QP: Talking to elites

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While Justin Trudeau was in London, meeting with Her Majesty the Queen and prime minister Theresa May, Andrew Scheer was in fact present today, in the wake of the salacious news that Maxime Bernier had pulled his book that was critical of his leader. Scheer, mini-lectern on desk, led off by reading some concern about investor confidence in the energy sector, and he claimed that the previous government got Northern Gateway “built.” Jim Carr stood up and stated that it was news to him that Northern Gateway got built, and didn’t in fact get its permits revoked by the Federal Court of Appeal. Scheer then got up rue that Trudeau was in Europe with elites, talking down on the energy sector, and Carr reminded him that just days ago he was here talking up the sector and the Trans Mountain expansion. Scheer insisted that Trudeau told his European audience that he was disappointed that he couldn’t phase out the oil sector tomorrow, but Carr rebutted with his line about how incredulous it was that Scheer took to the microphones on Sunday to decry Trudeau’s announcement after the meeting with the two premiers before Trudeau even made it. Alain Rayes got up to decry Trudeau’s lack of leadership in French, to which Marc Garneau stood up to lay out the support the government had given. Rayes wondered how much of taxpayers’ money would be spent on the project, but Garneau merely reiterated that they considered the project to be in the national interest. Guy Caron was up for the NDP, noted that the Health Committee’s study on universal pharmacare would be tabled later, and demanded action on it. Ginette Petitpas Taylor thanked the committee for their work, and she would consider its finding. Caron demanded immediate action in French, and Petitpas Taylor noted the commitments in the budget toward national (but not universal) pharmacare. Charlie Angus was up next, and demanded to know if the government felt their Section 35 obligations were met with Kinder Morgan, and Carr reminded him of the Supreme Court decision around Northern Gateway around consultations, so they went and consulted further for Trans Mountain. Angus pressed, terming it a “Liberal pipeline,” and Carr reiterated his line about the fact that there may not be unanimity, but there are many Indigenous communities who are in support.

Round two, and Lisa Raitt, John Barlow, and Shannon Stubbs returned to the incredulity that Trudeau lamented he couldn’t phase out the oil sector tomorrow (Carr: Since day one, we have been committed to the responsible movement of oil; look at what we’ve approved). Matthew Dubé and Murray Rankin asked about CSIS’ involvement with Abousfian Abdelrazik (Goodale: I can’t comment on court proceedings, but we have issued and published new ministerial directives, and have tabled Bill C-59, and created NSICOP). Pierre Paul-Hus and Michelle Rempel decried irregular migrant arrivals in Quebec (Hussen: You guys cut CBSA and the IRB, leaving us to clean up the mess). Karine Trudel and Tracey Ramsey worried about steel and aluminium tariffs (MacAulay: We are defending Supply Management; Leslie: We have been working to ensure that we are exempt from these tariffs).

Round three saw questions on the proposed Treasury Board fund for jump start programs before the Estimates (Brison: We have been improving transparency and look at this detailed tabled in the budget on the votes and measures), tanker traffic as a result of Trans Mountain (Carr: That seven-fold increase is one tanker per day, and look at the investment in our oceans protection plan), the Assad apologist meeting a Liberal MP (DeCourcey: We have condemned the actions of Assad), a murder charge thrown out because of delay (Wilson-Raybould: We have made appointments, and you should pass our justice bill to tackle delays), firefighters on a shipwreck (LeBlanc: We plan to remove this wreck, and this fire started during dismantling operations), the Arctic Surf Clam fishery (LeBlanc: You don’t have the facts, and we included Indigenous communities when you didn’t), and those irregular migrants (Hussen: We have worked with Quebec, and have another meeting tonight).

Overall, performance has been improving in QP this week, and maybe that’s because the government has decided to actually start fighting back rather than just responding to disingenuous questions with pabulum. In fact, Scott Brison flat out told Pierre Poilievre today that he was wrong in his line of questioning, which is encouraging to see, and then provided actual answers and pointed to tables in the budget and the Estimates, so that there was a concrete answer rather than just talking points. More of this, please! Meanwhile, Andrew Scheer keeps trying to insist that the Conservatives got pipelines built, but ignores that the point the government keeps saying that they didn’t get pipelines built to tidewater, which is a very different thing, and the fact that he apparently claimed in QP today that they “built” Northern Gateway (where he likely meant that they approved it) made him seem a bit less serious and opened himself up to ridicule, and for Jim Carr to respond with some facts that Scheer ignores in his questions. And the fact that we’re seeing this push back against Scheer’s narrative for the first time in weeks is a welcome change. Meanwhile, Scheer’s attempt to fit Trudeau’s visit to Europe into the narrative about “elites” is beyond tiresome. Could we please have some grown-up politics?

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Julie Dzerowicz for a tailored black jacket with a black top and slacks, and to Raj Grewal for a tailored black three-piece suit with a light blue shirt, red tie, navy turban and white pocket square. Style citations go out to Diane Lebouthillier for a red, black and white chunky-knit jacket with three-quarter sleeves over a black top, and to Kevin Warawa for a very eighties mottled grey shirt with a navy suit and tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Brenda Shanahan for a black turtleneck and a gold yellow sweater.