QP: StatsCan surveillance?

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Justin Trudeau was again in Question Period today, while Andrew Scheer was off to Queen’s Park to meet with Doug Ford, sans media availability. That left Lisa Raitt to lead off, worrying about the Statistics Canada plan to access financial information for their purposes. Trudeau took up a script to read that the data was anonymised and that it was for statistical purposes only, and that they were working with the Privacy Commissioner. Raitt equated this to another issue related to a credit monitoring agency being asked to turn over data. Trudeau took up a second script to read about the sins of the Conservatives when it comes to StatsCan, and assured her that privacy was being protected. Raitt pressed, and Trudeau snarked that the Conservatives remained the party of Stephen Harper. Alain Rayes took over in French, got the same scripted reply, and on a follow-up, Trudeau dropped the script to make the Harper digs. Guy Caron was up next for the NDP, and he asked about the lack of CRA’s progress in going after anyone from the Panama Papers. Trudeau read a script about CRA doing a great job. Caron raised the court case regarding charities before doubling back to lack of progress, and Trudeau dropped the script this time to praise the investment his government made in CRA to recover evaded taxes. Peter Julian took over in English, with added invective, and Trudeau read the English version of his script, and for his final question, Julian demanded by-elections be called, and Trudeau picked up another script to read more about the CRA.

Round two, and Dan Albas, Matt Jeneroux, Joël Godin, and Candice Bergen returned to the StatsCan question, calling it surveillance (Bains: They are subject to the Privacy Act and are following it; No data has been stolen and there are robust processes). Anne Quach and Sheila Malcolmson asked why pay equity was taking so long to implement (Hajdu: I’m proud of our legislation). Pierre Poilievre tried to insist he caught out the government on an admission that carbon taxes will kill jobs (LeBlanc: Our plan is clear, while your leader is in Queen’s Park taking his marching orders from Doug Ford today), and worried about the New Brunswick coal plant getting a major exemption on carbon pricing (Fraser: We’re putting a price on emitters, and we are phasing out coal 32 years before your government planned to). Karine Trudel and Scott Duval demanded pensions be protected under bankruptcy laws (Bains: We strengthened CPP and are working on this issue; Tassi: We are consulting with stakeholders on this issue and want to get it right).

Round three saw questions on by-election calls (Gould: Hey, Bill C-76 is going to Third Reading, and by the way, the Act sets out timelines for by-elections), the commissioner of debates being chosen without consultation (Gould: We consulted with Canadians, and hooray for the Right Honourable David Johnston), the rules blocking international adoptions for Muslim countries (Hussen: International adoption must harmonised with the laws of both countries, and the previous government didn’t do the work, and have asked the department to review the policy), Canada Post labour issues (Hajdu: We believe in collective bargaining and I have appointed a new mediator), the Mark Norman trial (Goodale: These questions are inappropriate), UNRWA accountability (Bibeau: We gave funds to Right to Play and for teacher training), sick leave benefits for EI (Duclos: We reformed five types of benefits and added two new types for greater flexibility), Supply Management (MacAulay: We have and will continue to support the sector), the slow take-up of TSB recommendations (Garneau: We have one of the safest systems in the world, and we are working toward meeting their recommendations), and the Phoenix pay system (Qualtrough: This remains a priority and we are seeing progress).

Overall, I found the tone of the questions from the Conservatives on the StatsCan issue around banking data to be a bit strange, and over the top in many cases. I can understand concerns about privacy and data breaches, but the accusations that this is some kind of Cabinet directive from the government to engage in state-sponsored surveillance of financial transactions is bizarre on its face – StatsCan is an arm’s length agency that designs its own surveys and studies, and this data will be anonymised and not have personal identifiers. And to what end would this be some kind of nefarious surveillance? It makes no actual sense. Trudeau’s responses, by reading scripts and then taking swipes at the Conservatives and Stephen Harper in particular, haven’t really made things any clearer. That Trudeau also chose to read a script about CRA in response to a question about by-elections today was bizarre, and more than a bit of a gaffe.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Lisa Raitt for a black suit with a white blouse, and to Gérard Deltell for a dark three three-piece suit with a white shirt and a lighter grey striped tie. Style citations go out to David Tilson for a blue checked jacket with dark brown slacks, a white shirt, and a light blue tie, and to Diane Lebouthillier for a bright red turtleneck white a black sweater.