QP: A gaffe and a gotcha

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A very a sloppy Tuesday in Ottawa, and the prime minister was present for QP; Andrew Scheer was again absent. Alain Rayes led off, and he launched into an attack against Justin Trudeau because he ruled out a single tax return for Quebec. Trudeau stated that they would defend Quebeckers, including the 5000 people working for CRA in the province. Rayes disputed that this was about jobs, but Trudeau did not let up on that point, and asserted that it meant that the Conservatives didn’t understand the issue. Pierre Poilievre led off with the usual attacks against the prime minister’s family fortune, before railing about the deficit, to which Trudeau reminded him that his assets are in a blind trust, and that it was noteworthy that the Conservatives didn’t ask the previous question in English, because it showed that they weren’t afraid to beggar certain provinces. Poilievre repeated “blind trust” and spun it into an attack that he wanted Canadians to blindly trust him while he ran up the deficit. Trudeau noted that the Conservatives were content to give benefits to millionaires while he was focused on the Middle Class™. Poilievre accused him of class warfare, to which Trudeau reminded him that low income families don’t pay taxes, which he quickly corrected to them not benefitting from non-refuneable tax credits when they don’t pay taxes, before he praised the Canada Child Benefit. Guy Caron was up next for the NDP, and demanded a national pharmacare plan, to which Trudeau picked up a script to read about their advisory council coming up with a report on implementation. Caron railed about private insurance and corporate profits, to which Trudeau reminded him that they didn’t have the report, so they were simply engaged in fear-mongering. Don Davies repeated the question in English, to which Trudeau read the English version of his script. Davies repeated the point about private profits, to which Trudeau accused him of grasping at straws.

Round two, and Gérard Deltell returned to his daily concern trolling about deficits (Morneau: The Canada Child Benefit helps more lower class and Middle Class™ Canadians), and he, Rosemarie Falk, Tom Kmiec, Cheryl Gallant, and Rachael Harder read the lines that the carbon tax could be $300/tonne (McKenna: You are spreading misinformation; you want pollution to be free and have no plan; Morneau: We voted to lower Middle Class™ taxes and raised the Canada Child Benefit). Brigitte Sansoucy railed about child poverty (Duclos: The CCB has raised millions out of poverty), and Alexandre Boulerice hollered about oil and gas subsidies (McKenna: We put a price on carbon, and are investing in renewables). Pat Kelly asked about the single tax return for Quebec in English (Lebouthillier: We have invested in CRA and it’s delivering results, while your single tax form pledge has no plan for what it will affect), Luc Berthold repeated it in French (Lebouthillier: You keep talking about this like it’s a simple administrative agreement, and it isn’t), and Leona Alleslev worried about the plan to bring foreign ISIS fighters to justice (Goodale: Our goal is to arrest, prosecute and convict, and we are working with partners to collect the necessary evidence). Sheri Benson worried about affordable housing (Duclos: We have invested more than $5.7 billion to help over a million families), and Robert Aubin worried that projects in his riding weren’t happening immediately (Champagne: Here’s what we’ve done for the people in your riding).

Round three saw questions on asylum seeker screening (Blair: We won’t engage in the politics of resentment and fear, and all arrivals are screened), GM layoffs (Bains: We won’t give up on the auto sector, and if there is a solution for Oshawa we will propose it), rural broadband (Jordan: We will have a strategy where that will be the centrepiece), digging into whether low-income people don’t pay taxes (Morneau: We lowered Middle Class™ taxes and increased the CCB), Supply Management (MacAulay: We brought in Supply Management and we are protecting it), Trans Mountain pipeline (Morneau: It’s important to have international access to markets for our resources), and clean energy investments in Nunavut (LeBlanc: We have prioritised reducing the reliance on diesel, and this project is a key part of that).

Overall, it was Trudeau’s off-the-cuff gaffe about low-income people not paying taxes – which he quickly corrected to them not benefitting from non-refundable tax credits – which the Conservatives pounced on, thinking they had scored a bit gotcha about just how out of touch the prime minister is (when he was absolutely correct about the non-refundable tax credits). And yet they kept trying to rub his face in the initial gaffe that I suspect we’ll see Trudeau dutifully reading scripts again in the weeks to come rather than going as frequently off-the-cuff as he has been the past two weeks. This is why we can’t have nice things, Canada. As for the questions on the single tax form for Quebec, it would be great if the government could come up with a coherent message on this issue rather than flailing all over the place with it, because it is a serious issue that is not the simple change the Conservatives keep insisting it would be (which they finally noted later in QP), but you wouldn’t know it when all they talk about are CRA jobs in Quebec. Add to this, Michelle Rempel acting obtusely while deliberately misquoting figures in a Toronto Star article regarding a asylum claimant screening backlog showcased how Bill Blair has trouble giving clear answers that can provide proper context, because it took him three tries to get the message out in a usable manner. Stop letting misinformation stand on the record.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Blake Richards for a dark grey suit with a light lavender shirt and a purple tie, and to Catherine McKenna for a half-sleeved grey wrap dress over a black top. Style citations go out to Marie-Claude Bibeau for a grey sweater with a poppy pattern over a white turtleneck, and to John Aldag for a light grey suit with a dark lavender shirt and a light grey and purple striped tie.