QP: Shifting the goalposts on testing

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While the prime minister was in town, he was not at QP today, but his deputy was, which is normally a better show. Candice Bergen led off, and tried to insist that the prime minister was merely blaming the provinces for the pandemic rather than taking actions, to which Chrystia Freeland read some reassurances about the country’s vaccine portfolio. Bergen then started shifting the goal posts by complaining that rapid tests were rare and there were still no at-home tests, to which Freeland listed the six rapid tests that have been made available. Bergen insisted that the PM was trying to leave the heavy lifting to the provinces — which, let’s be clear, is actually their gods damned job — and Freeland read about the border measures that have been taken. Pierre Paul-Hus worried that they were only getting news about the vaccine rollout from the provinces, but Freeland returned to the list of vaccine contracts, but in French this time. Paul-Hus complained that other countries have a plan and Canada doesn’t — which ignores that there is guidance and that distribution is a provincial responsibility — to which Freeland said that they were working with the provinces and with experts to ensure that there was an “excellent” vaccine distribution plan. Alain Therrien was up next for the Bloc, and he immediately started howling about the hysteria about the supposed “decline” of French in Quebec, to which Freeland raised the Holodomor about an attempt to exterminate language and culture, which is why she takes French seriously in Canada and Quebec. Therrien demanded the extension of Bill 101 to federally-regulated spaces, and Freeland repeated her personal understanding about the importance of the issue and why they wanted to work with their colleagues about the issue. Jagmeet Singh was up for the NDP, and in French, he complained that small businesses weren’t getting enough help and wanted measures extended to the spring, to which Freeland stated that the new measures are now on line and rent would be paid out by December 4th. Singh switched to English demand that the measures be made retroactive to April, and Freeland said reiterated the praise for the bill that just passed.

Round two, and Gary Vidal worried that there was no mention of Indigenous people in the federal modelling released last week (Miller: We have made targeted responses and we will be there if they need more; Our data is around on-reserves, but we need more from those in urban areas), and an issue where someone was arrested for using a Status Card (Miller: We are investing this issue), and Gérard Deltell complained about delays in rapid testing (Hajdu: Look at all the tests we’ve deployed), and demanded home testing (Hajdu: We are working with manufacturers and providing support to provinces). Mario Beaulieu announced that the Bloc would table a bill to bring federally-regulated businesses under Quebec’s Bill 101 (Joly: We are the first government to recognise the importance of French as a minority language), and Therrien got back up to once again demand that political parties reimburse their wage subsidy payments (Freeland: We created the wage subsidy to help businesses across the country). Pierre Poilievre raised the false stories that ineligible people were getting CERB (Lebouthillier and Qualtrough: This is ridiculous and stop believe everything you read on the Internet). Healthier McPherson demanded federal action in Alberta (Hajdu: We have given all kinds of support and money to provinces to help them), and Jenny Kwan worried about slowdowns on immigration files (Mendicino: We are accelerating the processing standards on family reunification files).

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1330961664015908865

Round three saw questions on Canada voting for an “anti-Israel” motion at the UN (Champagne: We stand by Israel and they know that), extending Bill 101 in federally-regulated workplaces (Joly: I am talking with the provincial minister), postponing compliance audits on small businesses getting pandemic aid (Lebouthillier: The minister doesn’t intervene in audits), the moral panic over judicial appointments (Lametti: We put in a merit-based system), a special refugee programme for persecuted Sikhs in Afghanistan (Mendicino: We are working with organisations on the ground), a national suicide prevention hotline (Hajdu: We are working with stakeholders, and we put in a web portal on the federal government’s website), a particular funding approval (Joly: I am surprised by your allegations and I will be happy to talk to you more), the CBC’s “tandem” branded content project (Guilbeault: CBC is arm’s length from the government), the alcohol escalator tax (Freeland: We work hard to support the industry, including the trade matters), Indigenous homelessness (Hussen: We committee significant new funds to Indigenous housing), changes in the medical assistance in dying bill (Lametti: We consulted intensively, and the ten-day waiting period only increased suffering).

Overall, it wasn’t a great day, and Freeland was not at her best for it, preferring to simply read the happy platitudes about vaccine preparedness rather than engaging on the substantive misinformation that the Conservatives were putting forward. This being said, her response about how personally she feels about the so-called decline of French in Quebec because of the Holodomor was an interesting turn, and I think also tried to put some of the Bloc’s outsized hysterical rhetoric into perspective. There was a bit of pushback from both Diane Lebouthillier and Carla Qualtrough on the subject of that grossly misleading (and discredited) CERB payment story that Pierre Poilievre quoted from, but nobody actually said that “this story has been discredited and withdrawn,” though the jibe about not believing everything one reads on the Internet was a step in the right direction. As for the Conservatives both complaining that Trudeau is trying to intrude into areas of provincial jurisdiction while at the same time blaming him for what the provinces (and in particular the conservative premiers) have neglected to do is quite a bit of mental gymnastics, coupled with goalpost-shifting, means that this is not actually a complaint with substance, but trying to shoehorn in an attack for the sake of an attack. Way to use a global pandemic to score cheap points, guys.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Mélanie Joly for a long camel jacket over a black top and slacks, and to Rhéal Fortin for a dark navy three-piece suit with a subtle windowpane pattern, with a white shirt and ivory tie. Style citations go out to Robert Morrissey for an ill-fitting black jacket with a blue collared shirt with no tie, and to Heather McPherson for her long multi-coloured and multi-patterned coat. 

5 thoughts on “QP: Shifting the goalposts on testing”

    • I hadn’t seen it, but it lines up with what I’ve heard from others MPs. Her insistence on making Cabinet vote against the genetic privacy bill forced Judy Foote to resign because Trudeau sided with JWR instead of her.

      • Glad I could bring it to your attention and interesting stuff about Judy Foote’s resignation. Also interesting the MPs from different wings of the caucus who liked that tweet.

  2. Is Newspeak a recognized language in Canada? Seems the opposition are quite fluent in it. The Liberals unfortunately might need some Rosetta Stone lessons in translating it into the dialect of facts.

  3. It is abundantly clear that no matter what efforts are taken to educate the morons who sit in certain tory seats they are in vain. The mouth that spews misinformation once will quickly graduate to outright lies. Poilievre has turned this into an art form.

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