QP: Questionable claims about Sajjan

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For Star Wars Day (“May the 4th be with you”), it was unfortunate that the prime minister was absent, as he was busy meeting his Irish counterpart in Montreal.

Rona Ambrose led off, reading some sanctimonious disappointment in the defence minister. Harjit Sajjan noted that he apologies, and launched into a sales pitch for his forthcoming defence review.

Ambrose railed that Sajjan behaved like a politician — because that’s what he is — but Sajjan stuck to assurances that he was looking after the troops. Ambrose turned to tax benefits for those serving in Kuwait, and Sajjan said that they would ensure that they would have the necessary benefits owed to them and they were ensuring fair compensation rules were in place. Ambrose accused him of misleading the House on the issue, and Sajjan spoke about fixing the immediate problem, and there was a difference between tax-free benefits and hardship allowance. Ambrose then turned to defence funding, and demanded Sajjan’s resignation. Sajjan said they were putting the Canadian Forces onto a sustainable footing. Ambrose cherry-picked past defence spending of the previous government (ignoring that many of those procurements, like the helicopters, were badly bungled), and Sajjan expounded upon the non-partisan advice they got on the defence file and that they were moving ahead to recapitalise the Forces.

Nathan Cullen led off for the NDP, but when he talked about the government “polishing a turd” of political fundraising, the Speaker was unamused and went to the next name on the list.

That was Alexandre Boulerice who railed about finalising rules, and Karina Gould assured him they were tabling rules for more transparency. Boulerice then railed about handcuffing the PBO, and Bardish Chagger said they were making him more independent but were open to amendments. Cullen was back up to ask the same in English, and Chagger repeated her answer.

Round two, and James Bezan, Pierre Paul-Hus, and Mark Strahl demanded Sajjan’s resignation (Sajjan: We conducted a thorough defence policy review so that we can look after our Forces for the next twenty years).

Hélène Laverdière and Murray Rankin demanded a public inquiry on Afghan detainees (Sajjan: We made sure that transfers were handled according to International Law and have been through multiple reviews). Gérard Deltell and Pierre Poilievre worried about muzzling the PBO (Chagger: We want him to be more independent and we are open to suggestions to improving the bill).

Tracey Ramsey asked about the discredited story that the government walked away from a softwood deal with Obama (Leslie: We continue to seek a good deal for Canadians), and Karine Trudel worried about flooding in Quebec (Goodale: We are monitoring the situation and we will respond if a request is made).

Round three saw questions on softwood lumber, carbon taxes, the PM’s youth council, a Canadian imprisoned in Beijing, women’s shelters, lifelong pensions for veterans, damages caused by two-meter waves, UNRWA, and appointing judges.

Overall, it was a fairly average day, barring the bit of excitement off the top with Nathan Cullen tying to be edgy using coarse language. Fortunately we didn’t have any lame Star Wars-themed questions, but we were back to the same scripted sanctimony about Harjit Sajjan, which got increasingly eye-rolling with every question, Mark Strahl taking the cake with his assertion that our allies have lost confidence in Sajjan. The Points of Order at the end around heckling also reeked of sanctimony, which is trying my patience. Also, the sarcastic clapping when Andrew Leslie answered questions as somehow “proving” he’s got more credibility than Sajjan was also childish in the extreme, and MPs should know better. Also, if I hear “stolen valour” one more time, I’m liable to pull a Naomi Campbell and throw my phone at someone, so consider yourselves warned.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Rona Ambrose for a navy dress with a grey checked jacket, and to Terry Beech for a navy suit with a light blue shirt and navy bow tie. Style citations go out to Jean Rioux for a taupe suit with a black shirt and tie, and to Linda Duncan for a dress with large multicoloured squares with an orange jacket.