QP: A hand extended to work together?

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While the prime minister was busy doing virtual business tours, his deputy was present. Erin O’Toole led off, with his scripts and mini-lectern, accusing the government of allowing Canadians to be at the “back of the line” for rapid testing. Chrystia Freeland listed the rapid tests that have been approved to date with an assurance that they were available to Canadians. O’Toole then engaged in some revisionist history around the early days of the pandemic, to which Freeland listed a timeline of events. O’Toole raised the false story about Baylis Medical before demanding the government support their Supply Day motion on the health committee, to which Freeland stated with in no uncertain terms that insinuating the government was not looking out for Canadians would not be tolerated. O’Toole tried again, and Freeland again took umbrage with the insinuations. O’Toole switched to French to return to the Baylis Medical false story, to which Freeland clearly annunciated that there was no contract with Baylis. Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he concern trolled about the use of the n-word by a university professor — in support of the professor. Freeland picked up a script to denounce anti-Black racism. Kristina Michaud got up to demand the government defend academic freedom, and Freeland insisted that they do support academic freedom but they need to be aware of systemic racism and take action to fight it. Jagmeet Singh was up next, and in French, raised a particular First Nation that hasn’t had drinking water for 25 years, to which a Freeland reminded him that drinking water on First Nations was a priority, and that they still have work to do, and they are working on it. Singh repeated the question in English, to which Freeland reiterated some of the same points, but stated that they were recommitting to the promise that all communities will have water to drink.

Round two, and Richard Martel whinged about losing their motion yesterday, and wanted support for today’s motion on the health committee (Rodriguez: Yesterday this chamber chose to keep working for Canadians, and our hand is extended, let’s work together), Michelle Rempel Garner called the motion “common-sense” and “non-partisan,” and wanted to know what a reasonable timeline to produce documents was (Hajdu: We need to negotiate a timeline; I take umbrage with your calling civil servants slow and incompetent), and that most federal ATIP offices are working at half-capacity (Hajdu: You keep demeaning civil servants; People aren’t asking for more ATIP resources, they’re asking for all resources to go to the pandemic). Alain Therrien and Rhéal Fortin presented a false version of the Baylis Medical contract (Anand: An expert panel determined ventilator needs and there was no contract with Bayliss Medical). Raquel Dancho demanded rapid testing for Manitoba (Hajdu: Collaboration with provinces has been one of the things that has helped in this pandemic, and we have sharing agreements that work for provinces and territories), Rob Morrison demanded the government let Air Canada keep bringing in tourists using rapid tests (Hajdu: Air Canada is in a research project with McMaster University to determine what is safe), Tracy Gray recounted a take of slow testing woes — ignoring that testing is a provincial jurisdiction (Hajdu: I have been in regular contact with provincial officers of health, but I would suggest you contact your MLA). Heather McPherson demanded more help for students (Chagger: Here is a list of the $9 billion in measures we have taken), and Niki Ashton demanded airlines refund tickets (Garneau: I’m aware of the frustration, but the pandemic has hit the air sector hard and we are working on new measures.

Round three saw questions on the public inquiry into the Nova Scotia mass shooting (Blair: That inquiry has now been established by an Order in Council and the commissioners appointed, and they are establishing a secretariat in Nova Scotia), farmers not being able to access CEBA loans without business accounts (Ng: We are working with banks to make it available to them and will announce a process soon), demanding a national suicide prevention hotline (Hajdu: I look forward to talking further about this idea), refunding plane tickets (Garneau: We are working on measures to help the sector), they backlog at Veterans Affairs (MacAulay: We are working to reduce it as quickly as we can), falsehoods about judicial appointments (Lametti: We have a robust system that is increasing diversity on the bench), ministers answering on a particular rural broadband proposal (Monsef: Why are you upset we reached out?), Access to Information delays (Duclos: Our public servants work hard), childcare (Hussen: We created over 40,000 spaces since 2015, and have reached agreements with provinces), and a national mental health strategy (Hajdu: We are working to help Canadians get access to supports).

Overall, the reliance on outright fiction by both the Conservatives and the Bloc when it comes to things like the nonexistent Baylis Medical contract and the outright fictions stemming from the problematic CBC story on judicial appointments is frustrating. There is no need to invent things when it comes to going after this government – they have legitimate problems of their own that the opposition can and should be asking about, but instead, they feel the need to gin up their outrage with complete falsehoods and innuendo. I don’t get it, but then again, I’m not being paid the mediocre dollars as a political strategist. The government also hasn’t really helped itself by simply repeating that there is no contract with Baylis Medical without referring to the reporting on the subject that explains the whole thing, but then again, this government is incapable of communicating out of a wet paper bag, so it’s not surprising in the least. I’m also deeply curious as to why the Bloc has become so fascinated with this University of Ottawa professor story and their insistence on being allowed to use racists slurs in an academic context, and why the prime minister (or his deputy) needs to weigh in on it. Are they trying to find excuses for racist terminology in an attempt to disprove systemic racism? Or is it something else? I guess we’ll see, depending on how much longer they try to string this out.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Jennifer O’Connell for a navy suit with a pink collared shirt, and to Kyle Seeback for a dark blue suit with a crisp white shirt, dark-and-light blue diamond-patterned tie, and a lighter blue pocket square. Style citations go out to Randy Hoback for a navy jacket, grey gingham shirt, dark blue tie and black slacks, and to Michelle Rempel Garner for a long-sleeved white dress with an embroidered black floral pattern across it.

4 thoughts on “QP: A hand extended to work together?”

  1. The Cons have never given upon a story that they knew was patently false. More and more Canadians a fed up with this right wing rabble and I hope the toolers get their wish and a slammed in an election.

  2. I can see two sides of this from a cynical perspective: it could be a positive for the Liberals if the farcical “health” committee ends up shoving the WE nonsense out of the news cycle. However, if Rempel and the other opposition trolls try to use it as a backdoor to force production of WE materials (like they did at the process committee), Trudeau should declare it an act of war and march down to Rideau Hall himself.

    That being said, I am under no illusions that this dog and pony show won’t be a complete Trumpian circus of conspiracy theories and specious accusations just like every other committee has devolved into. People’s lives are at stake and this media-darling shrew only wants to grandstand and put the spotlight on herself. What a callous sociopath.

  3. “The government also hasn’t really helped itself by simply repeating that there is no contract with Bayliss Medical without referring to the reporting on the subject that explains the whole thing, but then again, this government is incapable of communicating out of a wet paper bag, so it’s not surprising in the least.”

    As a card-carrying member of the LPC, IMHO, the “juvenile shitposters” (your term, not mine, but I do agree. I call them the “little boys in short pants”) need a kick in the ass and told to smarten up. Their “platitudinal platitudes” (my term, not yours) is one of the reasons Trudeau is getting a shit-kicking in the media … and by extension … wishy-washy performances at the microphone. Either tell them to smarten up … or … get rid of the and replace them with people who know how to hit the nail on the head and communicate in language that we all understand.

    PS – Luv your daily synopsis of events. Hits the nail right on the head.

  4. The CPC & Charlie Angus have been very busy with the WE witch hunt. Plus CPC-hq & their MPs were also busy with the leadership campaign. MP Rempel, who was living in the USA for most of the covid–19 crisis in Canada, presented a Motion from CPC expecting government employees to drop everything and bring them up to date. Maybe if the opposition had been doing their jobs they’d know how the minority government, with no help from them, has been handling the pandemic.

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