With some progress being made on the protest blockades over the morning, it remained to see how much that would change the tone of the questions, but if the Member’s Statements were any indication, it wouldn’t do much. Justin Trudeau was in town, but absent from the Chamber. Andrew Scheer led off, mini-lectern on desk, and he seemed confused that Trudeau’s message would change daily — because apparently it’s not a fluid situation — and demanded to know when the blockades would come down. Bill Blair noted that the RCMP had made the decision to withdraw from the Wet’suwet’en site, they hoped for progress. Scheer read some stilted points about the “radical, anti-free market” activists (which is somewhat ironic considering that the Conservative have abandoned free-market solutions around things like climate change) before repeating his demand, and Blair repeated the response. Scheer intimated that Blair ordered the RCMP out and demanded to know that the pipeline would be guaranteed to be built, to which Blair corrected him that they issued no order because police operations are independent of government. Alain Rayes was up next to repeat the demand for a timeline in French, to which Marc Garneau stated that they we working with the provinces, and that Trudeau was speaking to them later today. Rayes repeated his demand for a timeline, and Garneau reiterated his response, stressing the need for a peaceful resolution. Yves-François Blanchet was up next for the Bloc, and he worried that patience was being confused for inaction, and took a swipe at Trudeau not having his conversation with premiers before QP, for which Marc Miller stated that he was hoping for a meeting with the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs while they were in Ontario. Blanchet worried about the situation, and Miller said that they have a clear path forward but wouldn’t make it public just yet. Jagmeet Singh was up for the NDP, and demanded that Trudeau himself meet with those chiefs, to which Miller praised the positive development of the RCMP commitment to withdraw, and stated that there were clear steps to de-escalation. Singh repeated the demand, and Miller said that everyone pretends to know what is being demanded, but he’s the one who has been talking with them.

Scheer says that Trudeau doesn’t know why he’s doing because the message changes every day.
Because apparently situations are not fluid. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) February 20, 2020

Round two, and Leona Alleslev worried that the blockades were being backed by American money (Blair: The blockades are under provincial police jurisdiction, whereas our job is to deal with the underlying issues that gave rise to these actions), John Brassard demanded the government stand with the Wet’suwet’en members who were in favour of the project (Blair: We are working to resolve this as peacefully as possible), Pierre Paul-Hus demanded the RCMP be directed (Blair: We cannot direct them in operational decisions), and Pierre Poilievre railed about the blockades and worried it would be worse going forward with Trans Mountain (Blair: We are supporting law enforcement agencies in their jurisdictions; Remember Ipperwash and Caledonia). Andréanne Larouche, Stéphane Bergeron, and Yves Perron demanded a resolution for the blockades for the sake of the Quebec economy (Garneau: We know that we have to find a solution as quickly as possible, but peacefully). Blake Richards and Jacques Gourde worried about the impact of the blockades on VIA Rail (Garneau: I am reliant on VIA, and we are all feeling the impact). Leah Gazan repeated a rumour that the government was delaying tabling the UNDRIP bill because of the current blockade situation (Lametti: We remain committed to passing it by the end of the year), and Charlie Angus demanded that Trudeau go to Wet’suwet’en territory (Miller: Most of their hereditary chiefs are on their way to Ontario).

Leona Alleslev says that the “radical protesters” at the blockades are being backed by American money.
The conspiracy theories are being repeated in the House of Commons. Cripes. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) February 20, 2020

Round three saw questions on the blockades, each one attempting to be more clever than the last (Garneau: We are working very hard to resolve this peacefully, through dialogue; Blair: We are committed to resolving this peacefully; these police are under provincial jurisdiction; Police independence underpins the rule of law; When I was chief of police in Toronto, I did not submit to political direction); a commitment by the government to make future trade negotiations more transparent (Freeland: We thank you for you suggestions and we thank you for your assistance in helping the New NAFTA move forward), and whether the government was aware that fracked gas has the same climate footprint as coal (Schiefke: We welcome any discussions on how to use technology to reduce our GHG emissions).

There is a debate on the meaning of the rule of law. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) February 20, 2020

Overall, it was not a terribly rowdy day, with a few exceptions, but much as yesterday, there was quite a sense of repetition to the answers, both from Garneau and Blair, who took on the bulk of the replies today. I will say that Blair going out and talking about his time as Toronto police chief when the questions about political direction of the RCMP came up was a good thing, and that he insisted on police independence as an essential feature of the rule of law was also needed. Meanwhile, the repetition of conspiracy theories about the protesters was not unexpected but disappointing that these kinds of things are being repeated in the House of Commons, because it’s not only bullshit, but it just erodes at the discourse — not to mention feeding this particular cognitive dissonance among segments of the population who turn to these kinds of theories rather than understanding that things are complex and there are no simple answers. That Scheer encourages them is galling in a parliamentary leader, and corrosive to democracy, and one would hope that he would grasp that concept but that might be too much to ask for.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Raquel Dancho for a dark grey suit with a v-necked white blouse, and to Darrell Samson for a dark blue suit and bow tie with a white shirt with a light blue pattern that ordinarily may not work but in this case it did. Style citations go out to Blake Richards for a taupe suit with a light blue shirt and a dark blue tie, and to Bernadette Jordan for a mustard yellow jacket with black piping with a white turtleneck.