QP: Raising the referendum temperature

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With the big announcement on the trans rights bill having been made, there were plenty of members’ statements about International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. All of the leaders were present, and Rona Ambrose led off, mini-lectern on neighbouring desk, and asked about the review of the forthcoming NEB ruling on the TransMountain Pipeline. Justin Trudeau hit back, saying that it was the previous government that created uncertainty by not committing to protecting the environment. Ambrose insisted that the review was “very thorough,” but Trudeau repeated his response about the previous government’s failings. Ambrose changed to the electoral reform referendum issue, and Trudeau responded with his promise that the last election would be the last under First-Past-the-Post. Denis Lebel took over and asked another pair of demands for a referendum in French, and Trudeau repeated his same answer in French. Thomas Mulcair was up next, and wondered “what the hell” the government was waiting for about decriminalizing marijuana — earning him a rebuke from the Speaker. Trudeau repeated his standard points about legalization as a framework to protect kids and deprive organized crime of revenue. Mulcair switched to French to ask about a pardon for people currently convicted under the existing law, but Trudeau’s answer didn’t change. Mulcair changed to C-10, for which Trudeau insisted that it would be used to build an aerospace industry in Canada. Mulcair repeated the question in English, and got the same response.

Round two, and Blake Richards, Alain Rayes and Rachael Harder returned to the demands for a referendum (Monsef: Look how terrible First-Past-the-Post is!). Brigitte Sansoucy and Niki Ashton asked about child poverty and First Nations (Bennett: It is unacceptable and we are investing). Scott Reid and Jason Kenney returned for an angrier round of demands for a referendum (Monsef: We are all students of history…and then gave a dubious version of history). Kennedy Stewart and Nathan Cullen lamented the fact that the Liberals did not restart the NEB process on the Trans Mountain pipeline (Carr: We knew the process was inadequate, so this new review process will give it more credibility).

Round three saw questions on pipeline projects, temporary foreign workers affected by the Fort McMurray fire and other workers’ situations, Russian sanctions, Canadian Forces public relations, CBC documents only being sent out in English, the mountain pine beetle, and EI for other regions.

Overall, it was yet another day of repetitive demands for a referendum, each getting more angry than the last. The substance of the issue remains largely untouched, however, and because everyone was relying on scripts, they did not spend their time skewering some of the the terrible talking points that Monsef was reciting. This is a big failing – the minister left herself wide open several times for her arguments to be torn apart, but because the questions were all reading prepared statements, nobody did. This is a problem. MPs need to do better.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Rob Oliphant for a tailored dark grey suit with a crisp white shirt and to Yvonne Jones for her black leather and sealskin jacket, which was worn for Seal Day. Style citations go out to Karen Vecchio for a shapeless white sack dress with gold line patterns and a black jacket, and to Robert Sopuck for a brown corduroy jacket with a greyish waistcoat, a blue grey shirt and a grey striped tie.