QP: One last go at the PM

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On what promises to be the final sitting day of 2017, all of the leaders were present, and duelling Christmas poems by Mark Strahl and Rodger Cuzner, things got underway. While some of Strahl’s lines raised eyebrows (particularly the line about Scheer’s virility), Cuzner’s annual poem didn’t disappoint.

Andrew Scheer led off, railing about the “devastating” small business tax changes. Justin Trudeau reminded him that small business taxes were being lowered, and restricting income sprinkling was about ensuring that people couldn’t take advantage of loopholes. Scheer insisted that the changes spelled doom, and Trudeau responded that the opposition had become so partisan that they treated a small business tax cut as a bad thing. Scheer listed off the supposed ways in which the government has apparently attacked taxpayers, but Trudeau insisted that they were doing everything to grow the middle class, and noted how many jobs had been created. Scheer pivoted mid-retort to decry Trudeau’s “erratic behaviour” on the trade file, to which Trudeau reminded him that they weren’t going to sign any deal, but only wanted good deals for Canada. Scheer was concerned that Trudeau was endangering the NAFTA talks, to which Trudeau reminded him that capitulation was not a trade strategy. Guy Caron was up next to bay about the nomination process for the new Ethics Commissioner, and Trudeau noted that they started engaging the opposition for criteria of this process last June, and if they didn’t have confidence, they should say so. Caron insisted that their dispute was with the process not the candidate, and that they couldn’t trust a process where the committee was dominated by cabinet staff. Trudeau responded with a defence of that process, with a slightly disappointed tone. Alexandre Boulerice was up next, and he railed that the Commissioner wouldn’t promise to carry on current investigations and insinuated that the government was trying to sweep everything under the rug. Trudeau insisted that the process was merit-based, and when Nathan Cullen got up to list the alleged ethical violations of the government, Trudeau responded with disappointment that the opposition was relying solely on personal attacks.

Round two, and Scheer was back up to demand Bill Morneau’s resignation for alleged incompetence (Trudeau: Your allegations rely on bad numbers), the state of the deficit (Trudeau: Your government’s insistence on balancing the budget at all costs gave us the Phoenix fiasco), the Phoenix problems (Trudeau: You fired 700 people to save your political hides), fighter jet procurement (Trudeau: You botched the process, but we have launched a proper one), and veterans (Trudeau: We take our sacred obligation seriously). Karine Trudel and Murray Rankin decried the Ethics Commissioner nomination process (Trudeau: We consulted during the whole process). Pierre Poilievre listed the ways in which his party “stopped” the government’s various tax increases (Trudeau: You tried to stop our tax cuts and when we enriched pensions), that the supposed tax cuts benefit the wealthy (Trudeau: You keep quoting statistics that ignore the Canada Child Benefit; You’re resorting to flailing around). Ruth-Ellen Brosseau and Irene Mathyssen concern trolled that Mario Dion wouldn’t promise to carry on the ongoing investigations (Trudeau: Officers of Parliament do their jobs with integrity and in a fact-based manner).

Round three saw questions on the income sprinkling changes (Trudeau: This is about ensuring that three percent of CCPCs don’t use these measures to avoid paying taxes), Bill Morneau’s share sales, the Native Women’s Association not being invited to meetings (Trudeau: We hear from them as often as we can), St. Anne’s survivors (Trudeau: We remain committed to bringing closure to this system), Kent Hehr’s comments (Trudeau: He has responded to these allegations, and he’s doing important work), female genital mutilation (Trudeau: We speak up about this issue at home and abroad), a shipwreck, a second naval supply ship (Trudeau: We are looking at this in the longer term), job losses at Davie Shipyards (Trudeau: There is an ongoing competition for a possible second supply ship).

Overall, it was a punchy day, especially given the final PMQ of the year, and it was very much the kind of scattershot attempt to get as many shots in as possible before everyone goes home for the holidays – a kind of “best of” if you will, not that the majority of what was brought forward was terribly illuminating, nor the answers, for that matter. Because it’s Trudeau’s attempt at Prime Minister’s Questions, most questions of substance were met with bland platitudes, even when they had reasonable answers that could have been made if the minister had answered them. Trudeau was not simply replying with platitudes, however, but did hit back several times, which provides a better back-and-forth exchange. He also gave no indication that he had lost any confidence in Hehr, not that he would telegraph that (because Cabinet solidarity is a Thing), but who knows what that looks like behind the scenes.

And that wraps up QP recaps for 2017. While there remain a few bright lights here and there, I would say that things have gone downhill through the fall, as Andrew Scheer’s QP strategy of excess repetition and increased torque for questions past the point of being disingenuous and into the point of being mendacious, was somewhat mystifying. I get that he’s trying to build a narrative and feels that repetition is the way to do it, but when you rely on fiction to build that narrative, it goes beyond holding the government to account and turns toward the kind of toxic partisanship that turns people off, not to mention that it hurts their own credibility if people start calling out the false narratives that are being built (though it should be noted that there is currently not enough of that going on). The government wasn’t very effective in calling out the false narratives either, generally preferring to stick to pabulum and platitudes than calling bullshit, which doesn’t help matters either. So here’s hoping for better exchanges in 2018, with more genuine questions and less pabulum in response.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Shannon Stubbs for a medium blue dress with a black jacket with three-quarter sleeves, and to Frank Baylis for a black three-piece suit with light blue shirt and a pink tie and pocket square. Style citations go out to Nate Erskine-Smith for a bright red jacket with a white shirt and black tie, and to Sylvie Boucher for a light brown corduroy jacket with a leopard print smock top and black slacks.