For the final Monday QP of 2018, Justin Trudeau was present, but Andrew Scheer was not. Pierre Poilievre led off, reading Trudeau’s Electoral promise about a balanced budget, before he threw out a number of other non sequiturs before demanding a balanced budget. Trudeau stood up with a script in hand, and he read about their promise to invest in Canadians. Poilievre gave some disingenuous nonsense about tax increase (based on a torqued Fraser Institute calculation), to which Trudeau stood up, without script, and he noted how much better off families are under his government and he praised their growth record. Poilievre tried a third time, and Trudeau resorted to another pabulum script. Alain Rayes took over in French, asking the same question, and Trudeau, sans script, reminded the other side about their record on debt and growth. Rayes tried again, and Trudeau noted that they made different choices and decided to invest in Canadians. Guy Caron was up next for the NDP, and he railed about Supply Management under the new NAFTA. Trudeau took up a script to read that they protected the system and the creation of three working groups to design compensation for the agreements. When Caron tried again, Trudeau read the praise that Alexandre Boulerice heaped on the agreement. Tracey Ramsey took over to ask the same question in English, got the same scripted answer, and on her supplemental, she railed about the steel and aluminium tariffs, to which Trudeau took up another script to read the same praise quotes from Boulerice about the new NAFTA. 

“Tariffs! The question was about tariffs! You’re reading the wrong paper!” Tracey Ramsey heckles as Trudeau doesn’t answer her question. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) December 10, 2018

Round two, and Gérard Deltell, Leona Alleslev, and Mark Strahl returned to the demand for a balanced budget (Lightbound: Your party’s record was bad and we have good growth). Matthew Dubé and Karine Trudel asked about airport workers in Montreal (Hajdu: We are aware of the situation and are monitoring it). Shannon Stubbs and Jamie Schmale demanded that Bill C-69 be withdrawn (Fraser: We received an endorsement on this legislation from the AFN last week; Sohi: Look at how much planned investment is in the oil and gas sector over the next decade). Brigitte Sansoucy and Romeo Saganash demanded redress for victims of forced sterilisation of Indigenous women (Philpott: We are working with provinces and territory and medical associations to ensure that informed consent is understood and culturally safe care).

According to Shannon Stubbs, Trudeau is personally responsible for the US shale oil boom. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) December 10, 2018

Round three saw questions on ISIS returnees not being arrested (Goodale: Our national security agencies are keeping Canadians safe), the UN compact on global migration (DeCourcey: Our support for this compact will let us work with international partners to better manage our borders; Blair: We have worked to ensure that our laws are applied no matter how they cross our borders), the MMIW inquiry (Bennett: The Commission’s mandate was clear, and aftercare was part of their plan), Charlie Angus asked about a recent Indigenous death in Thunder Bay (Philpott: I reached out to the Chief today, and we are making investments in their community), Tori Stafford’s other killer’s prison classification (Goodale: I will examine the facts of this case to ensure that the rules were followed), Huawei (Lametti: We will never compromise our national security), moving fighter jet testing from Cold Lake (Sajjan: We are increasing our investment at Cold Lake), cycling deaths (Garneau: I am speaking with my provincial counterparts on this matter), auto manufacturing jobs (Lametti: We have the auto innovation fund), pipelines in Quebec (Fraser: We are moving forward with a plan to reform our assessment system), VIA Rail not choosing Bombardier (Garneau: They are arm’s length and they respect our free trade deals), and a request for passenger rail in the prairies (Garneau: VIA Rail still goes through Saskatchewan).

Overall, it was a fairly meh day, and Justin Trudeau was reading scripts for things which he should be able to recite from memory, and he offered mostly pabulum in his responses where he could have corrected the record against the falsehoods put forward by Pierre Poilievre and Alain Rayes. But that seems to be this government’s chosen means of stepping on their own message these days. Otherwise, the questions remained much the same as we’ve seen in weeks previous, with little new or of substance. I would note that most of the tinfoil hattery of the past week was toned down today, but that’s nothing really to offer praise over. We’re just about ready to send them home for the Christmas break, and I think they need it.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Blake Richards for a tailored blue suit with a white shirt and purple tie, and to Mélanie Joly for a light grey suit with a dark grey top. Style citations go out to Celina Caesar-Chavannes for a pastel floral jacket with a black top and slacks, and to Darren Fisher for a light burgundy suit with a light blue shirt and dark blue patterned tie.