The first Question Period of the 43rd Parliament just happened to be on a Friday, and for the first time in my memory, all of the leaders were present. The PM at Friday QP? Unheard of! And yet, here we are. Andrew Scheer led off in French, mini-lectern reliably on his desk, and he raised this morning’s job numbers and the 71,000 reported job losses, calling it a “crisis.” Justin Trudeau, without script, told him that their plan was about creating jobs and investing. Scheer tried again in English, and Trudeau made points particularly related to the jobs created by the construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline. Scheer insisted that other countries were increasing investments in natural resources, and Trudeau reminded him that blaming foreign activists didn’t get pipelines built. Scheer said that of all the divisions in the country that Trudeau allegedly created, he stated that provincial premiers were united in opposition to Bill C-69, and Trudeau reminded him that the previous Harper environmental regime didn’t work and singled out two projects that continue to face delays. Scheer then worried about a vote around Israel at the UN that he called “anti-Israel,” to which Trudeau took up a script to reiterate the country’s support for Israel. Yves-François Blanchet was up for his federal debut to worry that the government ignored the call by premiers to increase health transfers to the provinces. Trudeau responded that they had committed to some increases related to getting people family doctors and implementing pharmacare. Blanchet then demanded that provincial environmental assessments get priority over federal ones, to which Trudeau spoke about partnerships on the environment. Jagmeet Singh led off for the NDP, and concern trolled that the prime minister was not brave enough to stand up to pharmaceutical companies and implement pharmacare. Trudeau, without notes, said that they were committed to pharmacare but it was an area of provincial jurisdiction and needed negotiation. Switching between English and French in the same question, Singh demanded the government stop taking Indigenous children to court, and Trudeau assured him they were committed to compensation.
Round two, and Erin O’Toole worried about the two Canadians detained in China (Champagne: The prime minister raised this with Presidents Xi and Trump at the G20, and we have rallied our allies), Pierre Paul-Hus raised years-old comments Champagne about China (Champagne: I think you may have misunderstood my comments), Marty Morantz and Peter Kent raised the Israel vote at the UN (Champagne: We are committed to the goal of a two-state solution), Leona Alleslev concern trolled about the NATO hot tape (Freeland: I’d like to assure my honourable colleague that the PM is an excellent representative abroad, particularly with the United States). Stéphane Bergeron and Luc Thériault returned to the demand for higher health transfers (Hajdu: We have committed an additional $6 billion, and will work with provincial partners). Alain Rayes demanded a single tax return for Quebec (Lebouthillier: You would jeopardize thousands of jobs) and funding for the “Third Link” project (McKenna: We are spending billions on public transit in the Quebec City area and will monitor the proposal), Cathy McLeod demanded a plan for forestry workers (Freeland: This is an essential industry, and we have been working with the industry and provinces and are fighting tariffs in the courts), and Shannon Stubbs demanded chances to the old C-69 (Wilkinson: We fixed the broken system, and it’s an enormous step forward). Mumilaaq Qaqqaq and Niki Ashton demanded climate action (Wilkinson: It is a crisis, we are addressing it on an urgent basis, and we are moving to a net-zero economy in 2050).
This is your periodic reminder that if Quebec wants a single tax form, they can do as every other province does and use the federal one. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) December 6, 2019
Round three saw questions on the state of the economy (Morneau: Our first action will be reducing taxes on the Middle Class™), SNC-Lavalin (Rodriguez: We accepted the Ethics Commissioner’s report and implemented the recommendations of the McLellan Report), strengthening old age pensions (Schulte: We have committed to increasing the OAS with an increase at age 75), canola markets in China (Bibeau: We are supporting our farmers), the CFIA pulling the licences of three beef plants (Bibeau: We understand their loss of capacity and are working with the industry but food safety is important), Supply Management (Bibeau: The first compensation cheques have already gone out), lowering the costs of wireless (Bains: We campaigned on reducing bills by 25 percent, and gave the CRTC clear directives), US customs searching Canadian mail transiting through their country (Champagne: We are looking into the matter), military healthcare changes (Sajjan: Every member who needs healthcare gets it but we are discussing with the provinces how they change for it), student loans (Qualtrough: We are extending the grace period and enriching grants).
