QP: Reminder that it’s a novel virus

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It was Thursday, and neither the prime minister nor his deputy were present, which generally means a less exciting day. Erin O’Toole led off, script on mini-lectern, and poked out inconsistencies in the story around the Global Public Health Information Network, to which Patty Hajdu related early actions by the government and Dr. Theresa Tam, as well as citing that she would say more about the GPHIN soon. O’Toole tried to call out inconsistencies in early pandemic advice, to which Hajdu reminded him that it’s a novel virus that we are still learning about. O’Toole called the decision around GPHIN politically motivated, to which Hajdu said that when she was alerted to the changes, she ordered and external investigation, and she would have more to say about that soon. In French, O’Toole accused the government of losing control of the pandemic, and Hajdu listed federal actions. O’Toole then concern trolled about testing, to which Hajdu listed the rollout of new rapid tests. For the Bloc, Stéphane Bergeron trolled the prime minister about his call with the president of France, to which François-Philippe Champagne pointed out what was wrong about the premise of the question, and reminded him that Canada defends freedom of expression around the world. Bergeron asked when there was going to hold a debate on acceptable limits to freedom of expression, to which Champagne rebutted his assertions. Jagmeet Singh was up next to lead off for the NDP, and in French, he worried about the record profits of web giants, to which Steven Guilbeault reminded him at they are now treating web giants the same as traditional players in the creative market. Singh switched to English to rail about the Westons making profits in the pandemic, for which Sean Fraser said that they were supporting front-line workers, and that they raised taxes on the top one percent, which the NDP voted against. 

Round two, and Richard Martel said that the prime minister “grovelled” before the French president (Champagne: The trans-Atlantic has never been as strong as it is today), Cathy McLeod complained there was no action plan yet for the MMIW report — ignoring that the delay is because they need to coordinate with provinces (Bennett: We do need an action plan, and the core working group is hard at work; It’s rich that a member of the previous government which refused to do anything about this is lecturing us), and O’Toole demanded an expedited review for a possible buyer for a refinery in Newfoundland (Lefebvre: We are monitoring as the Competition Bureau does their work). Rhéal Fortin tried to link past party donors to judicial appointments (Lametti: We have an independent process based on merit and diversity). Bernard Généroux worried about backlogs in immigration processing (Mendicino: We put forward an accelerated process for families already in the system), and Jacques Gourde returned to the issue of judicial appointments (Lametti: I am proud of our process, and I made recommendations to Cabinet; You are describing a process that does not exist). Rachel Blaney demanded fair funding for Indigenous children (Miller: We are working on a framework with stakeholders), and Charlie Angus demanded a solution to the St. Anne’s Residential School compensation (Bennett: The Court decided to have this heard by another court because of a recusal and are awaiting that outcome).

Round three saw questions on front-line charities needing support (Hussen: We have provided $350 million in supports), the proposed Alaska-to-Alberta railway (Wilkinson: We don’t have an actual application), seniors possibly losing benefits if they haven’t filed taxes yet (Schulte: We are focused on supporting seniors, but I will look further into this issue), the Mi’kmaq fishery dispute (Jordan: I am meeting with all sides, and we are working to find a solutions), the clean fuel standard (Wilkinson: This will create opportunities in the sector), carbon capture and storage projects (Wilkinson: It will be part of our climate plans), oil imports from Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Nigeria (Lefebvre: Here are pipelines we have approved and supported), the risk of closure at the Campus Saint-Jean in Edmonton (Joly: We want to work across party lines to support this institution), and protecting whales from US naval testing (Jordan: Our US counterpart is engaging with them on the file and we will work closely with them).

Overall, it was another fairly mediocre day, for which there were only slightly fewer lies and mischaracterizations than there have been on other days. I will say that the Conservatives’ attempt to “prove” that the government dropped the ball on the early days of the pandemic remains a bit puzzling because there is evidence out there that Dr. Theresa Tam was engaged on the file back when it was cases of strange pneumonia back in December, and the Global Public Health Information Network wouldn’t have actually triggered an earlier response (nor would the military intelligence briefing that they keep trying to refer to). Are there questions to be asked about what happened with the GPHIN? You bet. But trying to frame this as some kind of missing link in the pandemic response is utterly disingenuous. As well, the constant reiteration that advice has changed betrays a kind of ignorance that this is a novel virus that we are leaning more about all the time, so of course the advice is going to change – pretending otherwise in order to create a revisionist history is dishonest in the extreme, and is not actually about holding the government to account. As well, the Bloc’s questions on judicial appointments, pointing out the “suspicious” appointments of Liberal donors in New Brunswick seems to betray that they don’t understand how small the province and its legal community actually is. If they don’t think lawyers should donate to political parties on the off-chance that they may one day apply for the bench, then they should just come out and say so. (They won’t).

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Bernard Généroux for a navy suit with a white shirt and a polished wooden bow-tie, and to Heather McPherson for a well cut navy dress and jacket. Style citations go out to Patty Hajdu for a black suit with three-quarter sleeves and a black and peach floral-patterned sequinned top, and to Blake Richards for a grey-brown suit with a light blue shirt and yellow tie.