QP: Women ask the questions 

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It being International Women’s Day, one could be sure that outside of the leader’s round, we would see a majority of women MPs asking questions, and lo and behold, that was the case. Rona Ambrose led off, mini-lectern on Scheer’s neighbouring desk, and she asked about the Yazidi women targeted by ISIS and bringing them over as refugees. Justin Trudeau reminded her of the commitments they made to bring over refugees, and that they achieved their goal of 25,000 Syrian refugees . Ambrose repeated yesterday’s question about his visit to the Centre for American Progress, to which Trudeau responded that when he was there two years ago, he spoke out in favour of Keystone XL. Ambrose then tried to insist that Trudeau help Bombardier by agreeing to their supply day motion on the Toronto Island airport. Trudeau asked her not to pit region against region for political gain. Kelley Block was up next, and insisted that the Liberals let the Toronto Island airport expand so that Porter can buy Bombardier C-series jets (as though the tens that they would buy would totally make the difference). Marc Garneau praised Air Canada’s intent to purchase those jets, and when Block asked again, Garneau chastised her for not respecting the tripartite agreement with the city and provincial governments. Thomas Mulcair was up next, and demanded a childcare plan. Trudeau hit back that Mulcair would be deciding what to cut if he had been elected in order to balance the budget. Mulcair then used women’s access to EI to badger the government for defeating their opposition day motion. Trudeau responded that they were taking action, and there would be more to come in the budget. Mulcair raised the issue of tax cheats getting amnesty deals, and Trudeau noted it was under the previous government and they would investigate if need be. Mulcair demanded action, citing special treatment for the rich, and Trudeau reminded him of his pledge to give childcare dollars to millionaires.

Round two led off with Candice Bergen asking about a mining industry convention (Carr: We support the industry), and the visit to the Centre for American Progress (Carr: We don’t just talk to people we agree with and hope to change their minds), Diane Watts asked about the Petronas LNG project in BC (McKenna: The project is undergoing review), and listed all of the supposed ills of the government (Bains: We have a plan to grow the economy), and Sylvie Boucher worried about the deficit (Champagne: You left us with a lamentable economic record). Sheila Malcolmson asked about unequal abortion access (Philpott: We support a women’s right to choose and recognize inequities, and I am discussing with provinces), and Hélène Laverdière wondered why they didn’t fund abortions abroad (Bibeau: The funds were responding to a request). Lisa Raitt worried about Ontario’s deficit as though it were a model for the Ottawa (Champagne: We will take no lessons), Alice Wong asked about small business taxes (Chagger: We are supporting small businesses), and Michelle Rempel asked about caregiver immigration spaces being cut (Virani: We stand behind our commitment to help get more caregivers into the country). Karine Trudel wanted proactive pay equity legislation (Hadju: We are leading by example), and Niki Ashton asked about the threshold for EI affecting women (Mihychuk: We are modernizing the EI system).

Round three saw questions on the mission in Iraq, the Afghanistan memorial, child tax benefits, conflicts of interest, mental health supports on reserves, violence against women, fundraising questions, private property rights versus First Nations title, electing more women, and softwood lumber.

Overall, while it was nice to see virtually the entire slate of questioners being women, the fact that many of them were reading shoddy scripts gave it the air of a gimmick, which is unfortunate. The worst part of the scripts were the terrible preambles, and today we heard “Today is International Women’s Day” a ridiculous number of times, with several more “The Prime Minister is going to Washington.” Yes. We know. We get it. Stop starting your preambles with this filler and ask better questions.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Justin Trudeau for a tailored black suit with a light blue shirt and a purple tie, and to Julia Dzerowicz for a pink collared shirt with a black jacket. Style citations go out to Patty Hajdu for a long grey jacket with pink and white florals with a pink top, and to Pat Kelly for a blue-grey suit with a lemon yellow shirt and a gold patterned tie. Special mention goes out to Michel Picard for a lavender jacket with a matching shirt and tie with a black vest and trousers. Dishonourable mention goes out to Diane Watts for a bright yellow top with a black jacket and skirt.