QP: Monsef gets her elbows up

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After a busy morning swallowed whole by the electoral reform committee report, it would be understandable for there to be some exasperation among all MPs. Rona Ambrose was the only major leader present, and she led off QP by demanding that the recommendation for a referendum be respected. Maryam Monsef said that she has received the report and would be reviewing it, and noted that there was no consensus and that it showed it was a huge challenge. Ambrose repeated the question in French, and this time Monsef praised the need for a values-based conversation. Ambrose hammered on the referendum issue, overplaying the strength of the referendum recommendation, and Monsef said that the committee didn’t give them an answer on the question they asked them. Ambrose claimed that it was because the PM didn’t think that people were smart enough, and Monsef said that the only recommendation of the committee was to have a referendum on the Gallagher Index. Ambrose switched to World AIDS Day for her final question and the need for stable funding. Carolyn Bennett responded that they recognised the need for stable funds, and the extended transitional funding to groups while they worked to reform the funding system. Alexandre Boulerice demanded a proportional voting system, and Monsef said that the answer of “choose your own adventure” was not an answer. When Boulerice cast aspersions on the planned national online consultation, Monsef retorted that he didn’t know the questions on it, so he was prejudging it. Nathan Cullen took over and returned to demands for proportionality, and Monsef returned to the Gallagher Index burn. Cullen groused further, and Monsef touted the new online digital engagement tool.

Round two led off with Denis Lebel asking about court delays (Wilson-Raybould: We are working with the provinces to address these problems), Scott Reid, Gérard Deltell and Blake Richards returned to the referendum question (Monsef: The NDP and Greens in their dissenting reports undermined the referendum issue). Don Davies said that the Public Health Agency cut funding to HIV/AIDS groups (Khera: Some groups were not successful in their applications and we are getting them transitional funding). Alex Nuttall, and Jacques Gourde demanded an investigation into a leak and insider trading regarding the marijuana task force (Wilson-Raybould: Neither I nor my team saw the report and this is the domain of the Ontario Securities Commission), and Blaine Calkins tied this to fundraising (Chagger: I don’t know how many times I need to repeat this). Tracey Ramsey said that CETA would increase drug prices (Kiera: We are already working to improve affordability and access to drugs), and Karine Trudel railed about softwood lumber (Freeland: We are looking for a good agreement, not any agreement).

Round three saw questions on Super Hornets, Mexican visa restrictions being lifted, the Standing Rock protests, precarious employment, judicial appointments, doctors heading to the States because of taxes, the Civic Hospital site, pipeline approvals, interprovincial trade, the electoral reform committee report, and consumer protection legislation in Quebec.

Overall, it was another rowdy day,  it this time, it was mostly the NDP who were raucous in their dislike of Maryam Monsef’s responses to question on the report. And this was a different Monsef than we’ve seen before, who usually relies on saccharine talking points to deflect, but today she was in fighting mode because frankly the report that everyone was asking about was not cut-and-dried. The Conservatives want a referendum and claimed consensus, when the dissenting reports of three parties undermined that very recommendation, which she pointed out. The NDP on the other hand demanded a proportional system now, but the committee recommendation got cute because there wasn’t consensus, so they said:

The Government should, as it develops a new electoral system, use the Gallagher index in order to minimize the level of distortion between the popular will of the electorate and the resultant seat allocations in Parliament. The government should seek to design a system that achieves a Gallagher score of 5 or less.

I am going to write more on this later, but this is a bunch of hand-wavey nonsense because there are any myriad number of proportional systems. So when Monsef said that they didn’t recommend a system, she was not wrong. Sure, her response that it recommended a referendum on this equation was cute, it was no more or less cute than Ambrose claiming consensus on a referendum, or the NDP waving their hands and saying “proportional.” I think feelings were a bit raw when she said the committee didn’t do their job in getting her a recommendation, and she stated that it did prove that this is a complex file. But honestly, everyone was playing cute with this, so it should not be any surprise that Monsef did too.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Catherine McKenna for a short-sleeved grey dress, and to Dan Albas for a blue-grey suit with a white shirt and a grey checked tie. Style citations go out to Mel Arnold for a dark brown suit with a burnt sienna shirt and a subtle rainbow tie with a fishscale pattern, and to Marie-Claude Bibeau for a brown top with a tan pattern and a tan vest over top.

3 thoughts on “QP: Monsef gets her elbows up”

  1. Perhaps the most revealing part of the HOC QP farce today was the suggestion that the Canadian people are not smart enough to understand a question on voting reform to make a choice in a referendum. This also points to many issues that Canadians just don’t know much about as well. This is why we have MP’s there, to do things for us so that we can just get on with our lives and keep food on the table. I’ll give you a concrete example. The Canadian Anthem has been changed from “in all thy sons command” to “in all of command”. At NHL games and the recent Soccer and Grey Cup games the old version was sung. I asked the good folks at the headquarters of the NHL if they knew that the old version was being used and no one there knew anything about it being changed. The people who will not tolerate oil being sent by pipeline to the coast and say they will die to stop the pipeline but I wager will be the first to decry their loss of their lifestyle when Canada loses the taxes from this industry to the tune of 40-50 billion over the next years. I think parliament should act now to put in place a proportional vote which I predict will change the way politicians engage with their constituents. In order to prevail in an election they will be forced to have dialogue with them instead of relying on just party slogans and attack ads.

    • Just to be clear, the anthem legislation hasn’t passed. It’s still in the Senate. Also, I don’t think proportional voting will make people engage more with constituents, as it largely tends to privilege voting for parties over individual MPs.

  2. Monsef is in over her head on this one, she insulted Parliament. I’m ok with the no referendum but I find that after the explosion in the House about some comments she made, she has little credibility. All this could be a huge fiasco if Gov does not deliver on promise.

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