QP: Pipeline project necromancy

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With the Trans Mountain announcement still reverberating in the political sphere, it was proto-Prime Ministers Questions, and it remained to be see how substantive the answer would be. Andrew Scheer led off, mini-lectern on desk, and he railed not only about this pipeline acquisition, but the fact that it threw New Brunswick under the bus because they killed Energy East. (reminder: They didn’t kill the project, the proponent withdrew after Keystone XL became viable again). Justin Trudeau replied with his tired platitudes about energy and the economy, and securing jobs for Albertans. Scheer railed that other projects were killed, including Northern Gateway, and that the demise of Energy East ensured that only foreign oil flowed to Eastern Canada. Trudeau shrugged this off as dwelling in the past because they couldn’t deal with the reality that this government was doing the right thing. Scheer insisted that the previous government didn’t need taxpayer funds to get pipelines built and approved — ignoring that most of those pipelines were simply reversals or refurbishing existing ones. Trudeau noted that the Conservatives were trapped by their “rigid ideology,” whereas he was standing up for Alberta and Canadian jobs. Scheer went another round, and this time Trudeau invoked the spirit of Peter Lougheed to justify his actions. Scheer returned to playing the economic nationalism card by highlighting that Kinder Morgan is Texas-based, and Trudeau again invoked Lougheed. Guy Caron was up next for the NDP, railing that Trudeau should have invested in clean energy, to which Trudeau reminded him that when Rachel Notley came out with her climate plan, the federal NDP cheered, but that plan had three parts — a cap on greenhouse gasses, carbon pricing, and a pipeline to new markets. Caron demanded to know what the impact on taxpayers would be, but Trudeau kept wedging that the NDP can’t bridge the energy and the economy. Nathan Cullen poured on the sanctimony to protest the purchase, brining in reconciliation and climate promises, and Trudeau reiterated his previous response about Notley’s plan in English. Cullen accused Trudeau of smoking weed to make the decision, and Trudeau noted that this was about certainty to get it constructed and getting it built as part of their plan to fight climate change and grow the economy.

Round two, and Alain Rayes and Shannon Stubbs, kept up the same demands for the cost of the construction (Trudeau: We succeeded in bringing certainty where they failed; Remember Peter Lougheed investing in resources?), and Lisa Raitt demanded new negotiations to revive Energy East (Trudeau: You are pivoting to old news). Georgina Jolibois decried that the price of the pipeline could have helped First Nations, and demanded the same investment for them (Trudeau: We were losing $15 billion a year by being captive to a single market, and here’s a quote from First Nations leaders who support the pipeline), and Romeo Saganash demanded support for his bill on UNDRIP and worked that into the pipeline issue (Trudeau: We work with all Indigenous communities to respond to their concerns and mitigate them). Gérard Deltell returned to the demands to know the full costs of the pipeline (Trudeau: That party is lost while we protect Alberta jobs), and Pierre Poilievre thought he was clever in bringing in disingenuous comparisons with Bombardier (Trudeau: I look forward to hearing from an Alberta who knows the timelines of Peter Lougheed). Fin Donnelly demanded compensation for a cleanup on the BC Coast (Trudeau: I grew up spending my summers on those coasts, and hey, we have an oceans protection plan), and Alexandre Boulerice returned to Kinder Morgan again (Trudeau’s response was drowned out).

Round three saw questions on the elections bill (Trudeau: We are pleased to get the bill to committee so that it can be studied), the cultural policy and a Netflix tax (Trudeau: We are supporting our creators and don’t want to add another tax on Canadians), spousal sponsorship letters that are deemed insulting (Trudeau: We brought processing times and and are applying the rules fairly), the Safe Third Country Agreement (Trudeau: We are enforcing all our immigration laws and all processes are in place), costs afforded to G7 hosts if they are affected by damage from protesters (Trudeau: The people of Charlevoix are happy to host the world), an isolated First Nation affected by forest fires (Trudeau: We are investing in these communities, and your false dichotomies don’t help — not really answering about why federal response was slow), the omnibus criminal justice bill (Trudeau: I am looking forward to seeing this debated at committee), and yet more gripes about Kinder Morgan (Trudeau: Economy and the environment).

Overall, it was a punchier day for Trudeau than I might have expected, and he came prepared with some new lines (and didn’t reach for a script once that I could see). Now, some of those lines were decent, and it was certain novel of him to invoke the ghost of Peter Lougheed to justify investing in the pipeline, but I do think the the should have also been a bit more prepared to push back against the new demands that he resurrect the Energy East pipeline and back that instead. Of course, he should have pointed out that with the approval of Keystone XL, Trans Mountain and the reversal of Line 3 (per a tweet from Carr’s office), there is absolutely no economic case for Energy East, but he didn’t say that. Maybe if given another 24 hours, he will have lines prepared to make that very case. Maybe. He did his usual ducking and weaving around some specific questions that he should have had better responses to (like that Manitoba forest fire affecting an isolated reserve) but he chose to pick on the ham-fisted “if you have $4.5 billion for a pipeline…” framing instead, which was too bad.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Justin Trudeau for a tailored blue-grey suit with a crisp white shirt and a dark blue tie, and to Alexandra Mendès for a pale blue dress with a dark blue crosshatch pattern and a navy short-sleeved sweater. Style citations go out to normally well-dressed Shannon Stubbs for a disappointing black smock dress with florals and half-sleeves, and to David Lametti for a light grey suit with a bright teal shirt and off-white tie. Special mention goes out to Brian Masse for his taupe suit and tie with a yellow shirt, along with black pumps that were meant to raise awareness for violence against women and girls.