While Justin Trudeau was indeed in the building, he was not to show up for Question Period for whatever the reason, so that left Andrew Scheer to lead off by reading that Trudeau, a former teacher, has taught “radical activists” the valuable lesson that they can bring the economy to its knees and that he would do nothing, before he called Trudeau “weak.” Bill Blair said that a commitment to dialogue and reconciliation was not a sign of weakness, and that they trusted the police to do their jobs. Scheer then railed that the government waited too long to decide on Teck Frontier, to which Jonathan Wilkinson reminded him that it was Teck’s decision, and that the CEO demonstrated the need for governments to work together to come up with climate action. Scheer claimed that the current government’s process killed Frontier, to which Wilkinson reminded him it was under the 2012 rules put in when Jason Kenney was in a Cabinet, and that process pushed all of the problems to the back of the process, whereas their new process turns that around. Gérard Deltell railed that the decision dragging out for nine months hurt the fourteen First Nations in the area, to which Wilkinson read quotes from Teck’s CEO. Deltell accused the government of working against those First Nations — as though the price of oil were not too low for the project to be viable — and Wilkinson quoted the letter’s section on global capital markets looking for clean projects. Yves-François Blanchet was up for the Bloc, and he was concerned about a series of crises in the country that the government was not doing anything about, and demanded that Trudeau meet with the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs. Marc Miller stated that they were talking and building trust. Blanchet demanded that they head to BC to resolve the issue, to which Blair reminded him that it was a serious situation which is why they urged people to lift the barricades, and that they trusted law enforcement when those people didn’t. Jagmeet Singh was up for the NDP, and he bemoaned that people need free dental services, for which Patty Hajdu said that the Health committee would be studying the matter and she looked forward to their report. Singh then plugged their Supply Day motion to change the tax changes to divert money toward dental care, to which Hajdu repeated that she would wait for the committee report.
Round two, and Candice Bergen quoted from the Alberta Court of Appeal decision to demand the carbon price be cancelled (Wilkinson: The Courts of Appeal in Ontario and Saskatchewan said it was fine and we look forward to the Supreme Court of Canada weighing in; Freeland: A strong Alberta is essential for a strong Canada, and let me quote the Calgary Chamber of Commerce calling for strong action on climate change), Pierre Paul-Hus decried the rail blockades (Garneau: We are aware of the impact and the prime minister has been working since the beginning, but these are issues of provincial jurisdiction), and Mark Strahl demanded Trudeau stand up to the anti-energy activists in his caucus (Lefebvre: Here are projects we have supported; Wilkinson: Teck made their own decision, and the company did good work engaging with Indigenous communities, which could be a model for the future). Sylvie Bérubé wondered why Bennett and Miller weren’t in BC (Bennett: We are hoping to resolve this crisis and I have been in regular contact with the Hereditary Chiefs and are awaiting on them for a meeting; Garneau: We have been working around the clock to resolve the situation, and are working on a short-term and a long-term solution). David Yurdiga, Tim Uppal, Greg McLean and Shannon Stubbs railed about Teck’s withdrawal (Wilkinson: We are working on a clean energy solution that will hopefully incentivise the sector; Lefebvre: We did the hard work on projects like TMX; Freeland: We all believe in national unity, and I would urge you not to make it a partisan game). Rachel Blaney demanded that Trudeau name an independent mediator to resolve the situation (Blair: There is important work going on in BC between Nathan Cullen, the RCMP, and the Wet’suwet’en), and Matthew Green demanded federal funds for the Hamilton LRT (McKenna: We have have not yet received a formal request from Ontario).
Round three saw questions on pandemic preparation around COVID-19 (Hajdu: We have shifted our focus to domestic preparedness), the Alberta Court of Appeal ruling on carbon pricing (Wilkinson: There are two other decisions saying it is federal jurisdiction, and it’s funny that your party processes to care about market mechanisms but you prefer regulation; Bibeau: We have put in place a risk management system for farmers and we are working to improve them), rail blockades (Blair: There are injunctions in place and the prime minister has been clear in calling for people to take them down, but we trust our law enforcement), rural broadband and CRA filing (Lebouthillier: 1.7 million Canadians still file by paper, and we still send packages out, and they can call a dedicated line if they haven’t received it), Supply Management concerns (Freeland: We protected the system from the Americans), a death in a house fire on a First Nation (Miller: We have been in contact with the community to ensure support, and we are striving to close the socio-economic gap), improving the Port of Vancouver and banning US thermal coal exports (Garneau: We have an interim policy and are developing a long-term solution).
