QP: Playing politics with a child murderer

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While the PM was fresh off the plane from New York to attend QP, just in time for his photo-PMQ exercise. Andrew Scheer led off, reading some condemnation about a child murderer being transferred from a federal prison to an Aboriginal healing lodge. Trudeau said that they have asked officials to review the decision. Scheer repeated the question in English, demanding action and not a review, and Trudeau read the same response in English. Scheer demanded that the PM reverse the decision, and this time, Trudeau read a response from Steven Blaney when he was minister in 2013 about the government not controlling the security classification. Scheer insisted that the government had tools to use to reverse the decision, to which Trudeau said that she was always classified as medium security, and they were ensuring that people do their jobs. Scheer laid on the fears that parents have about this kind of killer, and Trudeau said he would let Canadians make the determination as to who is politicising the situation, and that the prisoner in question remained in a medium security facility. Ruth Ellen Brosseau led off for the NDP, pointing to outstanding gender inequities in the Indian Act. Trudeau responded that they had taken great steps, but still had work to do. Rachel Blaney repeated the question in English, and this time Trudeau read a statement saying that the numbers in the media were inflated and incorrect, but they were still working to reform the Indian Act. Niki Ashton demanded housing for First Nations, and Trudeau said that they were moving forward to correct the situation with $8.6 billion in investments, and that their forthcoming National Housing Strategy has an Indigenous component. Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet repeated the question in French, and Trudeau reiterated the same response.

Round two, and Lisa Raitt, Alain Rayes, and Tony Clement returned to the same question about the child murderer (Trudeau: Your government oversaw her classified at medium security, she is still in medium security, and you are stooping to new lows to politicise this; We respect the rule of law). Shelia Malcolmson first denounced the Conservative exploitation of the girl’s death as “sickening” before asking about funding for Indigenous women’s organisations (Trudeau: These groups do good work, and we are moving forward with $100 million in funding for community groups), and Anne Quach demanded action instead of consultation on violence against women (Trudeau: We are acting, and have made these investments, but we know we need to do more). Dave MacKenzie graphically described the death of Tori Stafford to reiterate the question about her killer (Trudeau: Stop increasing the level of graphic detail being read into the record), and Karen Vecchio, Steven Blaney, and David Anderson returned to the same question in slightly less graphic terms (Trudeau: She wasn’t released, and she remains in medium security, and you should stick to the facts). Irene Mathyssen demanded action on gender-based violence (Trudeau, with script: We are investing $200 million into a prevention strategy), and Sheri Benson lamented full shelters for women (Trudeau, with script: We are investing $40 billion in a national housing strategy, of which 25 percent are designated for the needs of women and girls).

Round three saw questions on the murderer getting veterans benefits (Trudeau, with script: You  treated veterans like props and we’ve invested in helping them; The Minister has taken steps to ensure the kind of situation doesn’t happen again), women veterans and francophone women in particular facing longer wait times (Trudeau: It’s a situation we must address, and we commit to looking at what we can do to restore balance), pay equity legislation (Trudeau: We will table legislation this year), the Trans Mountain expansion delays (Trudeau: Your approach failed, while we are moving ahead), Omar Khadr (Trudeau: Canadians are frustrated with the out-of-court settlement, and I’m frustrated too, but it should be a lesson that no government should violate Charter rights), childcare (Trudeau: We are playing the role that we can as the federal government, and yay Canada Child Benefit), and rail safety (Trudeau: We want to ensure that a tragedy like Lac Mégantic never happens again).

Overall, it was not one of the House of Commons’ best days, as the Conservatives ramped up the graphic details of a child murder to harangue the government, much as they did earlier in the week with the murder of a police officer to make the point about her killer getting veterans benefits. It’s pretty gross politics, but this is where we are, apparently. The mood in the Chamber was very different today than in previous days, in part because Trudeau was answering and he ensured his backbenchers’ reactions were clamped down (apologizing to the Speaker for their heckling early on, after which they stayed fairly silent), but it was also Trudeau’s tone itself – he answered the repeated questions slowly, and methodically laid out his points and didn’t get excited or angry. He played the disappointment card a few times, and admonished them for playing politics and most especially for putting graphic details on the record (but also saying the questions themselves were fair game), and that seemed to deter them a little, for what it’s worth. By contrast, the NDP had only women MPs asking questions today, and all on the topics related to gender equality – something Trudeau picked up on and in fact thanked them for toward the end of QP, which was unusual, but pretty much true to form for him.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Karine Trudel for a dark grey checked top with a black leather jacket, and to Navdeep Bains for a tailored black suit with a crisp white shirt and an orange turban and tie. Style citations go out to Ramesh Sangha for a grey windowpane suit with a pinkish-orange shirt and a grey striped tie, and to Rachel Harder for a short-sleeved black dress with pink florals.

One thought on “QP: Playing politics with a child murderer”

  1. Today proved that there isn’t a line that the conservatives will not cross to push forward their mean attitudes to governance in Canada. Their performance today borders on thuggery but we see that in almost every case lately.

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