While Justin Trudeau was in town but meeting with the head of Unifor, Andrew Scheer decided to show up for the first time in almost two weeks. Scheer led off, mini-lectern on desk, and he read that he met with workers at the GM plant in Oshawa earlier that morning, before he concern trolled around “massive deficits,” before wondering if the support for workers was factored into the fall economic update (obviously it wouldn’t have been), or if it meant higher deficits. Navdeep Bains responded by saying that they stand up for workers, and touted their innovation fund. Scheer demanded they cancel the carbon tax to protect jobs, to which Bains praised the business environment and the auto sector in Canada. Scheer demanded a second time, and Bains noted new investment in the sector. Gérard Deltell took over to reiterate the demand in French, to which Bains read his bland assurances in French. Deltell listed the various other job losses in other sectors, to which Bains retorted in English about the good economic news that countered those individual challenges. Guy Caron was up next for the NDP, and he worried about the Oshawa news, and got the usual reply from Bains. When Caron demanded that GM repay any funds that the government provided them, Bains assured him that all options were being explored to protect workers. Peter Julian was up next to reiterate the question in English, and Bains took exception to his characterisation of events before listing the economic figures. Julian insisted that the fall economic update was a giveaway to corporations, but Bains again pushed back against the rhetoric and proclaimed about their plans to invest created growth.

Because narrative.

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) November 27, 2018

Round two, and Colin Carrie, Lisa Rait, and Erin O’Toole, Dan Albas, and Pierre Poilievre carried on with the demands to save jobs in Oshawa (Bains: We will always defend our workers and the auto sector; Freeland: Our response to US tariffs was proportionate and now you want us to capitulate). Cheryl Hardcastle demanded an auto strategy (Bains: We invested in the auto sector in your region), and Robert Aubin railed that the government wouldn’t demand Bombardier be given the contract for the VIA Rail fleet renewal (Garneau: This is an open and transparent process and you should wait for the outcome). Alain Rayes and Pat Kelly worried about privacy breaches at CRA (Lebouthillier: That behaviour was unacceptable and we try to ensure the highest standards among employees, and the individual in question is no longer an employee but this happened under the Conservatives). Anne Quach raised a class action related to climate change (McKenna: We have a plan and we are working seriously), and Sheri Benson talked about overcrowding in affordable housing (Duclos: We have helped a million families, and our strategy is over the years). 

Round three saw questions on Raj Grewal (Chagger: We were informed last week we hope he gets the support he needs), veterans taking a year to get benefits (O’Regan: We need to do better, but the AG said it was the Harper government not doing enough to get them access), First Nations getting cut off by poor infrastructure (Champagne: We’re acting, and have a $180 billion investment over ten years), the lack of rural internet planning (Bains: We are investing), the Mark Norman case (Goodale: If you have a specific accusation to make, maybe you should take it outside), the Tides Foundation conspiracy theory (Lefebvre: We are working hard to build pipeline capacity to get oil to new markets), Canada Post’s labour tactics (Qualtrough: Employers are expected to provide a safe workplace, and Canada Post is getting back to full capacity), steel and aluminium tariffs (Freeland: These are illegal tariffs, and we are fighting them with a strong retaliatory response), the VIA Rail fleet renewal (Alghabra: We are committed to helping out businesses grow internationally; Garneau: Same answer as before), and a demand to kill Bill C-69 (McKenna: The previous government’s system failed and we are ensuring a one-project-one-review system).

Overall, the day was fairly standard, with the Conservatives continuing to try and build their narratives using the news out of Oshawa, both with regards to the deficit, or the carbon tax, and a few other files, like news of privacy breaches at CRA being somehow related to the Statistics Canada’s plans to access bank data (never mind that the privacy safeguards at StatsCan are different from those at CRA). But since when do facts have to get in the way of a narrative, right? I will note that Bains performed fairly well for a minister taking all of the questions, and he didn’t simply rely on scripts to read (except for in French), while it was also interesting to see how Chrystia Freeland decided to get in on the action and start throwing rhetorical punches at Erin O’Toole in particular about his comments on the retaliatory measures to the steel and aluminium tariffs. That caused a bit of a stir, and a lot of cross-talk between Freeland and Scheer in particular.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Candice Bergen for a burgundy half-sleeved dress, and to Blake Richards for a tailored navy suit with a light blue shirt and a dark purple tie. Style citations go out to James Maloney for a black suit with a faded red shirt and dark red tie, and to Sheri Benson for a long red collared shirt with a white and red patterned long vest. Dishonourable mention goes out to Dan Ruimy for a black suit and shirt with a yellow tie.