QP: Taking the provinces’ phone calls

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While Justin Trudeau was not only present, having already participated in the debate of the day (a rarity for any PM these days), his leaders opposite were not. Rona Ambrose was off to the UK Conservative caucus in Birmingham, while Thomas Mulcair was elsewhere. Denis Lebel led off for the Conservatives, demanding a signed softwood lumber agreement before it was too late. Trudeau responded by reminding him that the previous government neglected the file while his government has been hard at work in negotiations. Lebel moved onto the healthcare transfers file, demanding the government respect provincial jurisdiction, but Trudeau shook it off, ensuring that they were working together. Lebel insisted that there was peace with the provinces when the Conservatives were in charge and why wouldn’t the federal government just let them be rather than meddle? Trudeau insisted that the provinces were much happier now that the federal government answered their phone calls. Ed Fast got up next to decry the “carbon tax grab” being shoved “down the throats” of Canadians. Trudeau hit back that the previous government ignored the file and made no progress, while his government was. Fast tried again, decrying it as an intrusion on provincial jurisdiction, but Trudeau reminded him that they were indeed respecting said jurisdiction. Robert Aubin led off for the NDP, lamenting the “Harper targets” for GHGs, and Trudeau noted that they had just tabled their plan, and soon all Canadians — not just 80 percent — would be in a carbon priced jurisdiction. Aubin went again another round, got the same answer, and Linda Duncan took over in English, decrying that the announced starting carbon price was too low to be effective. Trudeau noted they were simultaneously developing a strong economy while being environmentally sustainable. Duncan worried the government was abandoning the clean energy future, but Trudeau reiterated his answer a little more forcefully.

Round two, and Lisa Raitt decried high taxes making home ownership unaffordable (Champagne: We are taking action on the housing market), Gérard Deltell raised the PBO report on government spending (Champagne: Canada is showing the way for economic growth), and Matt Jenereux and Michelle Rempel decried the Alberta jobs situation (Champagne: We are helping Albertans with increased benefits and fiscal stabilization payments). Romeo Saganash and Charlie Angus asked about payments to First Nations youth (Bennett: We are working with front-line agencies to reform the system to better deliver services and keep children out of care). Peter Kent worried about the non-existent extradition treaty with China (Dion: There are no negotiations and we speak out for human rights all over the place), and James Bezan decried the normalizing relations with Russia (Dion: We are engaging, and the US only suspended relations over Syria, not the Arctic). Matthew Dubé asked about CSIS using information from consular cases (Goodale: We welcome the Privacy Commissioner’s report and it will be part of our new framework), and the ministerial directive on using information using torture (Goodale: The majority of the directive is a prohibition against the use, and we we welcome comments on how best to change it).

Round three saw questions on the contract for “deliverology,” changes to the national anthem, the veterans backlog, temporary foreign workers, rail grain regulations, an Atlantic seat on the Supreme Court, green infrastructure, softwood lumber, the Liberal MP who wore a Chinese communist party scarf, the Paris agreement, and Energy East.

Overall, it was a better day than it had been in probably over a week, with almost no smarmy rat-packing, and some questions of actual substance. It was almost like the weekend recharge did MPs good, and that’s the start of a third sitting week in a row has helped them to get back on their games a little more. That said, the NDP’s constant brandishing of the name “Stephen Harper” like it’s some kind of talisman is getting mighty tiresome, and the strategy, if you can call it that, of trying to equate Trudeau with Harper as often as possible is not only transparent, but not really resonating particularly given that the change in tone speaks volumes.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Pablo Rodriguez for a tailored black suit and tie with a white shirt and pocket square, and to Kim Rudd for a white jacket with black piping and a black skirt. Style citations go out to Candice Bergen for a black dress with greenish pattern blocks that resembled the pattern found on a Persian rug, and to Luc Berthold for a taupe suit with a solid blue suit with a black and blue striped tie. Dishonourable mentions go out to both Salma Zahid and FIrst Vet black tops with yellow jackets.