Overall, the first day out was fairly calm with minimal heckling, but that won’t last. The Liberals have largely reinstated their clapping ban, but again, we’ll see how long it lasts – particularly as things get heated for them. Trudeau was far less reliant on notes than he occasionally can be (his reply to Scheer’s Response to the Address to the Speech from the Throne that was going on before QP was being done extemporaneously, with only a few handwritten notes in front of him based on the points Scheer made), so let’s hope for more of that. Chrystia Freeland was also taking a good number of questions, which I expect we’ll see a lot more of as she won’t be travelling abroad nearly as much this parliament. The return of the Bloc as the third party will take some getting used to, given that they now have priority for more questions allocated than the NDP, but they were pretty narrowly focused, and if they spend the next two years demanding increased health transfers and provincial supremacy on environmental assessments, it could get old quickly. As for the new Speaker, Anthony Rota, he wasn’t very interventionist today, only suggesting that he couldn’t hear a response a couple of times today, but given that MPs were fairly well-behaved, that could change. It’s still very early days.
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Justin Trudeau for a nicely tailored medium grey suit with a light blue shirt and a dark blue tie, and to Jennifer O’Connell for a black suit with a pink collared shirt. Style citations go out to Cheryl Gallant for a red smock top with three quarter sleeves and black panels across the shoulders and sides – almost a half-assed Star Trek: The Next Generation cosplay, particularly with the gold brooch — with black tights, and to Gerald Soroka for a medium grey suit with a taupe shirt and a grey striped tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Iqra Khalid for a bright yellow jacket with a black top and slacks, and to Rachael Harder for a black jacket and slacks with a mustard yellow top.
Nobody but cons and their media pets thinks NATO-Gate is a scandal. I forget where I read it — Axios maybe? — WH insiders who quit out of frustration said Trump started the trade war because he’s jealous of Trudeau’s looks and his Obama-esque celebrity stature. So short of wearing a brown paper bag over his head or taking an acid bath to disfigure himself, there’s nothing he can do to avoid Trump’s ire. Everyone knows he’s a joke. The whole world in that moment was “Je suis Trudeau.”
Only the cons would presume the current POTUS is a rational actor anyway. They wanted Trudeau to roll over and play dead on NAFTA to begin with. If the tangerine toddler levies (or threatens to levy) tariffs or other punitive measures on NATO partners, it’ll be out of desperate extortion to see if he can get leverage on, or shut down, impeachment. And because he’s doing what Putin wants. Trudeau is simply a convenient scapegoat for his usual detractors. For all anyone knows or cares, they’d blame Trump’s tariff tantrums and the weakening of NATO on Trudeau’s choice of socks.
Nobody cares about SNC-Ghazi anymore either. It was always the Hillary’s Emails of Canadian politics. A bone for fake-populist Republicans and their various lapdogs (corporate/partisan media, horseshoe-model Berniecrats mimicking their NDP cousins) to gnaw on to paint a picture of a “crooked” politician with nefarious secrets to hide. I’m sure an inquiry would prove once and for all that Trudeau was doing spirit cooking and ritual child sacrifice at a pizza parlor with SNC executives. Let Jody speak! She’ll tell “her truth” about Vince Foster and Seth Rich and George Soros and John Podesta!
Why don’t they just grow up and talk about policies instead of pushing this “scandal scandal scandal” BS. Probably because they don’t have any policies that benefit everyday Canadians, and figure their only way of sneaking through to power is to tear down the PM and bleed Liberal votes to the other pseudo-progressive also-ran clubs who chase unicorns and demand revolution without any real grasp of governing realities. Concern trolls indeed.
How much does Daisy pay its trolls, I wonder? Must be a word rate.
I always wonder now if MPs wearing yellow and black are trolling you.
I watched Trudeau make mincemeat of poor little Scheer in the HOC today.