QP: A secret carbon tax plan

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While it was Thursday and you would think that most MPs would be present for QP, but that was not the case. Both Justin Trudeau and Andrew Scheer were off in Saguenay to help push for the by-election on Monday. Gérard Deltell led off, worrying about home cultivation of cannabis, and Quebec and Manitoba rejecting that plan. Ginette Petitpas Taylor got up to read that home cultivation will help curb the black market, and this followed the advice of the working group and US jurisdictions. Deltell tried again, and got some boilerplate from Petitpas Taylor. Lisa Raitt was up next, and asked about the decision to close the lobster fishery in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and fishermen protesting at his office. LeBlanc reminded her that this was about protecting the North Atlantic right whale, and while this was difficult, he will meet with them tomorrow. Raitt then moved onto the demands to know the cost of carbon taxes on Canadians, raising the Ontario election as is their new line. Catherine McKenna said they published a report on April 30th, and that provinces are the best place to decide what to do with revenues, and it was better to ask those provinces what they’re going to do. Raitt demanded the answer from McKenna’s department officials, and raised the notion that Ford won in Ontario because people feel that costs are out of control. McKenna reiterated that all revenues remain in the provinces. Guy Caron was up for the NDP, decrying comments that former Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge that people die protesting the Trans Mountain pipeline, and he was fine with that. McKenna stood up to simply say that they believe in the right to protest. Caron tried again in French, and got the same succinct response. Alexandre Boulerice for up to decry the lack of adequate monitoring of pipeline spills, to which Marc Garneau said it was the duty of any government to get oil to market, and praised the polluter pay system in the Pipeline Safety Act. Sheila Malcolmson repeated the question in English, and Garneau repeated his response in the language of Shakespeare.

Round two, and Pierre Poilievre returned to the same demands for the costs of carbon taxes (McKenna: We published a report and the provinces keep the revenues), Michelle Rempel tried to argue that the carbon tax is sexist (Monsef: We’re glad you are taking an interest in gender equality). Ruth Ellen Brosseau and Alistair MacGregor gave some pro forma Supply Management virtue signalling (Poissant: We set up Supply Management and we will defend it). John Barlow and Randy Hoback put a farm spin on the carbon tax data demands (McKenna: Farmers are also worried about droughts, fires and floods, but provinces get to to decide how to use revenues), Alice Wong put a seniors spin on the carbon tax issue (Duclos: You voted against all of our measures to help seniors), and Dan Albas put the small business spin on it (Bardish Chagger: We lowered small business taxes and they voted against it). Scott Duvall and Karine Trudel demanded a support package for steel and aluminium workers (Bains: We’re working with industry to determine the best path forward).

Round three saw questions on carbon taxes with numerous other spins (Duclos: Here are more measures we made to help seniors; Bains: We have invested in the automotive sector; McKenna: Same answers as before), the TPP as a harbinger of doom (Champagne: There’s never been a better time to diversify our markets), the Safe Third Country Agreement (Garneau: We are taking our obligations seriously; Goodale: The Americans have nothing but praise for the northern border), support for Israel (DeCourcey: Hamas must end its actions), marijuana possession pardons (Goodale: Once the law changes, we will consider it), designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation (Goodale: The process for listing requires an investigation by RCMP and CSIS and that will go ahead), cannabis home growth (Petitpas Taylor: This will help deter the black market), and pipeline safety incidents (Rudd: We have a polluter pay principle and the NEB got money for better monitoring).

Overall, it was a bit of an odd day, and on the one hand, it was building toward the Conservative threats to force another marathon voting session because they aren’t getting particular carbon price documents that they think are some kind of key to their strategy to show that the federal backstop is an empty cash grab, and the complete disingenuous framing of the issue shows why they’re trying to push this point. Catherine McKenna was much sharper in her messaging today, reiterating over and over that the costs depend on the province because it depends on how they plan on recycling the revenues, such as with tax cuts or whatnot. Poilievre tipped his hand in his citing that they want to know the tax cost people on a federal level, and had no interest in how provinces would recycle the revenues to Canadians (making disparaging remarks about those provincial governments along the way), which means this is solely about trying to find a shock-and-awe figure that they can throw about disingenuously and create false impressions about carbon pricing. To that end, we saw Ed Fast insist that the prime minister had a secret plan to raise the carbon tax from $50/tonne to $300/tonne, which McKenna rightly called out as misinformation. But that’s the strategy – disingenuous talking points and misinformation about carbon pricing in the hopes of sparking outrage, while facts fall to the wayside.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Maryam Monsef for a black dress with a cream jacket with grey stripes, and to Terry Beech for a tailored navy suit with a light blue shirt and a pink and blue tie and pink pocket square. Style citations go out to Kevin Waugh for a tan jacket with a yellow shirt and grey tie, and to Sheri Benson for a white poncho top with orange florals. Dishonourable mention goes out to Cheryl Gallant for a dark yellow dress with black piping and a black sweater.