QP: NAFTA not good enough

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After a morning of press conferences and celebratory back-patting from the government on the conclusion of NAFTA talks, all of the leaders were in the Commons, and ready to go. Andrew Scheer led off, mini-lectern on desk, and he read his disappointment about concessions made to Supply Management. Trudeau enthused that it was a good agreement, and that they worked closely with the dairy industry and would continue to work so regarding compensation. Scheer worried that there were no gains, only losses, and worried in particular about Buy America policies. Trudeau continued to enthuse about the deal, and didn’t really answer about Buy America. Scheer lost his script, and listed other concessions, and asked after Buy America again. Trudeau took a shot at Stephen Harper advocating selling out before thanking Canadians for being united on the issue. Scheer then asked about softwood lumber tariffs, and Trudeau tut-tutted that the opposition thought it was a bad deal — but didn’t answer about softwood. Sheer asked after softwood again, and Trudeau again insisted it was a good deal. Guy Caron was up next for the NDP, who was worried that there were no gains on Indigenous or gender rights or the environment and they caved on Supply Management, and Trudeau pointed to the environmental protections now in the agreement that the old agreement didn’t have, and took a shot at the NDP not liking any deals. Caron railed about Supply Management being compromised, to which Trudeau insisted that they did protect Supply Management. Tracey Ramsey took over in English on her list of things she didn’t like in the agreement, and Trudeau insisted that yes, it was a progressive agreement, especially around labour rights and strengthened environmental protections. Ramsey demanded the deal be brought to the House of Commons, and Trudeau listed the unions that support the deal, and said they would bring it to Parliament in the ratification process.

Round two, and Alain Rayes and Pierre Poilievre  took over in denouncing the concession in French (Freeland: We got a good deal for Canadians; Didn’t you advocate us capitulating just weeks ago?) Karine Trudel and Alistair MacGregor railed about Supply Management and aluminium tariffs (Freeland: This started with a US demand that Supply Management be abolished entirely). Tony Clement and Candice Bergen turned to the killer of Tori Stanford being transferred to a healing lodge (Goodale: The issues are being examined by the Commissioner). Brigitte Sansoucy and Murray Rankin worried about increased drug prices because of NAFTA concessions (Freeland: We’re working with provinces and territories to reduce prices and increase access to medication).

Round three saw questions on Tori Stafford’s killer (Goodale: I’ve asked the Commissioner to the case and the policies; The mother-child program is in all women’s prisons), pension security in under bankruptcies (Bains: We’re consulting), a national seniors strategy (Romanado: Look at all these things we’ve done for seniors), a veteran’s issue (O’Regan: Let’s meet and get to the bottom of it), a list of slights against veterans (O’Regan: We’ve addressed the policy around benefits for family members), foreign funding in elections (Gould: Pass Bill C-76 because it has tangible measures), and Supply Management (Freeland: We pushed back against American lobbyists who wanted to destroy the system).

Overall, it was a pretty repetitive day, with most of the same questions asked over and over again, with the same talking points repeated again and again. Trudeau didn’t respond to questions around Buy America provisions, or softwood lumber, other than to say that they have Chapter 19 intact so that the dispute resolution system remains available, but he was more interested in offering praise than answers, which is not wholly unexpected given the news of the day. I did find some of the concern trolling a bit rich, considering that most of the concessions were originally made by the previous Conservative government under the original TPP negotiations, but that’s politics. The rest of the questions, around Tori Stafford’s killer and that murder who received veterans benefits continued to take up an inordinate amount of time, and are unlikely to go away until there’s a new outrage that the Conservatives can bang on.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Raj Grewal for a tailored navy there-piece suit with a light blue shirt and pocket square with a red turban and tie, and to Chrystia Freeland for a black jacket over a black dress. Style citations go out to Sylvie Boucher for a black dress with red patterning and long draped sleeves, and to Wayne Long for a navy suit with a pink and light grey checked shirt with no tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Cathy McLeod for a yellow, brown and black striped dress with a black jacket.