QP: Narratives and process

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While there was already drama in the Commons earlier in the morning as a government bill barely survived a tie vote, by the time QP rolled around, it was a bit more sedate. Justin Trudeau was in Montreal for an award presentation, and Rona Ambrose was elsewhere, which left Denis Lebel to lead off. He raised the new guidelines around advertising, but wondered why Trudeau was still in a Discovery Canada ad. Brison reminded him that the ad in question was not a paid ad, and thus did not apply. Lebel asked again, and Brison switched to English and hit back about the previous government’s record. Lebel switched to English to ask again, and got the same answer. Andrew Scheer asked again, and raised the self-promotion narrative before demanding do know that no government funds were used in the ad. Brison read out the policy, and suggested that Scheer rethink his questions. After another round of the same, Thomas Mulcair rose for the NDP, and thundered about the “scammers” in KPMG. Diane Lebouthillier insisted that there were codes of conduct in place and that no one gets special treatment. Mulcair thundered again in French, got the same answer, and before Mulcair thundered about Montreal infrastructure funding. Amarjit Sohi insisted that funding was on the way as consultations were underway. Mulcair asked again in English, and go the same.

Round two, and Scott Reid, Blake Richards, and Alain Rayes demanded a referendum on electoral reform (Monsef: That is not the only valid way to consult Canadians). Alexandre Boulerice and Nathan Cullen railed about the electoral reform committee composition (Monsef: If the Bloc and Greens don’t agree with the committee report, I will accept and consider their alternative report). Todd Doherty demanded a new softwood lumber agreement (Lametti: This is a priority file for our government, and we are in the negotiation period), and Candice Bergen lamented that Canadian pipeline companies are investing in Mexico (Rudd: We are proud of the oil sector and we need more environmental buy-in). Erin Weir and Niki Ashton asked about enhanced EI benefits (Duclos: New regions have become eligible as we announced).

Round three saw questions on judicial vacancies, Tylenol versus Heroin, First Nations help for wildfires, whether First Nations get a development veto, hog producers dealing with a virus, pine beetles, a shipwreck, a Canadian imprisoned in North Korea, Bombardier, and the problems with the assisted dying bill.

Overall, it remained a day with few actual questions, as the Conservatives continue trying to make the “Trudeau self-promotion” narrative a Thing, and howling about a referendum on electoral reform instead of picking apart the bigger picture (or actually punching holes in Monsef’s saccharine answers and poor logic). There are so many other, better questions that could be asked on that that issue, but no, they have largely stuck to howling about singular points that are more about process than substance. And don’t get me wrong — I will be the first person to defend questions about process, but when all questions are on process and none are on substance, then perhaps there is a problem that needs to be addressed.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Jane Philpott for a black dress with a silver ring pattern across it with a black jacket, and to Chris Warkentin for a tailored black suit with a crisp white shirt and a dark blue tie. Style citations go out to Jean Rioux for a blue suit with a bright pink shirt and a blue and pink striped tie, and to Julie Dabrusin for a brown wrap dress with a tan leaf pattern. Dishonourable mention goes out to Diane Watts for a black pantsuit with a lemon yellow top.