QP: Who is the better feminist?

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For the first time this week, and after all of the drama that has happened thus far, all of the party leaders were present, just in time for PMQs. Andrew Scheer led off, mini-lectern on desk, and he stated that everything that Wilson-Raybould was true, everything the PM was false, and wondered why telling the truth got one kicked out of the Liberal Party. Justin Trudeau stood up and extemporaneously stated that being in caucus comes with rights and responsibilities, that he listened to the members of his caucus, reflected on it, and decided to take this difficult action in order to move forward. They went again on the very same in French, and then Scheer disputed Trudeau’s statement, and Trudeau pointed out his party’s record when it come to strong women. Scheer said it was “unconscionable” go kick out someone who speaks truth to power, and Trudeau deployed his line that the Conservatives will do anything to not talk about the budget. When Scheer tried again, Trudeau said that when it comes to talking about falsehoods, Scheer shouldn’t throw stones. Jagmeet Singh was up next, and he raised Grassy Narrows, and demanded that Trudeau head there immediately. Trudeau apologised again for his comments last week, and said the minister of Indigenous services was in touch with the chief. Singh raised the message Trudeau was sending to Daughters of the Vote, and Trudeau talked about how they won’t always agree but that’s why this place exists, and they need to defend their principles. When Singh tried again, Trudeau raised reconciliation and how they are acting for Canadians instead of playing politics. Singh tried again in English, and Trudeau concern trolled that Singh hopefully didn’t mean to disparage the other women in Cabinet and caucus. 

https://twitter.com/AaronWherry/status/1113508343602208769

Round two, and Scheer got back up to continue to insist there were inconsistencies in the tales (Trudeau: I did not get a debrief after that call, and you still won’t talk about the budget or give a climate plan; You can sling whatever mud you want here, but we have an Ethics Commissioner, whose work we support). Georgina Joilibois again demanded that Trudeau go to Grassy Narrows (Trudeau, with script: Look at all the things in the budget for Indigenous communities), and Niki Ashton accused him of disrespecting Indigenous people’s (Trudeau: Here are more things we’re doing to create new relationships, but there is more work to do). Lisa Raitt and Alain Rayes were concerned that whistleblowers are punished in the Liberal ranks (Trudeau: We have a diversity of views in our caucus, but diversity only works with trust; We took weeks to try and work together, but when trust had been broken we had to act), and media requests for PCO documents that won’t be available until after the election (Trudeau: We strengthened the Access to Information system, and we are examining the request and will respond in due time). Jenny Kwan policed Trudeau’s feminism (Trudeau: Look at all the feminist things our government is doing), and Charlie Angus praised Jane Philpott’s record in Indigenous services (Trudeau: She did good work, but the work of reconciliation is a whole-of-government obligation).

Round three saw questions on the role of women in the Liberal caucus (Trudeau: We are going all kinds of good things for women, but in this case it was a case of broken trust), the SNC-Lavalin file (Trudeau: Any decision was hers and hers alone, and we’ve been transparent about), Singh got back up to demand a public inquiry (Trudeau: We have confidence in the work of our House committee and even gave an unprecedented waiver, and it’s the kind of openness and transparency that people expect), a demand for Trudeau’s resignation (Trudeau: In six months, Canadians go to the polls and they get to decide who has a plan for the economy and the environment), and the visit by the Daughters of the Vote (Trudeau, with script: We were proud to invest $3.8 million in this programme).

Overall, it was not quite as much of a gong show as I might have expected, but given that it was a PMQ day, the level of din in the chamber was about as much as expected. I will first off note that the vast majority of the questions were really out of bounds, considering that the composition of caucus is not really a matter relating to the administrative responsibilities of Cabinet, but if the Speaker had enforced that rule, we would have had pandemonium. With that in mind, I will say that the sudden concern for the ability to dissent within caucuses was particularly rich coming from one party that quashes dissent, and another party which actively bullies its members who don’t walk the party line – much like the concern for people who tell the truth coming from a party leader who has made a habit of lying to Canadians on social media. And given that everyone was trying to assert that they were the better feminist, well, Trudeau’s sarcastic reply to that pretty much spoke for itself. This all having been said, Trudeau’s talking around the questions around the Wilson-Raybould/Wernick phone call didn’t really do himself any favours, and he could have answered much more directly than he did, and his remarks about how “open and transparent” they were being over the whole things was more than a little ironic. In all, nobody acquitted themselves today, but that’s pretty much every day in Canadian politics these days, sadly.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Bill Morneau for a tailored dark grey suit with a white shirt and purple tie, Patty Hajdu for a black top and slacks with a grey and black checkerboard jacket with subtle sparkles. Style citations go out to Candice Bergen for a fuchsia dress with huge florals and giant sleeves, and go Ramesh Sangha for a moss green and grey checkerboard jacket with a white shirt and no tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Anju Dhillon for a black top and slacks with a bright yellow jacket.

4 thoughts on “QP: Who is the better feminist?”

  1. “…will do anything to talk about the budget…”

    I think you meant to say the opposite.

  2. I didn’t know what to think of Candace Bergen’s dress. Very cheerful, though.

    What is it about black and yellow that you don’t like? The bumblebee allusion? Just rhetorical, no need to break confidences.

    • Way back, on the original British “What Not to Wear” with Trinny and Susannah, one of the women they were making over said “I was told that yellow and black look good together,” and they snapped back “Who told you that? A leopard?”

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