QP: Genocide and refugees

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Despite it being Thursday, there were no major leaders in the Commons today, which is a disappointing slide back to the poor attendance record of the previous parliament. Denis Lebel led off, referencing their opposition motion on calling ISIS a genocide and demanded support for it. Pam Goldsmith-Jones responded with the government line that the declaration is not a political one but a legal one, and it needed to have the endorsement of the International Criminal Code. Lebel moved onto the possible sole-sourcing of Super Hornets, for which Harjit Sajjan reminded him that the Conservatives were about to sole-source the F-35 fighters, while he had not yet made a determination. Lebel demanded a transparent process, and Sajjan reiterated that no decision was made. Andrew Scheer accused the government of playing politics with military equipment, and Sajjan snapped back that he has been in combat. Scheer then returned to the declaration of ISIS as a genocide, and Goldsmith-Jones repeated her previous answer. Peter Julian led off for the NDP, calling out the government on C-14’s constitutionality, and Jody Wilson-Raybould insisted that they came to the right balance. Julian and Ruth Ellen Brosseau said that the Senate was making the amendments that they had proposed, and to Julian, Wilson-Raybould repeated her answer while Jane Philpott responded to Brosseau that she hoped the Senate would pass it. Brosseau repeated her question in French, and Philpott reiterated that she hoped the bill would pass expeditiously.

Round two, and Michelle Rempel demanded urgent relocation for Yazidis (McCallum: We have welcomed vulnerable refugees as determined by the United Nations), Joël Godin, Marilyn Gladu, Pat Kelly, and Bob Saroya asked about delays in refugee processing (McCallum: We have already accelerated the process; You wanted us to slow down the process and now you’re saying it’s not fast enough). Georgina Jolibois wondered where new supports for La Loche were (Philpott: We are working to provide them), and Charlie Angus wanted her to meet with youth delegates next week (Philpott: We will work with them to implement the most successful programmes available). James Bezan and Pierre Paul-Hus complained that the Liberals were not awarding contracts for CF-18 life extension programmes (Sajjan: If it wasn’t for your mismanagement, we would have new fighters by now; No decision has been made on new jets). Hélène Laverdière asked about the Canadian professor being held in Iran (Alghabra: We have raised the issue with like-minded countries who can help us as we don’t have a diplomatic presence in Iran).

Round three saw questions on an electoral reform referendum, the ISIS genocide declaration, the independence of the PBO (Brison: We support his office and will work to establish a more open budgeting process), the community pastures programme, the cenotaph programme, small business tax cuts, supercalendered paper exports, the former office of religious freedoms, and C-14 amendments.

Overall, it was a a fairly sedate day with the a couple of exceptions, particularly around the refugee questions. John McCallum gave a good riposte to the Conservatives, pointing out that they didn’t want to bring over refugees and particularly at the speed that they have been, only to entirely reverse their position now, and lo, he got an ovation for the strength of his response. You know, an actual one rather than a perfunctory one because everyone gets one, so for the people grumbling that this exception was a terrible breach of the Liberals’ not clapping seems to be missing the point. As for the Conservatives’ tactics, Paul Wells nailed it perfectly here:

https://twitter.com/inklesspw/status/740974945744912384

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Chrystia Freeland for a half-sleeved black dress, and to Pierre Paul-Hus for a tailored black suit with a crisp white shirt and a brilliant purple tie. Style citations go out to Bev Shipley for a taupe suit with a light blue shirt with a white collar and a yellow Paisley tie, and to Sylvie Boucher for a Paisley-patterned pink and grey sleeveless tunic. Special mention goes out to Niki Ashton for a short-sleeve dress that was a brilliant shape, but whose floral print was blinding and capable of causing seizures.