Overall, it was less rowdy than it was on Monday, as fewer MPs felt the need to act out for the cameras (and their social media clips) with Trudeau not being there. That being said, the questions were largely the same as they have been for the past few days, and the complete disingenuous framing of the issues – be it rail blockades or the withdrawal of the Teck Frontier proposal – which earned a few corrections from the ministerial front bench. Very little of the day was illuminating on either side, and more’s the pity for that.
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Joyce Murray for a light blue jacket over a black dress, and go Matt Jeneroux for a dark blue suit with a crisp white shirt and a purple tie. Style citations go out to David Lametti for a brown suit with a pale cranberry shirt and a red and black striped tie, and to Soraya Martinez Ferrada for a black long-sleeved top with bright florals, many of them fluorescent pink, under a black vest. Dishonourable mention goes out to Sonia Sidhu for a bright yellow jacket with a black top and slacks.
Aaron Wherry and Andrew Coyne have some good reads on Canada being just the latest of Western democracies where the political center is on life support, as tensions get inflamed by intransigent absolutists unwilling to compromise on incredibly complex debates.
Your point about the Liberals’ struggles with communication are well taken Dale, but I don’t see there being any way for reason and facts to get above the cacophonous din of increasing populism, sound bites, social-media BS theater, and the corporate news and hardcore partisans’ own Trudeau derangement syndrome.
More’s the pity indeed, because I think Justin Trudeau, like Barack Obama, made promises that he honestly believed in his heart he would be able to keep. Then the system chewed both of them up as it always does. It makes me well up to think he might have reached his limit of patience with all of it, and that his heart is probably broken over seeing his vision for “common ground” go up in flames. I know mine is.
Because it’s not that Canada is broken or that he hasn’t tried to make the best of an impossible situation. It’s that self-interested people won’t put country over party and cooperate or come to the table. There’s only so much one man can do about that and yet he’s the one who takes all the blame. When Parliament breaks for the summer, the Cons will have chosen a new stooge to present their empty, climate-agnostic platform, as temperatures rise both in the air and in the “tempers” of the electorate. I sometimes wonder if a fed-up Trudeau won’t be the next to follow Scheer and May out the door.
Let’s hope not! That would be really sad. However, like you, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Hey! J.B, your last sentence was the most insightful of you whole rant. I predict that Trudeau will not lead the Liberals into the next election. The mantra in Canada today when confronted with any challenge is, “It’s Trudeau’s fault.” One hears it in the coffeeshops, bars, malls, any place people congregate, It is so pervasive that entire political parties use it instead of creating policies to attack problems. There is more political horsepower derived from this than anything else. If Justin removed himself, what in the Canadian world would these vapid paties, particularly the cons, do?
Andy’s disgusting outburst in QP “he is a teacher, we know that, we’ve all seen the photos” was patently disgusting. MacKay is no better and neither is Kenney. For that matter Singh has revealed himself to be the flip side of the coin, the angry left populist as is Bernie Sanders. If Trudeau does pull back, which again, I would be sad to see but wouldn’t fault him for in the least, I don’t think Freeland would replace him despite the “heiress apparent” hype, because the misogyny in this country is shockingly awful and I don’t think Justin wants to put her through the Hillary ringer. Rather, I think Bill Blair might be a better choice: a cop banging his fist on the table and throwing all the lunatics in the asylum where they belong.
As I cannot vote here, my concern is wanting Canada to stay out of the grips of burgeoning fascism that we have in the States, and I think unfortunately that Trudeau has become the kind of polarizing lightning rod whose mere existence poses a risk of that happening. Also, on a personal note, I think he is a nice person and I want to see him live a happy life, with a clear conscience (and a perfect win record!) knowing that he’s done “as good as possible under the circumstances.” I think he will be sad and reflect upon what “could have been” had he been able to stay as long as his father. If only people hadn’t been so blinded by personal animus that they chose instead to work with him for the betterment of Canadians, rather than gin up anger against him to score points for their team. But like you said Wayne, then they’d actually have to come up with policy, and that’s hard work.
Then again, having grown up the son of a prime minister and seen the toll the job took on his own family, he might not have wanted to stay as long to begin with. I did enjoy his book and recall him saying that he was very reluctant to get involved with the family business. And I don’t doubt he reflected upon that bulletproof-vest incident while on holiday this past Christmas. He’s still young and has his whole life ahead of him, and I think he will do something positive outside politics someday where his contributions would be appreciated. I look at him engaging with Masai, with Malala, with Bianca, with Harry and Meghan, with Obama himself. With the kids from the infirmary who he takes on a field trip to see Star Wars every year. That’s where he shines and thrives, not fending off accusatory nonsense from losers like Jag and Andy, Evan and Bob, Pete and the Tool. He’s very plugged in and most importantly, he CARES. I think he has the potential and the interest to become this generation’s Jimmy Carter.