The ranks were thin, as was to be expected as it was both the middle of July and the middle of a global pandemic. The prime minister was mysteriously absent, the only major leader not present for the day. Andrew Scheer led off by concern trolling that the PM listed that today was a personal day on his website, which should have been against the rules being as you’re not allowed to mention if a member is present or not, and additionally you can’t do through the back door what you can’t through the front, which Scheer did here. Chrystia Freeland responded that she was happy to take their questions. Scheer then moved onto the WE Imbroligo and how WE was chosen as the partner, to which Freeland recited the non-partisan public service gave the advice to go with WE, and they followed it. Scheer demanded that the PM show up at committee to answer questions, to which Freeland repeated her same points. Scheer listed more problems with WE, and Freeland repeated the same points again. Scheer then attempted to shame the Liberals on the Ethics committee for filibustering the questions, and tried to accuse the Liberals or corruption or incompetence, and Freeland responded that was neither, before she recited the prepared lines one last time. Yves-François Blanchet was up next for the Bloc, and he raised the concerns of someone who met with the prime minister recently and demanded fifty weeks for some unspecified programme, to which Freeland assured him that they were helping Canadians. Blanchet made reference to people with serious illnesses on EI, and Freeland again returned with bland assurances. Jagmeet Singh was up next for the NDP, and insinuated that the student grant programme was about helping Liberal friends and not students. Freeland explained that youth were particularly threatened by current circumstances which was why they tried to help. Singh switched to English to rail about a “billion-dollar bail-out,” to which Freeland reiterated her assurances.

Singh calls the student grant a “billion dollar bail-out.” It’s an alliterative line, but WE was going to only get about $20 million. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) July 20, 2020

Round two, and Michael Barrett railed that the Liberals on the Ethics Committee filibustered (Rodriguez: Committees are independent and operate in their own, and the government will never direct their work; Chagger: I and my officials did appear and testify at committee and our focus remains on students), Jacques Gourde went for another round of the same in French (Rodriguez: Committees are independent; Chagger: This was always about helping students and I did appear at committee), and Pierre Poilievre asked about Chagger’s due diligence on WE (Chagger: They made a recommendation and I was confident that they did the due diligence). Rhéal Fortin wondered how WE was the only outfit chosen to administer the programme (Chagger: We accepted the public service’s recommendation; Here are all the things we’ve done to help students since the pandemic began). Damien Kurek returned to who in Cabinet knew of conflicts of interest (Chagger: These are good questions which is why I appeared at committee), Jag Sahota accused the Liberals of refusing to answer questions (Chagger: We are working to assure supports are available, and I did appear when invited), Michael Cooper demanded the prime minister appear before committee (Chagger: Most of that $900 million was for the student grants). Lindsay Mathyssen worried students weren’t going to get paid on time (Chagger: We put forward $9 billion in student aid, and here are all the things we’ve done), and Matthew Green railed that an apology was not responsibility (Chagger: We will comply with the Ethics Commissioner).

Round three saw questions on the false Blacklock’s story on capital gains taxes on homes (Morneau: This is not something are considering), compensation for the supply managed sectors now that the New NAFTA is in force), the practice of “red-flagging” veterans’ files (Fortier: We are looking into this and will get back to you), the PM’s ethical scandals (Rodriguez: There is no room for this kind of partisanship today), a Chinese firm getting a contract for security equipment (Champagne: No contract has been awarded, and I have asked the department for a review), non-Canadians in Hong Kong who may seek refuge in Canada (Mendicino: We are exploring measures including immigration options, and will have more to announce in due course), a season lost for the guiding and outfitting sector (Joly: Many tourism operators have been deeply impacted, and we have the regional impact fund to help them), help for the energy sector (Lametti: We have taken action to create jobs with remediation of orphan wells, and have extended programmes), the WE event on Parliament Hill in 2017 (Guilbeault: WE Charity submitted a proposal to the department as part of the Canada 150 fund, and Cabinet was not involved in this selection), students paying the price for the WE Imbroglio (Chagger: Here are all the measures we’ve taken so far).

Overall, it was nice to have a bit of normalcy, right down to the repetitive questions and outsized hyerbole over both the whole WE Imbroglio and the impact that it was having on students. Indeed, if you listened to the NDP, this was the only aid being offered to students, while Bardish Chagger listed the $9 billion in other supports they are offering several times over. Speaking of Chagger, she did most of the heavy lifting for the government’s response on the Imbroglio, by pointing out repeatedly that she and her officials did go to committee and did answer questions, over and over again. Oh, the memories of when she was House Leader playing the deflection role then. We also got examples of where the government did answer the questions put to them – specifically with the contract for security equipment from a Chinese company – and the next person on the speaking list asked the very same question again because they have scripts that they can’t deviate from. Nevertheless, it was a refreshing change of pace to see them back at regular QP for the first time in months.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Christine Normandin for a nicely cut black dress, and to William Amos for a very summery white linen suit with a pink shirt and darker pink tie. Style citations go out to Kevin Waugh for a taupe jacket with black slacks, a medium blue shirt and dark blue tie, and to Mona Fortier for a black wrap dress with loud florals. Dishonourable mention goes out to Brenda Shanahan for a bright yellow sweater over a black top with white polka dots.