QP: A course on how the court system works

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While Justin Trudeau was in Paris to sign the Christchurch Call on ending on online extremism, Andrew Scheer was present, and he led off with a level-headed question about the video of the RCMP interrogating an Indigenous sexual assault victim, and Ralph Goodale asserted that the video demonstrated technique at that were abhorrent and wrong, and that police needed to ensure that survivors were not re-victimised in the process. Scheer then pivoted to Mark Norman case and the disclosure of documents to the court, to which Bill Blair started that the government fulfilled its obligations and all decisions relating to them were done by public servants and the court and not the government. Scheer tried again highlighting the use of code words to evade Access to Information requests — a practice that long predates this incident — and got the same answer. Pierre Paul-Hus tried again in French, and Blair repeated himself again in English. Paul-Hus accused the prime minister of trying to destroy Norman, but Blair’s answer did not change. Jagmeet Singh was up next for the NDP, and moaned about Loblaws before demanding more action around climate change. Catherine McKenna asserted that there was indeed a climate emergency and they had a plan, but then highlighted Singh’s constantly shifting position on things like the LNG project in BC. Singh flailed, trying to connect climate change with stable work and jobs, and McKenna zeroed in on the ten thousand jobs related to the LNG project. Singh then changed topics to the Phoenix fiasco, and Carla Qualtrough noted their “laser focus” on the matter and it was being fixed with IBM as a partner. Singh tried again in French, and got much the same response. 

Round two, and Lisa Raitt wanted a personal apology from Trudeau to Mark Norman (Virani: Independence, etc), and railing about the lack of production of documents (Virani: You’re a lawyer and you know how this works, and let me remind you), Gerard Deltell tried the demand for apology in French (Virani: We have respect for men and women in uniform, and there was no political interference), and Leona Alleslev delivered some of her trademarked hyperbolic nonsense alleging interference (Virani: Here’s how a court process works, and interference was impossible because it was the Attorney General of Ontario overseeing things, not federal). Charlie Angus repeated Singh’s question about Loblaws and environmental assessments but with added drama (McKenna: We are making the assessment process more robust), and the appointment of Ben Chin to PMO (Chagger: There was a time the NDP would have been concerned about jobs for Canadians but now they’re acting like Conservatives). Alain Rayes railed about the government’s relationship with Quebec (Champagne: Only Conservatives would be against these projects in Quebec, that we’re proud to invest in), and Pierre Poilievre worried about gas prices in BC (McKenna: The price of gas went up one cent from the carbon price, while you are misleading Canadians). Gord Johns and Ruth Ellen Brosseau demanded climate action (McKenna: Look at all the action we’re taking; O’Regan: Those subsidies you want to eliminate ensure that at least 24 First Nations have light and heat).

Round three saw questions on a former environmentalist being appointed to PMO (Sohi: Here’s what we are doing to get pipelines built; Chagger: We’ve always respected our institutions; Here’s what we’ve done for Canadians), the Phoenix pay system (Qualtrough: We are focused on fixing it), sugary alcohol drinks (Damoff: I take exception to your saying that we are influenced by the industry), the Paris Accord targets (McKenna: We have a plan, do you?; We did the hard work to get a climate plan and your party keeps denying that climate change is a serious problem), Tori Stafford’s killer demanding compensation for being moved back to an institution (Goodale: We reviewed our transfer policies and will strongly defend them), money laundering in BC real estate (Blair: We introduced significant new measures and investments in Budget 2019), the defence committee meeting on Mark Norman (Chagger: Committees are independent of government), infrastructure in Quebec (Champagne: We approved their requests and work in partnership with their government).

Overall, it was a somewhat punchier day today, but no less full of nonsense bound for social media clips than any other day, and I’m going to single Lisa Raitt out for the most egregious shitpost video setup today. On the other side, it was actually a little exciting to see Arif Virani giving us a lesson on how court orders and the production of documents works rather than just the usual bland assurances about independence of the RCMP and Public Prosecution Service as we so often get. Meanwhile, Jagmeet Singh’s questions are now full-on flailing and demands that the government adopt their plans, never mind that those plans are vague and simply handwave over implementation (which, frankly, the PM and ministers responding to him should actually point out). If this is where we’re at with the state of debate in advance of the election, I have a very sinking feeling about how the actual election debates are going to play out. Hermes help us.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Raj Grewal for a tailored black three-piece suit with a white shirt and pocket square with a navy tie and turban, and to Celina Caesar-Chavannes for a well-cut sleeveless grey dress. Style citations go out to Kirsty Duncan for a black top and slacks with a dusky rose jacket with florals, and to Kevin Waugh for a reddish jacket with blue windowpane pattern, a white shirt, grey slacks, and a blue and grey plaid tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Sonia Sidhu for a black top and slacks with a bright yellow jacket.