QP: Not misleading, just misinformed

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On a cooler and less humid day in the nation’s capital, things proceeded apace in the House of Commons, and there was far less drama to start off the day. Andrew Scheer led off, mini lectern on desk, demanding to know why the counter-tariffs the government collected haven’t been funnelled directly to business that have been affected by the US tariffs. Justin Trudeau responded that the government was supporting affected industries, but also things like innovation. Scheer then started on his “failure” talking points with regards to the Trans Mountain pipeline, to which Trudeau shot back about the ten years of failure from the previous government, particularly around respecting First Nations. Scheer switched to English to ask again, and Trudeau insisted that growing the economy and respecting both the environment and Indigenous communities went hand in hand. Scheer railed about pipelines line Energy East not getting built, and Trudeau stepped up his rhetoric about not respecting First Nations. Scheer then spun a bunch of nonsense about carbon taxes, and Trudeau didn’t correct Scheer’s mischaracterisation, but responded with some platitudes about paying for pollution. Guy Caron was up next to lead for the NDP, and concern trolled about the effect on Supply Management with TPP, to which Trudeau insisted they were keeping the system intact. After another round of the same, Tracey Ramsey repeated the questions in English, and got much the same response from Trudeau, who added that they got better a better deal than the Conservatives did. On another round of the same, Trudeau insisted that the NDP didn’t want any trade deals, and the Conservatives would sign anything, but he would only sign a good deal, and that included NAFTA.

Round two, and Alain Rayes worried about police not being ready for legal marijuana (Blair: I met regularly with law enforcement leadership, and we did what they asked of us) and Canadians wouldn’t be able to cross the border (Blair: We have entered into discussions to ensure minimal issues at the border), Pierre Paul-Hus railed about irregular border crossers (Blair: I have entered into talks with my US counterparts; LeBlanc: We need to stop this information), Michelle Rempel demanded the immigration minister’s resignation (Hussen: Look at how much we’ve reduced the backlog and wait times), and how the backlogs aren’t bringing Yazidi genocide victims over (Hussen: Your government didn’t bring any over, and we did). Alexandre Boulerice worried about the purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline (Morneau: We will continue with our approach). Shannon Stubbs demanded the plan on reviving Trans Mountain (Sohi: We need to engage in meaningful consultation and that is the plan we’re putting forward), and Cathy McLeod worried about Indigenous communities who wanted the pipeline (Sohi: We are ensuring that we respect Indigenous rights), and Jamie Schmale worried about Ontario manufacturing jobs affected by the Trans Mountain delay (Bains: Here are some new jobs created by other companies). Sheila Malcolmson equated the TMX purchase with forest fires (Fraser: We have an ambition plan to grow the economy and protect the environment), and Fin Donnelly worried about coastal orcas (Casey: Protection of these orcas is a priority).

Round three saw questions on carbon taxes (Fraser: We will put a price on pollution; Morneau: Far be it for me to say that he is misleading the House, but here are things he should look at), veterans benefits (O’Regan throws some shade at the NDP), loopholes in the accessibility legislation (Qualtrough: I’m excited to start debating this bill), ethical violations (LeBlanc: You manufacture great indignation, but you don’t mention Dean Del Mastro), fundraisers (Gould: You know who attends our events, but we don’t know who attends yours), a possible postal strike (Cuzner: We respect the collective bargaining process), Lyme disease funding (Petitpas Taylor: We are raising awareness and helping with detection), stone used in the Citadel in Quebec City (Sajjan: An open and transparent process awarded a contract to a Quebec company and they are obligated to respect heritage rules), layoffs at Davie Shipyard (Qualtrough: We are giving the Coast Guard the ships they need), Quebec’s economy (Morneau: It’s important to have economic opportunities and yay Trans Mountain). 

Overall, the “Summer fo Failure” talking points continued ad nauseum, because Scheer is determined to ham-fistedly try and build that narrative by brute force if he has to. The problem for them is that Trudeau and others are able to fire back about the “decade of failure” that the Conservatives had on certain files, and round and round it all goes. Nobody wins in this kind of childish gamesmanship. I would also note that Scheer and Pierre Poilievre were taking very big liberties with the truth, particularly around the trade-exposed large emitter regulations, essentially lying about what the regulations were. And the problem, of course, is that the government is slow to correct the lies – Trudeau first said nothing, the parliamentary secretary mentioned trade-exposed sectors but didn’t actually call out the lie, and finally it was Bill Morneau, a bit uncharacteristically, who stood up to say that far be it for him to suggest that Poilievre was deliberately misleading the House (because you can’t accuse other members of lying – which is a large part of how Scheer and company are able to get away with it) but suggested that the member didn’t have the necessary information on the file and offered a briefing so that he can get the correct information. Still not putting correct information on the record, but throwing a bit of shade. Still, it leaves the lies on the record, and the Liberals need to stop doing that, and figure out a way to both call it out without offending House rules and putting correct information out there – rather than just repeating the pabulum talking points about the environment and the economy going together yet another time.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Alexandra Mendès for a white collared shirt with navy pinstripes and a navy sweater, and to Anthony Housefather for a black suit with a light blue shirt and pink tie. Style citations go out to Jim Eglinski for a milk chocolate brown corduroy jacket with a light taupe shirt and a brown and taupe tie, and to Marilyn Gladu for a black dress with huge, loud florals.

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One thought on “QP: Not misleading, just misinformed”

  1. Let Scheer and his crowd use the word failure as much as the want. Like Fake News after awhile it is ignored and has no effect. Like “nice hair though” look what that got the Tories, a sound defeat.
    What Mr. Scheer and his gang have to be careful of is that a close look at their failure to recite any cogent policies that could bring any of the current problems to a conclusion will be a problem for them. There will be a trade deal of some kind with the US and Mexico. Will Scheer fail in providing Canadians a description of what he would do if this deal has deleterious effects on our economy? When the Liberals with the assistance of the former justice properly consult as per the recent court ruling and at the end of those consultations the Pipeline goes into construction, will he tell Canadians why he failed to support our government in getting Alberta’s oil to market? In his interview with the CBC yesterday he mouthed at least three lies in his first 4 or 5 sentences and was not fact checked
    by the interviewer once. This is how Scheer and Pollievre and others get away with this obfuscation day after day. Now people are starting to say that things in politics have changed since 2015. The truth is, nothing has changed, The lying gets worse, there is more fakery and chicanery. Harper started it and policy less Scheernonsense is here with Harper 2.0.

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