The prime minister was away, having attended the state funereal of Rt.Hon. John Turner, but his deputy was again present, which was worth something. Erin O’Toole led off, with his script on the mini-lectern in front of him, and in French he accused government of dragging their feet on the procurement of ventilators, citing one contract in particular.  Chrystia Freeland assured him they were taking the pandemic seriously, and thanked industrial partners for stepping up. O’Toole tried again, and this time Freeland stated that his assertion wasn’t true, that they had sourced enough ventilators across the country, and were still procuring necessary equipment and medication. O’Toole switched to English to reiterate the question with added bombast, to which Freeland calmly assured him that they were confident they have the ventilators they need, and they have acquired so much PPE that they are acquiring additional warehouse space. O’Toole then switched to the topic of a possible refinery closure in Newfoundland, to which Freeland too exception to his characterisation, and reminded him that they just transferred millions of dollars to the government of Newfoundland and Labrador for the benefit of energy workers. O’Toole then raised Suncor job losses — studiously omitting that those losses were as a result of increased automation— and Freeland disabused him of the notion that the government doesn’t care about Albertans and listed the benefits delivered to the province. Alain Therrien led off for the Bloc, and he made the usual demand for increased health transfers, to which Freeland reminded him of the increased supports they have already provided. Luc Thériault repeated the plea, and Freeland repeated that they have given the provinces additional funds. Jagmeet Singh was up next for the NDP, and in French, he complained that some people made profits off the pandemic and they needed to be taxed, to which Freeland listed that they were working to combat tax evasion. Singh switched to English to complain that private clinics were giving COVID tests for a fee, and Freeland agreed that everyone should be treated the same, and that Health Canada just approved an antigen test.

O’Toole studiously omits that the Suncor job losses were as a result of increased automation. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) October 6, 2020

Round two, and Tony Baldinelli demanded rapid testing (Hajdu: An antigen test was just approved today), and Michelle Rempel Garner called Hajdu’s patting herself on the back “disgusting” (Hajdu: We have to focus on being there for Canadians, and are ensuring they have the the help they need), Stephanie Kusie demanded aid for the airline industry (Garneau: We are working on addressing those challenges), Rempel Garner returned to demanding rapid testing (Hajdu: We have been working on rapid testing as one of many solutions), Kusie returned to her demand for airline assistance in French (Garneau: You are pushing on an open door), Rempel Garner got back up to again demand rapid testing using the excuse of Christmas coming up (Hajdu: We work closely with provinces and territories to protect their people from the importation of cases). Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay worried about assistance for small businesses (Freeland: We have a suite of programmes and we are working with provinces and companies). Michael Kram and Stephanie Kusie demanded support for the proposed Alaska-to-Alberta railway (Wilkinson: We haven’t received a proposal to even consider yet), and Pat Kelly and Greg McLean accused the government of deliberately killing the energy sector (O’Regan: We are supporting workers after the global price shocks). Don Davies and Matthew Green demanded free vaccinations for COVID when available (Hajdu: I will work with provinces and territories to ensure it is available; Bains: We are looking for made-in-Canada solutions, and you mentioned the new NRC facility that can make 24 million doses a year).

Stephanie Kusie is grossly misquoting the prime minister to accuse him of planning to kill the proposed Alaska-to-Alberta railway. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) October 6, 2020

Round three saw questions on combatting religious intolerance (Blair: We have quadrupled the funding for security for religious centres in need), not having a report on anti-racism from the government (Chagger: We created the secretariat, and here is all the things we’ve been doing), American protectionism regarding blueberries (Ng: We are concerned by the American decision, and Canada expects them to respect the New NAFTA), the action plan on the MMIW Inquiry report (Anandasangaree: We have been consulting to ensure there is a clear roadmap), help for seniors (Rodriguez: The Bloc only wants to head to the polls), Erin O’Toole got back up to demand a plan for energy workers (Freeland: We have supported the provinces, and we will get TMX built), more support for the offshore oil industry in Newfoundland (O’Regan: Here are the measures we have taken), job losses in Quebec (Freeland: We are all working on the economic recovery and we are ahead of the US in the race to recover jobs lost to the pandemic), the Infrastructure Bank (McKenna: The new priorities will get Canadians working again), rural mobile service (Monsef: We have connected a million households and got three times as many people connected than the Conservatives did), support for women-led businesses (Hussen: We have working with provinces to create a system on affordable early learning and childcare), methane releases in fracking (Wilkinson: We are moving forward on an enhanced climate plan, and we put forward regulations on reducing methane emissions).

Overall, I find myself mystified by the current question strategy, where the questions are bouncing between several MPs (usually one of them being Michelle Rempel Garner), rather than having two or three consecutive questions so that there can be an attempted volley. Interspersing those questions is distracting and poor debate format – though, of course, one needs to be reminded that there is no real debate, and the only purpose in Question Period any longer is for parties to take clips and turn them into shitposts on social media, as O’Toole has been doing an awful lot of lately. I also found it interesting that all of the hand-wringing over the Suncor job losses didn’t once mention that those jobs were lost as a result of increasing automation that was paid for by Jason Kenney’s corporate tax cuts – funny that the Conservatives wouldn’t mention that, but you’d think a Liberal minister might mention that fact as they point out that they have provided actual support to people of the province and didn’t fund their job cuts. Also, I have been finding the hysterical questions being asked about projects for which proposals haven’t even been submitted to be ridiculous at the best of times, but today Stephanie Kusie was citing a Western Standard article that grossly mischaracterized the prime minister, intimating that he said that the old Bill C-69 would be used to kill a project when in fact he said that it provided a more clear process that had consultations at the front-end of the process. Again, funny that this wasn’t actually mentioned. Too hard to gin up outrage for shitposts with the truth.

Sartorially speaking (and it was a bit of a struggle today), snaps go out to Anita Anand for a long purple jacket with a white top and black slacks, and to John Williamson for a navy suit and tie with a pink gingham shirt. Style citations go out to Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay for a navy suit and tie with a dark blue paisley-patterned shirt, and to Andréanne Larouche for a comically oversized double-breasted grey jacket with a windowpane pattern over bright blue tights.