QP: Accusations of illegality

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Despite the fact that he was in town, Justin Trudeau decided to go to Shopify for Hour of Code instead of attend QP. Rona Ambrose led off, worrying about lost jobs, the Trumpocalypse of halved taxes to impact our economic competitiveness. Navdeep Bains responded, reciting some praise by companies who are investing in this country. Ambrose worried about plans to tax health and dental benefits, to which Scott Brison listed the ways in which they have made the system more progressive and the introduction of new child benefits. In French, Ambrose worried about what other taxes would be raised, and Brison answered partly in French about lowering taxes before switching to English to talk about the need for a strong middle class to have a strong economy. Ambrose then turned to a pair of questions on fundraising, calling them illegal. Bardish Chagger reminded her that the rules were strict and followed, and invited Ambrose to repeat any accusations of illegality outside of the House. Thomas Mulcair was up next, accusing Dominic LeBlanc of lying about business not being discussed at one of these fundraisers, and Chagger repeated the usual points about the rules. Mulcair asked again in French, got the same answer, and then demanded decriminalisation of marijuana in advance of legalisation. Jody Wilson-Raybould reminded him they were in the midst of a comprehensive review in advance of legislation coming in the spring. Mulcair asked again in English in a more snide tone, and Wilson-Raybould reiterated that the point of legalisation was to keep it out of the hands of children and profits from the hands of criminals.

Round two led off and Denis Lebel noted that the Americans planned to lower business taxes (Bains: We have a team working for investment in Quebec) and the softwood lumber file (Lametti: We are still negotiating), and Colin Carrie and Gérard Deltll asked about plans to tax health and dental benefits (Champagne: We are looking at the tax system as a whole for fairness and simplicity). Alexandre Boulerice and Nathan Cullen decried the new MyDemocracy survey (Monsef: The best way to have a conversation about electoral reform is a values-based approach). Scott Reid and Alain Rayes worried that the survey didn’t ask if people wanted a referendum (Monsef: I encourage all Canadians to take the survey), and Alex Nuttall insisted on an investigation into leaks of the marijuana report (Wilson-Raybould: The report has not been leaked; I haven’t even seen it). Anne Quach worried about the approval process for Kinder Morgan (Rudd: We used interim principles) and Matthew Dubé worried that they would call the army on protesters (Rudd: The right to peaceful protest is foundational and we respect it).

Round three saw questions on fundraisers, a UN vote on nuclear disarmament, barriers for voting for people with disabilities, the costs for interim Super Hornets, bail reform laws, the AG report on border issues, the First Nations gender discrimination bill, credit card fee regulations, and the electoral reform survey.

Overall, it was a mediocre day, but the fact that Rona Ambrose and the Conservatives ratcheted up the rhetoric on fundraising to calling the prime minister’s actions illegal is concerning because, as I have stated on many occasions, these kinds of accusations without proof start turning into crying wolf that inures people to hearing about baseless accusations so that they start tuning out when real issues of impropriety (as opposed to imagined ones) come up. This having been said, it did give Bardish Chagger an excuse to vary her talking points a little in calling out Ambrose for the extreme accusation and inviting her to repeat the comment outside of the Chamber where she doesn’t have parliamentary privilege protecting her. (Ambrose did not repeat it in the Foyer after QP, incidentally). On a related note, the questions on the MyDemocracy survey were ridiculous and pretty whiney, and missed the whole point about why the survey was structured the way it is. Of course, what is also amusing is that both the Conservatives and the NDP decried the survey for the same reasons that the Liberals did – that it wouldn’t give them them the answers they wanted regarding a referendum or proportionality, but instead focused on outcomes.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Alexandra Mendes for a navy dress with a keyhole neckline and a black jacket, and to Doug Eyolfson for a dark grey suit with a light purple shirt and a dark purple bow tie and pocket square. Style citations go out to Pierre-Luc Dusseault for a pink jacket with grey elbow patches and a black shirt and pink tie, and to Hedy Fry for a bright orange jacket with a giant collar that threatened to swallow her entire head.