QP: The Bloc let their motives be known

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While he had initially stated that he would not be in QP today, things changed and prime minister Justin Trudeau did show up after all. Erin O’Toole led off in French with a script in front of him, accusing the prime minister letting the pandemic alert system get sidelined because he preferred Chinese data, to which Trudeau disputed it, saying that the funding was stable and they we investigating to know what happened with the system. O’Toole doubled down and accused the prime minister of ideologically preferring information out of China, and Trudeau disputed this more vigorously. O’Toole switched to English to accuse the government of ignoring warnings about Huawei, to which Trudeau insisted that they were aware of the reports and were working to keep Canadians safe. O’Toole tried again, for which Trudeau reiterated his response. O’Toole then moved onto a potential refinery closure in Newfoundland, accusing the government of doing nothing about it, to which Trudeau declared that they were engaged and listed consultations they have undertaken. Alain Therrien led off for the Bloc, and he returned to the accusations of the government consorting with an alleged Chinese gangster, to which Trudeau offered a curt no in response. Therrien listed more apparent meetings that the government had with this alleged gangster, and Trudeau reminded him that the Liberals’ fundraising activities were the most transparent of any party. Jagmeet Singh was up to lead for the NDP, and in French, he demanded a tax on “excessive profits” companies made in the pandemic, to which Trudeau recited his worn talking point that they raised the taxes on the one percent when they formed government and the NDP voted against it. Singh changed to English to name poor workers to put faces on the same question, and Trudeau responded that they recognised front-line workers and that was why they stepped up to supports for businesses, before repeating his line about raising taxes.

Round two, and Michelle Rempel Garner insisted the prime minister failed to get rapid tests available (Hajdu: We continue to work with the provinces to ensure they have what they need, and new tests have been approved; You are deceiving Canadians and we have had rapid tests in the field since the early days of the pandemic; testing is only one aspect of the puzzle and we have helped provinces along the way), and Gérard Deltell took over and asked the same in French (Hajdu: Same answers), and Blake Richards wanted action on a report about supports for parents who had a child die (Hussen: We have tasked people to go out into the community to help get people their benefits). Rhéal Fortin returned to the allegations about meetings with an alleged gangster (LeBlanc: Our party has the most transparent fundraising practices), and Marilène Gill demanded a return to the per-vote subsidy (Rodriguez: Of course the Bloc wants to talk about elections). Luc Berthold claimed that the government was endangering the lives of Canadians by banning “safe plastic packaging” (Wilkinson: We are taking action to get rid of single-use plastic by 2021 and helping the environment and the economy), and the jobs at risk from this ban (Wilkinson: There are opportunities in the economy), and John Williamson claimed this ban is an attack on jobs (Wilkinson: You should actually read the announcement). Jack Harris demanded wealth taxes on corporate “profiteers” (Kusmierzcyk: We have given money to the provinces to increase wages of essential workers), and Lindsay Mathyssen wanted the funds allocated for the failed service grant to reduce student debt (Chagger: Here is everything we have done for students).

Round three and Erin O’Toole blamed the government for the escalation of tensions on the Mi’kmaq fishery issue (Jordan: We are at the negotiation table and we are looking for a path forward), and saw questions on the Yonge Subway extension (Fillmore: We have a bilateral agreement with the government on Ontario), commercial rent assistance (Fraser: We advanced programmes to help fixed costs, and we have committed to offer further supports), potential American trade actions on blueberries (Ng: We are actively opposing these actions), compensation for poultry farmers affected by trade agreements (Bibeau: We will proceed with this compensation by the end of the year), the GST credit being affected by the changed filing deadline (Lebouthillier: Get in touch with my office), infrastructure for small rural communities (Fillmore: Yay infrastructure!), a company not getting Health Canada approval (Hajdu: There is a robust process), northern airports needing support (Garneau: We need to ensure they have this access, and we put in place a programme that will help $174 million to take care of 140 northern communities), and nuclear energy versus energy efficiency (Wilkinson: Efficiency is part of our plans).

