Tuesday, and all of the leaders were back once again. Andrew Scheer was up first, and he claimed there were “sky high” deficits and taxes and no infrastructure spending to show for it — assertions that were all false. The deficits are actually tiny in comparison to the size of the federal budget, and the tax burden on Canadians is hovering near its lowest point in the post-war period, not to mention the fact that many of the promised infrastructure projects were held up by provinces trying to play politics in advance of the election, and that the hoped-for productivity gains were blunted when provinces didn’t keep up their planned infrastructure spending, and instead rolled it back as the federal government spent more. Justin Trudeau stood up and used a script to list projects that they were approving. Scheer then raised their Supply Day motion about calling in the Auditor General about the infrastructure programme. Trudeau reminded him that the Conservative record was spending on billboards, door knobs and gazebos, while their government was getting things done. Scheer asked again in French, got much the same answer, and Scheer raised the coronavirus and wanted support for Taiwan to get observer status at the WHO. Trudeau avoided the direct question and gave assurances about the coronavirus and collaboration with China. Scheer tried again, and Trudeau reminded them that they shouldn’t play politics with public health crises. Yves-François Blanchet was up for the Bloc, and he once again raised the possibility of aluminium impacting the Quebec market under the New NAFTA, to which Trudeau reminded him there were guarantees in the new agreement that do not exist currently. Blanchet tried again, and Trudeau quoted the aluminium producer association as saying it was a good deal. Jagmeet Singh was up next for the NDP, and he railed about the Volkswagen settlement agreement, calling it a “sweetheart deal.” Trudeau, without script, stated that they are paying a penalty and it was great for the fight against climate change. Singh then railed about a supposed tripling of outsourcing of public service functions, and Trudeau spoke to the balance around procurement. 

Round two, and Shannon Stubbs demanded the approval of the Teck Frontier Mine (Wilkinson: We have an assessment process that is ongoing, and we will make our decision by the end of February), Tamara Jansen asked about a constituent whose granddaughter is under lockdown in Wuhan in China (Champagne: We will have a press conference shortly on consular matters), Matt Jeneroux was concerned about the current screening by CBSA regarding coronavirus (Hajdu: The patient actually did everything appropriately), Alain Rayes asked about the passengers on the same flight (Hajdu: The province has already started contact tracing based on the passenger manifest), and about repatriating Canadians in China (Champagne: 250 Canadians are registered in the region, and we are working with allies to consider options). Blanchet was back up to demand a hearing on their aluminium proposal (Freeland: I’ll listen to your proposal) and Marilène Gill railed about the price paid by the regions of Quebec for the trade deal (Freeland: The new deal has a lot of benefits for Quebec). Pierre Paul-Hus worried about the appointment process for the Parole Board (Blair: We have a merit-based process and all new appointees get intensive training and don’t hear cases until they have completed it), and a particular parole case (Blair: The Parole Board makes independent decisions, and we’ve asked them to conduct an investigation and review), and Eric Melillo and Glen Motz asked about the proposed gun control legislation (Blair: We will eliminate the presence of weapons designed to kill people from our society, and strengthen the border). Leah Gazan demanded an end to child poverty, citing all areas of provincial jurisdiction (Hussen: Here are a bunch of measures we have taken so far), and Peter Julian cited the PBO report on the income tax cut-off changes and wanted to use part of that to set up dental care (Morneau: This cut will help 20 million Canadians and is means-tested to that it cuts off for the wealthiest).

Stubbs claims the oil sands are “world leaders” in emissions reductions. That is completely false. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) January 28, 2020

Round three saw questions on the costs of the Mark Norman trial (Sajjan: Our defence plan is fully funded and the settlement with Norman remains confidential), softwood lumber in BC (Joly: The growth across the country has not been equally distributed and we are working at Western Economic Diversification has their backs), “loyalty training” for the public service (Duclos: We expect the highest standards for our public service), funding cuts for a First Nations school (Miller: This is about First Nations control for First Nations schools, and we are negotiating funding based on the new arrangement), banning strikebreakers (Tassi: Contract-flipping is a complex topic and we are trying to find a solution that meets the needs of employers and employees), the Canada Summer Jobs programme (Qualtrough: The new process will be released soon), demanding the economic analysis of the New NAFTA (Freeland: The Chief Economist of Global Affairs is finalising his analysis based on the December changes, and it will be made public soon), aluminium (Freeland: We will listen to your suggestions), backlogs at Veterans Affairs (MacAulay: Your government fired a thousand workers, we are rehiring and revamping our processes), the Lake Simcoe clean-up fund (Wilkinson: We are putting into place a Canadian Water Agency to help prioritise local projects), Charlie Angus demanded the government compensate First Nations children (Miller: We have named senior officials who are conducting talks on a confidential basis so that trust can be built), and on mandatory minimum sentences (Lametti: We are continuing work on sentencing reform).

Wilson-Raybould asking about eliminating mandatory minimum penalties — something she didn’t do when she was justice minister. Lametti says they continue to work on sentencing reform. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) January 28, 2020

Overall, it remained a fairly quiet day, relatively speaking, and once again, Andrew Scheer peppered his questions with complete fabrications, though he wasn’t the only one (though if I were to give Shannon Stubbs the benefit of the doubt, she is largely parroting the propaganda of the Alberta government and its war room, whose statistics have proven to be largely fictional). Justin Trudeau was a little punchier today than he was yesterday, which was a welcome change from yesterday’s blandness, and Chrystia Freeland was quick to say that she would give her opposition counterparts a hearing on their various aluminium proposals — of course, she can just give them a hearing and then carry on with the agreement as is (considering they seem to be operating under some assumptions that may not necessarily reflect reality).

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Mélanie Joly for a dark blue suit with a white crew-necked top, and to Glen Motz for an eggplant-coloured suit with a white shirt and a grey, blue and violet patterned tie. Style citations go out to Ramesh Sangha for a black suit with an orange shirt and burnt sienna tie, and to Annie Koutrakis for a leopard print jacket with a black turtleneck.