QP: Talking to the folks at home

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Caucus day, and the benches were full, with all of the leaders present. Andrew Scheer led off, and he decided to re-litigate the cancellation of Northern Gateway, and demanded that it be revived. Justin Trudeau responded by reading quotes from the Federal Court of Appeal decision, and saying that the Conservatives treat the Duty to Consult as a suggestion. Scheer insisted that Indigenous communities would benefit from Northern Gateway, and Trudeau repeated that they didn’t understand that they need to work with Indigenous communities and scientists to ensure that projects get built in the right way. Scheer switched to French to demand the full guest list for the India trip, to which Trudeau congratulated the members of NSICOP for their work and that they accepted their recommendations. Scheer switched to English to raise the allegations around Navdeep Bains and the Brampton land deal — despite Bains’ repeated denials. Trudeau took the opportunity to tell the folks at home that parliamentary privilege means Scheer can say anything he wants inside the House without fear of prosecution, but the real test was if he repeated it outside. Scheer piled on the list of Liberal ethical lapses, and Trudeau again addressed the people at home to say that while the role of the opposition is to hold government to account, the current party across the way was more content with smears and innuendo. Guy Caron was up next, and demanded action for missing and murdered Indigenous women, to which Trudeau listed the measures they have taken to date. Caron demanded a national action plan, and Trudeau said that while there was work to do, they were continuing make progress. Sheri Benson wanted the PM to meet with petitioners around the MMIW inquiry, to which Trudeau read a statement about the Inquiry’s mandate and listed some of the investments made. Benson asked again, and Trudeau noted the extension of the Inquiry’s time, mandate and added funding.

Round two, and Lisa Raitt, Alain Rayes, and Mark Strahl returned to the allegations around Bains and Grewal and the land deal (Trudeau: The opposition is supposed to challenge the government, but they are choosing to make personal attacks and smears; We implemented the NSICOP to ensure that there was oversight for national security). Brigitte Sansoucy and Peter Julian worried about media stories about rising grocery prices (Trudeau: We have an anti-poverty strategy and have increased the CCB and OAS). Sylvie Boucher, Rachael Harder and Candice Bergen railed that the PM made comments about the negative impacts of large numbers of male construction workers entering into regions (Trudeau: We have lots of employment, but there are different impacts for different groups; We take seriously our responsibility to create safe workplaces). Charlie Angus worried about Raj Grewal’s actions (Trudeau: Noted Angus misidentified the member), and John Cannings wanted interprovincial wine and spirits access (Trudeau: I am meeting with first ministers over the next two days). 

Round three saw questions on Hwawei accessing the 5G network (Trudeau: We take the advice of our security professionals), a company that got a legal cannabis licence (Trudeau, with script: We will make sure that Health Canada and other agencies do their due diligence), LAV exports to Saudi Arabia (Trudeau: We are continuing to review the permits, and I told the Crown Prince that there needs to be a better response to this murder and that they need to cease fire with Yemen), cycling deaths (Trudeau, with script: We are committed to road safety and a working group consulted, and we are analysing the response), the foreign policy announcement by tweet (Trudeau, with script: You’re opposing funding that will help children in poor regions stay in school), the Oshawa plant closure (Trudeau, with script: We are focusing on supporting the workers), Quebec charging QST on Netflix (Trudeau: We don’t want to increase taxes on Canadians, and have invested in the creative sector), a plan to bring ISIS members to justice (Trudeau: We are putting a report on Tuesday, and we’ve resettled refugees), and Quebec’s plan to reduce immigration (Trudeau: I’ve heard about labour shortages in the province, and lower immigration can mean lower economic growth).

Overall, it was a bit of a strange day, with Trudeau choosing to address the audience at home for much of the time rather than giving a direct response to Scheer and the Conservatives on allegations they were putting on the record. It was odd and a little off-putting to be perfectly honest, not so much because it was like him trying to play schoolteacher, but because it let allegations remain on the record unaddressed. He also didn’t really do a good job of trying to address the outraged questions on the gender impacts of male construction workers in remote regions, for which there is data to back up the fact that sometimes it does increase problems, especially for women, in some of these communities, but he instead gave a bit of word salad mixed with platitudes about jobs and economic growth, and didn’t really say anything of substance, which is frustrating to behold.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to the Maryam Monsef for a back dress and jacket, and to Seamus O’Regan for a tailored grey suit with a light blue shirt, navy tie and dark silk pocket square. Style citations go out to Greg Fergus for a dark grey jacket with a light blue shirt, medium grey tie and faded mustard slacks, and to Marie-Claude Bibeau for a lavender suit with an off-white turtleneck.