Overall, the day was interesting once things started to become clear what was going on. It wasn’t quite as punchy as yesterday, but there was still an underlying nastiness, particularly in Erin O’Toole trying to insinuate that the government dismantled a pandemic system because they are ideologically aligning themselves with the Chinese government, which makes no sense at all – except if you note that O’Toole’s shitposts lately are carrying a vague sense of “yellow panic” in how much they keep referencing the menace of “Communist China.” As for the Bloc, their motivations became very clear today in the way in which they were trying to draw links between the alleged Chinese gangsters and the Liberals through fundraisers (which is a bit rich considering how much money organized crime sloshed through the Bloc’s ideological cousins in provincial politics). Nevertheless, with the Bloc jumping on this story, it’s two-fold – one is that they think they can recreate the magic of their first resurgence that came with anger over the Sponsorship Scandal; the other is the attempt to use this as the springboard to ensuring that the per-vote subsidy is brought back over any other political fundraising tools. Why? Because they have trouble fundraising on their own, and the Bloc did well enough under the per-vote subsidy that it allowed their donor base to spend their dollars on their provincial cousins and the federal subsidy would maintain the Bloc. It was largely the Bloc’s successful use of the subsidy that the Conservatives used as the outrage that led to them killing it in the first place (though screwing over the very damaged Liberal party at the time was certainly in their sights as well). The Bloc are now blowing up this particular issue well out of proportion in order to try and make it seem like the “only” solution to dodgy fundraising is bringing back the subsidy, even though the systems are very transparent in the current day and age.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Rachael Harder for a black dress with lace half-sleeves, and to William Amos for a tailored navy three-piece suit with a light blue shirt and green striped tie. Style citations go out to Greg McLean for a blue jacket with a tight check pattern, with a blue-striped shirt, a darker blue checkered tie, white pocket square, and dark grey slacks, and to Helena Jaczek for a black dress with a pink leaf pattern and a matching pink jacket.

2 thoughts on “QP: The Bloc let their motives be known”

  1. You missed one more thing: Blanchet is probably sh~tting himself over Eric Lapointe (the bad-boy rock singer who was his client while a music producer) pleading guilty to assaulting a woman, and there are probably going to be more. He needs another distraction. Wait for it though. The Bloc have become the de facto Quebec caucus of the tin foil Tories, and will probably try to tie WeGhazi to Ghina Ghina Ghina Ghina Ghina (and maybe even go full QAnon on top of it, flinging accusations of sexual impropriety against Trudeau and the Liberal party at these supposedly sinister fundraisers).

    Poilievre’s trial balloon from way back about the Harrington Lake “mystery cottage” sure got the QAnon crowd riled up, believing there to be a secret kindergarten harem under construction. I’ve thought for some time that they were planning on some sort of (recycled) attack on the Pierre Trudeau Foundation, and that WeGhazi was phase one of their attempt at a “Clinton Cash” replica. No surprise O’Toole, who worships monuments to Johnny Mac, must be salivating at the thought of tearing down a statue of P.E.T.

    Then again, hopefully this desperate grasp onto another manufactured nontroversy is an indication that even they know the “Crooked Justin’s WeMails” invented “scandal” was full of sound and fury signifying nothing, or that nobody cares about it anymore and they feel a need to cook something else up. When everything is a “scandal,” nothing is a scandal. Projection. Ooh, J.T. has panda bears on his socks today. He must be the Manchurian Canada Date, the Raymond Shaw of prime ministers. Drain the swamp and lock him up.

    I guess hoping for cogent policy alternatives for the pandemic/recovery is a lost cause.

  2. While the “characters” in the HOC today continued with their stupidities, Canadians were treated to a landmark decision to bring Canada’s auto sector into the new green economy and guess what…an agreement between a US company, hades forbid, a Union, a conservative premier and of course our esteemed PM. Not a word about that from the loyal opposition.

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