QP: Not taking the bait — or the guilt trip

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At long last, the Prime Minister was present for Question Period, and the hope that he might have some answers. Rona Ambrose led off, asking about yet more fundraising allegations and claims that it is a way to meet ministers. Justin Trudeau did not take the bait, and assured her that there are strong rules that are being followed. Ambrose raised the potential of illegality with the donation to the Trudeau Foundation, and Trudeau said that he understands that there are questions, but moved right into his speech about the rules. Ambrose tried a third time, but Trudeau stuck to his message that Canadians can have confidence in the system. Ambrose raised the allegations that a fundraiser was done for the purposes of lobbying openly. Trudeau still didn’t bite, and assured her that the rigorous rules were being followed. Ambrose tried to throw Trudeau’s statement about talking about the need for investment at one of these events, but Trudeau stuck to the points. Thomas Mulcair rose for the NDP, said it was nice to see the PM without having to pay $1500, and asked yet another fundraising question, but Trudeau didn’t take his bait either. Mulcair switched to concerns that the Quebec Consumer Protection Act was undermined by C-29, and Trudeau got to change up his talking points, talking about the great things in the budget implementation bill. Mulcair asked if it was important for the PM to show up for Question Period, Trudeau reminded him that he has a lot of important duties, but he has a strong cabinet who can also take questions. Mulcair then asked if the PM was lying when he promised that 2015 would be the last election under First-Past-the-Post, Trudeau said that he had answered that in the positive — to much uproarious laughter at the verbal slip — and Trudeau pressed on to defend his coding exercise at Shopify as being a demonstration of investing in the economy of the future.

Round two, and Denis Lebel, Blaine Calkins, and John Brassard returned to the fundraising issue (Chagger: The rules), and Candice Bergen tried to guilt trip Chagger for her answer (Chagger: I am proud of this government and hey, the rules). Alexandre Boulerice and Nathan Cullen railed about MyDemocracy (Monsef: Privacy is respected and we are proud of the Canadians academic experts who have designed this). Blake Richards and Scott Reid took their own kick at MyDemocracy (Monsef: We are proud to develop this tool), and Alan Rayes demanded a referendum (Monsef: I appreciate your calls for a referendum). Anne Quach and Niki Ashton decried the PM’s lack of action on youth issues (Mihychuk: We are investing in youth jobs!)

Round three saw questions on jobs, First Nations post-secondary funding, CETA, closing the Vegreville immigration processing centre, a Lac Mégantic rail bypass, remote cellphone service, and search and rescue aircraft.

Overall, it was a bit of a gong show, being both a combination of it being caucus day, and the fact that this is the fourth sitting week in a row and they’re starting to go squirrelly. Candice Bergen attempting to guilt trip Bardish Chagger for her robotic answers on fundraisers was curious to say the least, considering the standard operating procedure of the previous government of which Bergen was a member. Niki Ashton demanding that the PM resign as minister of youth was a sad and predictable stunt that shows just how tired everyone has become, and that it’s just about time that everyone go home for a few weeks. Nevertheless, we still have another week to go. As for the late QP intervention between Ambrose and Trudeau on the Vegreville jobs question, it was nice to see this being taken up because it’s an issue where an opposition member is going to the mat for her constituents, and Trudeau acknowledging that was a good thing. He also wasn’t taking it lying down and showed he could put up a fight, and I don’t think Ambrose was expecting that, for what it’s worth. Nevertheless, by this time next week, I suspect they’ll all be feral.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Michel Picard for a navy suit with a white shirt and lavender tie and pocket square, and to Celina Caesar-Chavannes for a black dress with a tailored short black jacket. Style citations got out to Diane Lebouthillier for a grey dress with a red leather jacket under a long black shawl, and to Jim Eglinski for a dark grey suit with a terra cotta shirt and a black patterned tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Arif Virani for a black suit with a lemon yellow shirt and a black diamond-patterned tie.

2 thoughts on “QP: Not taking the bait — or the guilt trip”

  1. Reading your resume of QP each day, am starting to believe this is a useless exercise, reading the same questions day in and day out, answering same all the time. Total waste of taxpayers money in a dysfunctional Parliament. Taking a 6 week break is not going to make things better in the new year.

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