre Boulerice demanded funds for CBC and Telefilm (Joly: We will reinvest and help the arts and culture industries). James Bezan and Pierre Paul-Hus said an American General learned about our fighter jet withdrawal on CNN (Sajjan: The coalition commander was well aware and supports our plan), and Paul-Hus wanted to know if we are at war with ISIS (Sajjan: We are committed to fighting them). Linda Duncan demanded EI changes today to benefit Alberta (Mihychuk: We are working hard to reform EI), and Karine Trudel put a Quebec spin on the question (Mihychuk: Same answer).

Round three saw questions on Ukraine, adoptions from the Democratic Republic of Congo, getting supplies to First Nations whose ice roads are cut off, housing for Syrian refugees, how many Syrian refugee files were rejected for security reasons, the union bills, an international kidnapping case, Internet regulation, and the Aveos contract.

Overall, it was an okay day, but there was a bit of slippage in terms of reliance on scripts by those on the government side, while a few of the responses — Garneau, as well as some of the parliamentary secretaries — were more non sequiturs than they were responses. This kind of behaviour is disappointing, and more akin to the behaviour of the previous government than what this government promised. As well, we had yet more overly repetitive questions, and what questions there we in the leaders’ round were all over the place, which again, makes for a poor exchange.

Sartorially speaking, it was National Pink Shirt Day, and snaps go out to Navdeep Bains for his pink turban and matching pocket square, with a dark grey suit, light blue shirt, and a blue-and-pink striped tie, and to Pam Goldsmith-Jones for a light pink collared shirt with a hot pink sweater and black trousers. Style citations go out to Bernadette Jordan for a tie-dyed pink and grey collared shirt, and to Pat Kelly for a blue-grey suit with a lemon yellow shirt and gold tie.