Thursday, and Justin Trudeau was off meeting with Jason Kenney, while Andrew Scheer was the only leader present. He led off, railing about further trade actions from China, and Marie-Claude Bibeau assured him that the pork issue was a simple administrative issue that was being resolved. Scheer dismissed the response and carried on with his narrative of Trudeau’s supposed weakness on the world stage and demanded action, to which Bibeau switched to English to repeat that the pork issue was administrative before lobbing a talking point that the Conservatives refused to let their promises be costed. Scheer then railed about the energy sector and claimed the Liberals were trying to kill it, to which Amarjeet Sohi debunked the response by listing the approved pipelines that were completed or nearly so, and that they would ensure projects proceed in the right way. Luc Berthold was up next to repeat the pork issue with China in French, and he got the same response about it being an administrative issue. Berthold railed that China doesn’t respect Canada because we don’t stand up to them (Err, have they spoken to a single China expert?), and Bibeau listed actions they are taking. Peter Julian was up next for the NDP, and he railed about corporations before switching to judicial appointments, to which David Lametti reminded him that they instituted an open and transparent process that is merit-based and has resulted in a more diverse bench. Julian railed about inadequate funding for women’s shelters while Loblaws got funds, to which Maryam Monsef said that they have invested in shelters, in gender based violence prevention, in carve-outs for women as part of the housing strategy, and that the NDP voted against all of it. Karine Trudel repeated the question in French, and Jean-Yves Duclos responded in French about the investments in housing for women. Trudel repeated the torqued question about judicial appointments in French, and Lametti repeated his previous response in French.

Round two, and Lisa Raitt, and Alain Rayes returned to the accusations that the PMO somehow leaned on the Commissioner of Elections to give SNC-Lavalin a compliance agreement over their past illegal donations (Chagger: These donations were before 2009, and Elections Canada investigated and are independent), and Rayes and Peter Kent demanded that the prime minister re-open investigation into his vacation with the Aga Khan (Chagger: This matter was throughly study and the prime minister accepted responsibility, and because you bring up Access to Information requests, those are handled separately from political staff but your party was found guilty in interference and yet you hired the same perpetrator). Pierre Nantel demanded urgent action on climate change (Schiefke: We have a plan and the Conservatives don’t, and we put in place a youth policy), and Niki Ashton asked dialysis units ripped out of a remote health unit (O’Regan: We are working on closing the gap on quality healthcare, and have 52 new community health centres). Mark Strahl accused the government of giving Loblaws the contract because of lobbyists at fundraisers (McKenna: There is no truth to this, and the contract was out of a rigorous, merit-based process), and other fundraising allegations (Gould: We put in new rules and have been following them), and Jacques Gourde repeated the accusations around a law firm getting a sole-source contract (Lametti: These kinds of contracts are within rules of the department). Georgina Joilibois demanded pharmacare (Jones: We are all concerned about healthcare costs, whether you live in the north or south, which is why we launched the Northern Strategic Plan), and Don Davies raised concerns about practice guidelines about breast cancer screening (Damoff: These are not government guidelines).

Round three saw questions on Bill C-69 (McKenna: No, we won’t kill it; Sohi: We have moved forward on a process to consult with Indigenous communities, but if they were serious about it, they would not have voted to defund and kill those consultations), removing funding from the Asian Infrastructure Bank (Lightbound: All you want is to turn your backs on multilateral organisations), a person with a disability not being allowed on a flight with the batteries in his scooter (Qualtrough: Your question is based in error, and the CTA has accessible regulations that need to be followed), corporate lobbyists (Lightbound: something about jobs), needing a new ambassador to China (Goldsmith-Jones: Two people’s lives are in the balance and we are taking all efforts; Carr: Let me remind you what the premier of Saskatchewan said about or actions on the canola file), the pork exports to China (Bibeau: This was an administrative issue that happens frequently), immigration (DeCourcey: We think it’s a force for good in this country), flooding (Goodale: Compensation measures are first designed by the provinces, who then submit cost-sharing claims under an established formula).

Overall, we didn’t see as many instances of the petty “Liberal leader” versus prime minister uses as we did yesterday, but what I have noticed was an increase in the number of questions premised on bullshit conspiracy theories — such as the insinuations that PMO engineered for the independent Commissioner of Elections to give SNC-Lavalin a compliance agreement over their illegal party donations — and then trying to force the government go deny it when it’s absurd on its face. Add to that, they are trying to give traction to demands that the RCMP undertake investigations based on nonsense interpretations of the Criminal Code, again to try and get clips of the government issuing denials. It’s just so, so stupid. Meanwhile, I will give Catherine McKenna props for actually saying that one of the questions lobbed at her as being false, and likewise to Carla Qualtrough for calling out the premise of one of the questions asked of her. Ensuring that we have proper context for questions and responses is necessary for parliament to function properly.

The Commissioner of Elections shouldn’t have to issue statements like this, but the Conservatives have been pushing conspiracy theories all week, and did so in #QP again today. #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/AnKny7X55T

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) May 2, 2019

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Terry Beech for a navy suit with a pink shirt and a burgundy tie and pocket square, and to Shannon Stubbs for a black dress with a horizontal keyhole cutaway with a black jacket. Style citations go out to Diane Finley for her boxy white jacket with pastel blocks and floral prints, and to Serge Cormier for a black suit with a light blue shirt and a purple and orange tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Deborah Schulte for a black top and slacks with a yellow jacket.