QP: Nobody believes that invitation 

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A lovely Tuesday afternoon in Ottawa, and most of the leaders were present today, though not Rona Ambrose, who is still in Alberta, on the ground with the Fort McMurray Fire victims. Andrew Scheer led off, reading from a script on his mini-lectern, first calling for praise for the firefighters in that region, and then demanded pipelines be built to “cushion the blow” of the fire. Justin Trudeau first congratulated the firefighters on the ground, and said they would help with the rebuilding. Scheer demanded that the government not allow “special interests” block any pipelines. Trudeau hit back by pointing out that the Conservative approach failed to get pipelines to tidewater. Scheer brought up the Washington trip and how the in-laws were present by not the Natural Resources minister. Trudeau reminded him that those guests were personal invites by Obama. Scheer insisted that nobody believed that was the case, and demanded Trudeau just tell them that he added those names to the list. Trudeau told him that Obama insisted they be invited on top of the official delegation. Scheer hammered away, insisted that the Natural Resources Minister still should have been there. Trudeau repeated again that the Conservatives didn’t understand how that bilateral relationship actually works. Thomas Mulcair led for the NDP, and he wondered who the government was trying to protect in the KPMG tax evasion scandal. Trudeau reminded him of their investments into CRA, and noted that it was a Liberal who raised the issue in committee to begin an investigation. Mulcair read some shell companies listed in the Panama Papers, and pointed out that the parliamentary secretary to the minister of heritage worked for one of them. Trudeau reiterated that they were committed to combatting tax evasion, regardless of Mulcair’s smears. Mulcair moved onto the PBO report on the loss of small business tax cuts, and Trudeau praised the Canada Child Benefit as a measure that helps the economy as a whole. Mulcair then demanded that the assisted dying bill be referred to the Supreme Court, but Trudeau demurred.

Round two, and Gérard Deltell and Karen Vecchio demanded a response on why the Natural Resources Minister didn’t go to Washington (LeBlanc: the party president and fundraiser weren’t paid for; Goodale: Here are some facts about the border that we got a pre-clearance agreement on), Matt Jeneroux asked about Fort McMurray (Sohi: I was there on the weekend, we will help them rebuild), and the use of the situation to fundraiser (Goodale: Look at all of the departments who are helping out). Roméo Saganash demanded his bill on adopting the UN declaration on the rights of Indigenous People be supported (Jones: The minister in New York pledging support right now), and Charlie Angus asked about funding for First Nations health (Philpott: We are working with provinces and territories and with First Nations). Shannon Stubbs asked about working with industry in Fort McMurray (Carr: We have been meeting with them, production is restarting), and Alice Wong cite the PBO report on the small business tax cut (Chagger: His report says our report was right because it was costly without doing anything for growth). Randall Garrison and Hélène Laverdière demanded gender identity legislation be tabled (Wilson-Raybould: We will be tabling legislation in the very near future).

Round three saw questions on discussions with Air Canada on C-10, Bombardier, trolling for support for a private members’ bill, the Comox Coast Guard station, judicial appointments, mandatory minimum sentences on drug traffickers, UNESCO voting on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Supply Management, whether an offensive French comedian would be denied entry into the country, and Energy East.

Overall, it was another day full of repetitive questions that went nowhere. I fail to see how another eight questions about the long-past Washington delegation is doing anything about the many files that they could or should be asking the government about. They had a PBO report about small business taxes that they could have spent the leaders’ round hammering away at the government on, and they didn’t. If their need to try and find some way to embarrass the government wasn’t pathological, it would be bewildering.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Garnett Genuis for a slim black suit with a white shirt and a green and black checked tie, and to Pam Damoff for a black dress with a long fuchsia jacket. Style citations go out to Cheryl Gallant for a fluorescent green jacket over a forest green dress, and to Omar Alghabra for a dark grey suit with a mint ice cream green shirt and burgundy tie.

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