QP: Taking the Chinese menace seriously

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It was Tuesday, and all leaders were present for a change. Erin O’Toole led off, script on mini-lectern and he demanded that the government start imposing sanctions on China, given that this was the subject of their Supply Day motion that is being debated in the Commons during the rest of the day. Justin Trudeau picked up a script to read that we have a complex, multi-dimensional relationship with China, and that Canada speaks out for human rights. O’Toole worried about Chinese agents entering the country posing as students, to which Trudeau stated that security agencies do a good job, and that most of this work doesn’t show up in the newspaper. O’Toole mentioned Huawei before demanding more stringent measures to protect Canadians from Chinese agents, to which Trudeau led a list of measures that have been taken. O’Toole switched to French to demand that Huawei be banned from the 5G network, to which Trudeau read a script about the work they were doing to ensure safety. O’Toole then demanded a modernisation of the Official Languages Act, to which Trudeau insisted that they were concerned about the decline of French, which is why they committed to modernising the Act in the Throne Speech. Yves-François Blanchet was up for the Bloc, and he lamented a statement made by the heritage minister about freedom of expression, to which Trudeau assured him that they take it very seriously. Blanchet raised the concerns about “censorship” at Radio-Canada over what appears to have been a warning over a sketch that included Blackface, to which Trudeau reminded him that they don’t direct Radio-Canada. Jagmeet Singh was up next, and in French, he groused that his party’s motion on wealth and excess profit taxes was voted down, for which Trudeau reminded him that their first action as a government was to raise taxes on the one percent, and that the NDP voted against it. Singh tried again in English, naming the Weston family in particular, and Trudeau repeated his answer.

Round two, and Michael Chong returned to concerns about Chinese agents in Canada and demanding sanctions (Champagne: With regard to your motion we plan to move constructive amendments, and the China of 2020 is not the China of before), and demanded a ban on Huawei from 5G (Amos: We are reviewing security considerations), Shannon Stubbs insisted that the government was failing Canadians from Chinese intimidation (Blair: Our security agencies are engaged and actively investigating), Richard Martel accused the WHO of being under China’s thumb (Hajdu: This is conceding talk, and the WHO has an important role to play in combatting diseases around the world). Blanchet was back up to complain that Davie Shipyard wasn’t getting enough naval contracts (MacKinnon: Our government folded Davie into the national shipbuilding strategy and they are an important partner), and Julie Vignola asked the same (MacKinnon: You are comparing apples and oranges when comparing the joint support ship contract). James Cumming returned to the question of Huawei (Amos: We are listening to our experts; Blair: We have eyes wide open when it comes to China), and Pierre Paul-Hus worried about a contract that a Chinese company bid for (Champagne: We investigated and they did not get the contract). Leah Gazan demanded help on long-term care homes (Hajdu: We are working with provinces and territories), and Gord Johns demanded the government order the Senate to pass Bill C-9 (Ng: We know this bill is urgent).

Round three saw questions on the treatment of Uighurs (Champagne: I have raised this issue with the Chinese both publicly and privately, and we are coordinating with the international community), details for the vaccine rollout (Hajdu: This is a whole of government approach working with provinces and municipalities), the “anglicisation” of Quebec (Joly: I am happy to work with you when we table the modernised Official Languages Act; Rodriguez: This is an officially bilingual country), English-only slights against Quebec (Joly: We have no lessons to take from the Conservatives), a veteran’s file (MacAulay: We invested $200 million to clear the backlog), accusing the government of preferring people die rather than give them disability supports (Hajdu: We work with provinces to ensure they have capacity to support people with disabilities; Virani: We will listen to all stakeholders to craft a carefully balanced bill), aid for students (Chagger: Here are all the programmes we’ve put into place), the veterans backlog (MacAulay: We have been working to support homeless veterans).

Overall, the day’s theme of the menace of China is more of Erin O’Toole brand-building as Conservative leader, as he has decided to use this particular bogeyman by which he compares his policies against, be they protectionist or populist (as he rails against off-shoring production and so on). The government’s responses weren’t always great, but I did think it interesting that François-Philippe Champagne said that they are “eyes-wide-open” with regards to China, and that the China of 2020 is not the China of yesteryear, which I believe is a signal that the government is going to start making some bolder moves on its China policies. Otherwise, it would have been great if the government could have called out some of the NDP’s false narratives – particularly as they keep bringing up the Revera long-term care homes as being “federally-owned,” which they’re not actually – or their demands about ordering the Senate to pass a bill, as though they had any say on that. It was utterly ridiculous. I will also reiterate my concerns about how much the Conservatives are drifting into conspiracism when it comes to what happened with the WHO in the early days of the pandemic – all of which is on the public record about how they were limited in the data they were getting and trying to make statements that would encourage more cooperation from China, but the tone of those questions was alarming, not that they seem to care about these kinds of things.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Anju Dillon for a white long-sleeved dress with a black shawl with gold embroidery draped over her shoulder in traditional Indian fashion, and to Blake Richards for a blue suit with a white shirt and purple tie. Style citations go out to Yves-François Blanchet for a grey suit with a black waistcoat and bow tie with a white shirt and blue jeans, and to Patty Hajdu for a black and white patterned turtleneck under a black suit.

2 thoughts on “QP: Taking the Chinese menace seriously”

  1. O’Toole is Trump without the plugs and spray tan. At best a buffoon; at worst, giving cover to something much more troubling. All I hear from him is Ghina Ghina Ghina, Crooked Justin, Margaret’s WeMails, lock them up, more Ghina Ghina Ghina, the Wuhan Health Organization, etc. etc. etc. Particularly egregious is the CPC’s newfound concern trolling for the Uighurs while they give succor to Islamophobes back home. He hinted at an Arbeit Macht Frei sentiment in his speech in Surrey (“work is beneficial to the soul”), made sure everyone knows how much he loves his dogs, and merged the party logo with the RCAF, a sign of militarism and, thus, fascist(-ish) iconography.

    Canada First = America First, not an original of Trump’s but a rallying cry for Yankee nationalists and Charles Lindbergh some seven decades ago. The core of his “expanding the tent” platform (which seems to be falling apart due to warranted skepticism of his sudden “pivot” on both sides of the “labour debate”) can basically be summed up as, “first we’ll come for the trade unionists.” Now he joins Parler, another alt-right hate site in the same vein as the digital Der Sturmer operations that Ballingall operates. The entire party are brownshirts in blue. All the signs are there, you can’t unsee it, yet none dare call it fascism. Gee, I wonder why not?

  2. Sometimes laughter can put the cap on stupid statements or queries. It would be nice to see someone on the government side laugh at these clowns. It is in the rules. There is no sanction by the speaker if a member chuckles even if it may sound derisive. Lot of laughs could have been heard again today and to know that it costs on average a half million dollars a year to compensate these clowns when one adds up the riding offices salaries, travel, meals, drinks, stamps, etc and the MP’s stipend. Surely the Canadian taxpayer is being hosed. Might as well have a laugh once in a while. then the crying starts. What a farce!

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