QP: Conflicts, subsidies, and elections

Posted on by

While Justin Trudeau was off in Charlevoix, and Andrew Scheer in Laval as part of his “listening to Quebeckers” tour, there were no leaders in the Commons today except for Elizabeth May. Candice Bergen led off, raising new allegations from the Globe and Mail about the Arctic surf clam fishery, to which Dominic LeBlanc assured her the allegation was false, before reminding her that they included Indigenous people in the fishery when the previous government didn’t. Bergen reiterated the previous allegations about the process including the accusation that his family will benefit, and this time LeBlanc was a little more sharp in his reiteration that the allegations are false, and the fact that he has no family connection in the case. Bergen demanded that the prime minister remove him from the file, and LeBlanc assured her that he would cooperate with the Ethics Commissioner, but pointedly reminded her that she should stick to the facts. Jacques Gourde took over to ask the same again in French, and LeBlanc called out the fact that they were simply reiterating the same falsehoods in French. After a second round of the same, Ruth Ellen Brosseau led off for the NDP, demanding an end to fossil fuel subsidies by 2019 and to know how much would be given to Kinder Morgan. Bill Morneau got up to say that they were on track to phase out subsidies by 2020, and that they were still talking with Kinder Morgan. Nathan Cullen reiterated the same in English, with a heap of added sanctimony, to which Morneau repeated his same answer. Cullen then got up to moralise about  getting multi-party support for the elections bill, to which Karina Gould praised it going to committee to get the “study and interrogation” that it deserves. Brosseau repeated the same in French, and got the same response.

Round two, and Blake Richards, Bernard Généreux and John Brassard carried on questions about the elections bill (Gould: We won’t take any lessons from your party). Jenny Kwan and Matthew Dubé railed that the any indemnification of Kinder Morgan was a subsidy for big oil (Morneau: We are phasing out subsidies and are working to get this project built in a way that is commercially appropriate). Alupa Clarke and Gérard Deltell accused the government of propping up Michaëlle Jean at the Francophonie amidst allegations of financial mismanagement (Bibeau: We support Jean, we account for the dollars we send, and we are helping to improve the organisation’s processes). John Cannings and Romeo Saganash asked about the Columbia River Treaty talks (Leslie: We have been working with BC authorities and First Nations along the river).

Round three saw questions on border crossers (Garneau: There is a great deal of misinformation out there, and that’s why we are working to correct it; Hussen: We have an aggressive outreach campaign that is having an impact), sickness benefits for those on EI (Duclos: I was pleased to appear at committee to talk about these issues), the Churchill rail line (Garneau: We are committed to the people of the region, and we will make sure the line gets rebuilt), the Chinese ownership of some BC seniors homes (Lametti: They are living up to their agreements), the optional protocol on opposing torture (DeCourcey: We abhor torture and are consulting on ratifying the optional protocol), the credibility of Israel vs Iran (DeCourcey: We remain a steadfast friend to Israel), and the possibility China will complain about the Aecon sale being blocked (Lametti: This was a security consideration). 

Overall, I see that we have returned to the Globe and Mail serving as the opposition research bureau, and this story about Dominic LeBlanc’s connections to this Arctic surf clam fishery continue to roll along. I will note that LeBlanc was far more pointed in his responses today than usual, and I would dare say that he’s this close to inviting the Conservatives to repeat the allegations against him outside in the Foyer. The questions about the elections bill were problematic because of the accusation that the Chief Electoral Officer – an independent officer of parliament – is taking orders from the prime minister, which is insane, and I’m a bit boggled that the government didn’t call them out on that. That aside, I have to say that the snide remarks from John Brassard to Karina Gould about her being Gerald Butts’ puppet in her responses were mighty rich considering that Brassard reads from a script every single time gets up to speak. FFS, guys. And I will say good on Gould for pushing back against it (though the rest of her responses left a little to be desired). I have to say that I was a bit surprised at how hard the Conservatives went against Michaëlle Jean today, which also felt a bit unseemly for them to go after a former GG and current head of an international organization.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Michelle Rempel for a black dress with a tailored black jacket with some zipper accents (that didn’t look terribly eighties), and to Raj Grewal for a tailored three-piece dark grey suit with a light blue shirt, navy tie and turban and a white pocket square. Style citations go out to Jean Rioux for a taupe suit with a salmon pink shirt and a dark blue and pink tie, and to Linda Duncan for a busy blue, white and red dress with a yellow sweater.