On a lovely Tuesday afternoon, and all of the leaders were present for a change. Andrew Scheer led off, and he accused the prime minister of showing weakness in the face of China, to which Justin Trudeau assured him that diplomatic efforts were ongoing, and that they would have new measures for canola farmers in days. Scheer then demanded that the government pull out of the Asian infrastructure bank, to which Trudeau read a script about who all is involved in said bank, and about green and inclusive growth. Scheer repeated his demand, comparing it to pipeline development in Canada, and Trudeau extemporaneously reminded him that the previous government couldn’t get pipelines to new markets because they didn’t understand that they needed to get the buy-in of Indigenous communities. Scheer switched to French to demand the same pull out, and Trudeau read the French version of his script. Scheer then read a question about the CBC story on decade-old illegal donations from SNC-Lavalin, and Trudeau used a script to note that they made changes to increase transparency. Jagmeet Singh was up next for the NDP, and he invoked the name of Jack Layton to complain about corporate tax cuts before demanding the Loblaws contract be cancelled. Trudeau reminded him that the private sector has a role to play in fighting climate change. Singh repeated the question in French, and got much the same answer. Singh then raised the issue of annual flooding in Kasheshewan and demanded the promised relocation take place, and Trudeau took a script to remind him that the minister has met with the community and they have been working with them on the relocation, starting with building the necessary road. Singh repeated the question in English, and Trudeau reiterated his response that work was underway in partnership with the community. 

Round two, and Lisa Raitt accused the government of influencing the Commissioner of Elections in giving SNC-Lavalin a compliance agreement regarding their illegal donations (Chagger: The Commissioner did launch and investigation and we returned all donations), Luc Berthold demanded immediate help for canola farmers (Bibeau: I have been on this since day one, and we will have an announcement in days), and Erin O’Toole raised the case of the second Canadian given the death penalty in China and demanded a new ambassador be appointed (Freeland: Canada is extremely concerned by the penalty and are seized with the matter). Scott Duval demanded new steel safeguards (Morneau: We are supporting workers and the industry, we are following the Trade Tribunal report and are working with the industry), and Tracey Ramsey railed about potential judges being vetted by a Liberal database (Lametti: We have a robust and independent appointment process). Alain Rayes and Pierre Poilievre returned to the demand that the government pull investments from the Asia Infrastructure Bank (Morneau: Green investments are a good thing; Champagne: We are investing in Canada, and we will have more modern, green, and resilient infrastructure). Rachel Blaney demanded to know when Veterans Affairs would have enough case workers (MacAulay: There are hundreds more now than under the previous government and we continue to say yes to veterans), and François Choquette demanded the government adopt their housing retrofit programme (I missed the answer to this one – sorry!).

Chrystia Freeland assures the House that she agrees with the PM on almost everything, before she calls out the heckling over the issue. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) April 30, 2019

Round three saw questions on Bill C-69 (Fraser: This ensure that projects can go forward in the right way), the Trans Mountain pipeline (Sohi: If you wanted to get it moving, you wouldn’t have voted to defund and kill the consultations process), refugee changes (Blair: I am meeting with Amnesty International later today, and nobody will be turned away if they are at risk), mapping flood zones (Goodale: This programme has been existence for the last four of five years, and we need to examine next steps with provinces), fundraising (Gould: We passed tougher rules), a law firm that got a contract (Lametti: This contract was within the deputy minister’s guidelines), carbon taxes (Fraser: I haven’t yet gotten a question from the Conservatives asking us to take more action on climate change), chinook salmon (Casey: We announced a number of different funds), steel and aluminium tariffs (Freeland: The illegal American tariffs needs to be lifted, and that message is being heard by Congress), judicial appointments (Lametti: We have a robust and transparent process), and hate crimes stats (Goodale: We have quadrupled the religious infrastructure fund and are doing more about white supremacist threats). 

The NDP demands help for “real people.”
So much for this government’s agenda to help the mannequin class. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) April 30, 2019

I’ve lost count of the number of things that should have been called “Sponsorship 2.0.”
Get some new material, guys. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) April 30, 2019

Overall, we got more tough-guy rhetoric for Andrew Scheer on the relationship with China, apparently not understanding the realities of foreign policy. Justin Trudeau was far more scripted than usual today, which was a bit unusual, but such is the way of things. I would also point out some more of the populist construction of questions coming from both the Conservatives and the NDP – the Conservatives using the lines about why the government was spending money to build infrastructure in China instead of Canada (not true on either count), and the NDP insisting that the government wasn’t helping “real people,” which is another false construction that is absurd when you think of it. Who do they think the government is helping? Androids? Cyborgs? The “Corporations! Evil!” framing falls apart quickly when they demand help for certain sectors and corporations, but since when does logic or consistency matter in politics? Sigh. Also, I wanted to give a particular shoutout to Jenny Kwan’s statement that the government’s changes to refugee protections as being “alt-right,” which is beyond the pale for mistruths in the Commons, and Bill Blair should have blasted her back for it, but he didn’t. Likewise, when Kelly Block repeated the fiction that carbon taxes would add $600 to an airline ticket, Sean Fraser should have called her out on that too, but he didn’t, and once again, lies are allowed to stand on the record. Way to go, everyone.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Linda Lapointe for a black dress with white dots and a white jacket, and to Navdeep Bains for a navy suit with a light blue shirt, a dark blue and fuchsia striped tie and a fuchsia turban. Style citations go out to Martin Shields for a medium grey jacket with a mint green shirt, black slacks and a mustard tie, and go Marie-Claude Bibeau for a light blue blouse and grey slacks with a dusty pink long jacket with florals.