QP: The PM is going to Washington

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Monday after a constituency week, and the PM was in Toronto to play with a pandas and talk to Huffington Post readers in a video town hall. Rona Ambrose led off, asking about the possibility of the Afghanistan war memorial being cancelled. Kent Hehr responded that the Veterans Affairs was working with Heritage Canada, with more to come in a few months. Ambrose changed topics, asking about Trudeau meeting with the Centre for American Progress, repeating some of their statements about the oil sands. Catherine McKenna reminded Ambrose that they believe that the economy and the environment go hand in hand. Ambrose then changed to the TD Economics projection for ballooning deficits, but Scott Brison was having none of it, reminding her of the debt legacy of the previous government and stated that they would not cut ideologically. Denis Lebel was up next, after a long absence from the Chamber, during which he repeated the Centre for American Progress question in French, and he got the same answer from McKenna in French. For the final question, Lebel repeated the TD question in French, and Brison repeated his own answer in French. Thomas Mulcair next, asking about the upcoming vote on their EI motion. MaryAnn Mihychuk reminded him that they are working hard to reform the EI system to help workers, which was coming shortly. Mulcair repeated the question with some additional notes about EI vote the Liberals made in the previous parliament, but got the same answer. Mulcair changed topics to the softwood lumber negotiations, asking if the PM would take a stand in Washington. David Lametti responded that they were working to maintain stable access in the US market. Mulcair then lamented the lack of new targets or timelines from the Vancouver meeting. McKenna insisted that carbon pricing mechanisms were on the way.

Round two started with Lisa Raitt worrying about the deficit (Champagne: We are making historic investments) and StatsCan saying that we are not in recession (Champagne: Same answer), Gerard Deltell worried about small and medium sized enterprises (Chagger: Stay tuned for the budget), Pierre Poilievre lamented plans to tax stock options (Bains: We’re engaged with the business community and they support our innovation agenda). Tracey Ramsay demanded the TPP analysis (Lametti: We are undertaking that analysis), and Ruth Ellen Brosseau worried about the changes to the EU trade agreement as it related to the environment (McKenna: CETA is an example of how you can protect the environment and grow the economy). Alula Clarke, James Bezan and Pierre Paul-Hus worried about the Afghanistan and Victoria Cross memorials (Hehr: We are working on those projects). Georgian Jolibois asked for mental health services in La Loche, Saskatchewan (Philpott: We are working to address these needs), and Niki Ashton asked about a suicide epidemic in a Northern Manitoba First Nation (Bennett: We will be investing in these communities).

Round three asked questions on immigration levels, the citizenship guide, softwood lumber, environmental lobbyists in the US, radicalization, the CBC building sale in Montreal, the office of religious freedoms, and rail safety.

Overall, it wasn’t a terribly great day, between the scattershot questions, the repetition of questions wholesale, and the fact that we had about eleventy questions that started with “The Prime Minister is going to Washington this week…” Yes, we all know he’s going to Washington. You don’t need to keep reminding us. In fact, this kind of lame preambling is a sign of the terrible scripting that goes on for QP, and which needs to stop (preferably by eliminating scripts). I’m going to take the added step of calling out Todd Doherty for his lame attempts at a jab against Trudeau’s supposed vanity when he demanded that Trudeau worry more about the softwood lumber deal than “who he’s wearing” to the state dinner. Trudeau has never once spoken about “who he’s wearing.” Ever. It’s not only a poor insult, it’s also intended to present him as either feminine or gay, which is unacceptable in this day and age.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Michelle Rempel for a black jacket and jeans with a dark scarf (that wasn’t garish, as so many scarves are), and to Scott Brison for a natty grey three-piece suit with a light blue shirt and maroon tie. Style citations go out to Doug Eyolfson for a navy suit with a dark pink shirt and a purple and blue striped tie and a dark pink pocket square, and to Sylvie Boucher for an eggplant and tan foliage patterns top with a black sweater. Dishonourable mention goes out to Hedy Fry for her gold-yellow dress with a black vortex pattern.