QP: Blockades and Teck

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With protests going on outside of Parliament Hill, and a whole lot of performative bluster going on over the cancellation of the Teck Frontier mine inside the House of Commons, all of the leaders were present for the theatrics that were to come. Andrew Scheer led off, mini-lectern on desk, and in French, he read some condemnation about Trudeau’s alleged weakness and demanded to know how a future blockade would be handled. Scheer turned to English and started immediately getting breathy as he railed that there was a playbook for future radical activists, to which Trudeau reminded him that by cherry-picking only the Wet’suwet’en who agreed with him, Scheer demonstrated that he didn’t understand reconciliation. Scheer then pivoted to the Teck cancellation, and tried to make a connection to Trudeau allegedly breaking the law over SNC-Lavalin’s activities but his point got a bit lost after that. Trudeau reminded him that the message from Teck’s CEO was that you can’t have projects if you don’t have a credible plan on climate change. Scheer got increasingly breathy as he read condemnation, to which Trudeau stated that the opposition has refused to understand that the world is changing, and that global investors have indicated that they need to see strong action on climate change. Scheer then listed a number of falsehoods about Teck Frontier meeting requirements, for which Trudeau quoted Teck’s CEO’s support for climate pricing and regulations, and accused the Conservatives’ polarization for putting the economy at risk. Yves-François Blanchet was up for the Bloc, and wondered why there wasn’t action on getting the barricades removed. Trudeau stated that even though the RCMP withdrew from the affected area and the barricades didn’t come down, they had to escalate the situation. Blanchet worried things would get worse, and Trudeau reiterated his previous points. Jagmeet Singh was up next in French, putting the blame personally on Trudeau for not bringing down the barricades peacefully, to which Trudeau stated that they came to the table in good faith but other parties involved did not. Singh repeated the question in English, and Trudeau reiterated that when there was no reciprocal openness to dialogue from the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, they changed their posture.

Round two, and Shannon Stubbs railed about job losses in as a threat to national unity (Lefebvre: We supported projects like Keystone XL, which will soon resume construction in the US; We did the hard work on TMX and work is underway), Gérard Deltell accused the government of not approving Teck’s proposal fast enough (Wilkinson: This was Teck’s decision; Lefebvre: Look at these projects we approved that are underway), and Leona Alleslev put words in Teck’s CEO’s mouth (Wilkinson: This was Teck’s decision, and their letter spoke about the need for different levels of government to work together). Blanchet was back up, and worried that Trudeau didn’t make any decisions around the blockades, the RCMP presence in Wet’suwet’en territory, and Teck Frontier (Blair: We don’t direct police operations), and Sylvie Bérubé worried that the barricades in Quebec were still up (Bennett: We have been in contact with the hereditary leaders). Jeremy Patzer accused the government of making it impossible to get new resource projects approved (Wilkinson: This was Teck’s decision, and global capital markets want to invest in jurisdictions that are addressing climate change), Rachael Harder and Stephanie Kusie demanded Trudeau to heal national unity (Wilkinson: Same answer). Don Davies and Jenny Kwan demanded support for their pharmacare bill — which is doubtfully going to be even deemed voteable (Hajdu: We have been working with provinces to establish a system).

Round three saw questions on the blockades (Blair: We don’t direct the police; VIA Rail is bringing back some of its routes), whether there was openness to an Indigenous policing solution (Miller: We are looking forward to meeting with Indigenous leaders in B.C., but we are waiting for them to come to the table), concern trolling about reconciliation (Bennett: Indigenous nations have to determine these decisions themselves, and we are working on their self-governance), Teck Frontier (Wilkinson: Read the Teck CEO’s letter), the blockades affecting farmers (Bibeau: I was in Washington to talk about the importance of rules-based international trade, and I can do two things at the same time), prompting clean growth (Wilkinson: We have put a framework into place), and reconciliation (Lametti: We will implement UNDRIP legislation before the end of the year).

Overall, there weren’t quite as many meltdowns as I had initially suspected there might be – and certainly no teary accusations – but the Speaker was warning about possible unconstitutional language more frequently than usual today, including warning a certain notorious heckler about a certain unparliamentary word in his shouting, but whereas Rota could have ejected him for it, he chose not to. It was not a surprise that the Conservatives repeated the same kinds of falsehoods about about Teck Frontier’s supposed record, or its promised benefits (which would only be true if oil prices were nearly double what they are currently), but possibly more galling was the fact that they outright lied about what the CEO said in his letter, which Trudeau, Wilkinson and others had to repeatedly point out. And it should be said that Trudeau was a bit more forceful and direct today, and didn’t simply read stilted talking points in response to these questions, which is a good thing, as it would have set quite a tone if he had. Meanwhile, I would also point out that the NDP were no saints with the truth either, particularly given their characterization of progress on pharmacare, their bill (which won’t be deemed voteable), and the relationship between the government and the pharmaceutical industry, which is by no means cozy as they keep intimating.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Mélanie Joly for a moss green jacket with a cream top and black slacks, and to Peter Fragiskatos for a tailored dark grey suit with a crisp white shirt and pocket square, and a purple tie. Style citations go out to Kevin Lamoureux for a black jacket with pleated taupe slacks, a white shirt and red tie, and to Lenore Zann for a brown, green and orange mottled top with a shearling vest. Dishonourable mention goes out to Anju Dhillon for a bright yellow jacket with a black top, and to Jag Sahota for a yellow skirt with a black top.

4 thoughts on “QP: Blockades and Teck”

  1. Thanks! I love reading these! Don’t tell anyone, eh!

    I saw someone in a glow-in-the-dark yellow jacket some day lately and my first thought was, “I wonder what @journo_dale is going to think of this!

  2. None of these useless performative-outrage trolls are being saints when it comes to the truth. Singh is being especially pathetic and disingenuous in that most of this falls on Horgan’s shoulders, but he chooses instead to slag at Trudeau like all the rest. Trudeau can neither demand the police move in nor pull them out, whether the RCMP, OPP or SQ. This entire mess is a cluster-fuddle-duddle of the premiers and the development company. Now it’s escalated and what sympathy the protesters had, they’ve lost, except among diehard ideologues pushing for a “revolution” that is guaranteed not to end well.

    How convenient that Oka 2.0 should erupt while he is pushing for the U.N. seat that Harper lost. I see no mention of corrupt Kenney investing Albertans’ pensions in CGL either. If CGL won’t suspend their construction permits like Teck did, there is nothing Trudeau can do. Plus what about the members of the community who want the project for jobs? What about the matriarchs who got forced out? Is it just me or does this group seem more and more like a cult? I’m seeing a growing number of people concerned about a Waco standoff at the camp. No, no, no. This needs to stop. This matter is an internal dispute among the tribe that has gotten out of hand, been hijacked and presented with torqued coverage, and torn the country apart. It never should have gotten to this point, and shame on everyone passing the buck. It’s always the PM’s fault.

    Justin Trudeau’s role is limited here, yet he takes all the blame, including from the protesters who were miffed that he stated the obvious: the blockades need to come down. But why is he the fall guy? Because Trudeau derangement syndrome has erupted into a pandemic like the corona virus? Call me a conspiracy theorist, but it seems pretty obvious that there’s some kind of coordinated effort to shove him out!

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