QP: Chauvinism and confusion over vaccines

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While the prime minister was around, neither he nor his deputy were in QP today, unfortunately. Erin O’Toole led off, script on mini-lectern, and he demanded to know if the government acquired the rights to manufacture the leading vaccine candidates — never mind that we have no capacity to manufacture them. William Amos replied, pointing out that the capacity to manufacture these vaccines had been lost in this country over decades, and that the government had reinvested that capacity. O’Toole then started — falsely — that the NRC facility in Montreal could produce millions of doses, which ignores that the facility has not yet been built and no Canadian facility has the technology to manufacture the two leading candidates. Patty Hajdu stated that Canada is one of the best placed for vaccines, and is the only country reviewing all three leading candidates. O’Toole tried again, and this time Hajdu pointed out that he was trying to confuse Canadians. O’Toole switched to French to repeat the question and Hajdu gave him much the same response. O’Toole then tried to point to letters from the premiers of Ontario and Quebec to say they have no idea about the federal government’s vaccine plans, and this time Pablo Rodriguez stood up to punch back at O’Toole’s assertions in French. Alain Therrien led off for the Bloc, and he called the vaccine plan chaos, which Hajdu rejected and stated that she was working with her provincial counterpart. Therrien went further, listing what he perceived as federal failures, to which Rodriguez got up to state that the premiers were meeting with the prime minister later in the day. Jagmeet Singh got up for the NDP, and concern trolled that the government hadn’t invested in the ability to produce vaccines over the past five years, to which Amos got back up to remind him that the government has been investing in biomanufacturing. Singh switched to French to demand the vaccine plan, to which Hajdu again reminded him that the provinces are the experts in immunisation and that the federal government was there to support them.

Round two, and Richard Martel, Luc Berthold and Alain Rayés returned to his demands that the government table their modernisation of the Official Languages Act (Joly: We spent the last five years repairing your government’s damage, and this is a political play to steal Bloc votes), and Michelle Rempel Garner worried that 33 million Americans will be vaccinated before Canadians are (Hajdu: We have the best portfolio), and accused her of letting thousands of more Canadians die (Hajdu: If she wants to help Canadians stay alive, she should tell her caucus members to stop sharing conspiracy theories about this pandemic). Julie Vignola demanded a date for when vaccines will arrive (Hajdu: We are working with the provinces, and it’s good news that Quebec is acquiring the freezers they need so that we move faster; Rodriguez: We are not in an argument with Quebec, we are working with them), and Andréanne Larouche worried that seniors would not be getting vaccines in December (Hajdu: Quebec and Canada are working hand-in-glove). Pierre Paul-Hus raised a letter that the Quebec minister says he never got a response from (Hajdu: I talk to him every week), and Raquel Dancho said that so long as Canadians couldn’t get vaccines they can’t travel internationally (Hajdu: Portfolio! A deployment plan with provinces!). Don Davies demonstrated that he hasn’t read up about what happened with the NRC’s vaccine manufacturing capacity (Amos: The Conservatives sold out our capacity), and Lindsay Mathyssen demanded a re-established moratorium on student loan repayments (Qualtrough: We put in place several measures to help students).

Round three saw O’Toole get up to lament that the government won’t answer questions on when the vaccines would roll out (Anand: We are in line with Japan, New Zealand, Australia, and the EU, and when it comes to the Moderna vaccine, the UK only secured their agreement last week), and questions on the new China policy (Champagne: We are going to be firm and smart), demanding a foreign agents registry (Champagne: Reports of harassment and intimidation are serious and we are taking all appropriate measures), inadequate measures for immigration from Hong Kong (Champagne: We have been tough on the Hong Kong situation), the status of French in Montreal (Joly: The Bloc is trying to create a confrontational image as though there was an enemy), a demand for home-based testing (Hajdu: Canada doesn’t provide testing — the provinces do, but we are providing them the tools they need), reducing air traffic control towers (Garneau: NAVCan always acts with safety in mind, but the number of aircraft in the air has decreased drastically), existing pipelines going to the US (Lefebvre: We approved all of these pipelines and look at the thousands of jobs created), the proposed Alaska-to-Alberta railway (Lefebvre: We can’t review an application that we don’t have), a update for families of the Nova Scotia mass shooting (Lametti: We have committed to continuing the collaborative work with provinces on implementing the Canadian Bill of Rights), a $15/hour federal minimum wage (Tassi: We made this commitment and I look forward to moving on it), and student debt (Chagger: We put forward a $9 billion suite of programmes).

Overall, I find myself increasingly troubled by the narratives that are emerging from some of these lines of questioning – both in the obtuse questions about getting the licenses to manufacture when we don’t actually possess the manufacturing technology, but also in the assertion that Canadians somehow deserve to get vaccines before people in other countries, as though we are somehow more deserving or of a higher priority. I’m not sure how much of this is chauvinism, or how much of this is trying to give an appearance of an abundance of concern for constituents. As well, I think the attempt to lay the deaths of thousands at the feet of the health minister is hugely inappropriate when numerous provincial premiers have deliberately not acted in their areas of jurisdiction because they were too concerned about businesses. This having been said, this government needs better candour in how they’re communicating around this, and platitudinal assurances of the vaccine portfolio isn’t cutting it. We got a glimmer of that from Anita Anand in her singular response, but we need more of this, not bland assurances.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Arif Virani for a light grey three-piece suit with a pink shirt and bright blue tie, and to Andréanne Larouche for a brown leather jacket over a black top and slacks. Style citations go out to Cathy McLeod for a red floral dress under a black cardigan, and to Michael Kram for a dark brown suit with a grey-blue shirt and dark green tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Karen Vecchio for a black suit with a bright yellow top.

One thought on “QP: Chauvinism and confusion over vaccines”

  1. The opposition reminds me of George Costanza in that “Seinfeld” episode about the fire that broke out at a children’s birthday party — the smoke alarm sounded, and he pushed little kids and their moms to the floor to be first to run out of the house. What about public safety protocols? Nah, just another bunch of self-centred, overcompensating white guys demonstrating a pattern of entitlement and alternative facts in a crisis and shoving their “lessers” out of the way. Perhaps Justin Trudeau should fire up the DVD player, brush up on the series, and do everything the opposite of what Erin Costanza says or does. It’d be a surefire path to ensuring his own (and the country’s) success, while the arrogant bald blowhard with short man syndrome ends up looking for another job, having failed at his Sisyphean quest to be master of the parliamentary domain. In the meanwhile, we still have to get through a pandemic, and politics has become at best a hindrance and at worst a threat to public health. Question Period in particular is a sitcom, a daily display of made-for-TV foolishness, a spectacle of sound and fury signifying… nothing.

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