QP: Going hard on the CanSino conspiracy theory

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It being Wednesday, the prime minister was present and ready to respond to all questions put his way. Erin O’Toole led off, script on his mini-lectern, and he immediately started in on his CanSino conspiracy theory, apparently not understanding how vaccine regulation works, to which Justin Trudeau insisted that they signed on with Moderna and Pfizer before the CanSino deal fell apart, and why they put their eggs in as many baskets as possible. O’Toole said that CSIS was trying to warn the government about CanSino for years, but Trudeau again refuted this. O’Toole quoted an unnamed security analyst to say that China played Canada on the CanSino deal, and Trudeau stated that O’Toole was making stuff up, and that when the CanSino deal fell apart, Canada’s vaccine portfolio went from eight candidates to seven. O’Toole switched to French to claim that other countries will have all of their populations vaccinated by June, but Canada wouldn’t by September, to which Trudeau reminded him that Health Canada was studying four candidates and that there are guarantees for doses for Canadians. O’Toole demanded a plan to give the country “hope,” to which Trudeau said that their plan was to protect Canadians and help the economy weather the storm so that we will emerge from the pandemic in a strong state. Yves-François Blanchet got up next for the Bloc, and he demanded increased health transfers to the provinces, to which Trudeau reminded him that they have been working with the provinces since the pandemic began and have already transferred billions of dollars to them. Blanchet tried again, and got a much more emphatic version of the same answer. Jagmeet Singh was up next for the NDP, and in French, he lamented the lack of a vaccine plan, for which Trudeau reminded him that they have been working with the provinces since the spring to prepare for this. Singh changed to English to decry that the government wouldn’t be able to complete their pledge to end all boil water advisories on time, and read a statement from a First Nations child. Trudeau read a script that they have been working with those communities, and it takes time to overcome decades of neglect.

Round two, and Michelle Rempel Garner read UK’s vaccine plans and demanded the same from Canada (Trudeau: We have relied on experts and scientists, and are working with provinces), Pierre Paul-Hus claimed that CanSino researchers were Chinese spies (Trudeau: Several years ago, the partnership with CanSino helped us to fight Ebola), James Bezan demanded specifics on military aid to deploy vaccines (Trudeau: We are working to get vaccines out as soon as possible), and O’Toole worried about the possible spoilage rate on Pfizer vaccines (Trudeau: We are going to work together to get through this). Blanchet was back up to worry about the federal government imposing conditions on Quebec (Trudeau: Picking fights is the Bloc’s only raison d’étre). Michael Barrett demanded to know if any of the lobbying files sent to the RCMP involved him or his office (Trudeau: You guys continue to make things up, we are not involved in any investigation, and the lobbying commissioner doesn’t investigate public office holders), and Shannon Stubbs demanded the arrest and deportation of hostile actors on Canadian soil (Trudeau: Our national security agencies investigate these cases and we give them the tools they need). Scott Duvall demanded the promised federal minimum wage (Trudeau: We are helping Canadians get through this pandemic), and Lindsay Mathyssen demanded student loan repayments suspended again (Trudeau, with script: Here are all the measures we took to support students).

Round three saw questions on outdated service maps for rural broadband connectivity (Trudeau, with script: Rural broadband is necessary so we are committed to connecting communities), palliative care not being declared an essential service when assisted dying is (Trudeau, with script: We struck a balance with this bill), help for the aerospace industry (Trudeau: We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to support them), a linguistic analysis of the WE contract (Trudeau: We respect official languages; Why won’t you commit to only appointing bilingual justices to the Supreme Court?), demanding a Yonge Subway extension (Trudeau: We have spent more on transit than any government, but we need to see the plan so maybe you should give a nudge to your friends at Queen’s Park), and demanding climate action (Trudeau: We have accomplished a great deal over the past five years and are doing more).

Overall, I remain…well, not shocked, but extremely dismayed that Erin O’Toole has decided to go full-bore on this CanSino conspiracy theory, ignoring all evidence to the contrary, because it fits his narrative of China as the big menace that he needs to stand up to. And apparently they have also learned that it’s easy to sell their base on conspiracy theories, so they are doubling down on this. At least Trudeau is finally calling this stuff out as being untrue, but the fact that he keeps sticking to talking points makes it easier for the opposition to fill the gaps in what isn’t being said with this kind of conspiracy theory garbage. This government needs to give additional candour to these issues, but this seems to be one of the hardest things for them to grasp. Otherwise, the emerging Wednesday habit of O’Toole to start following-up on his MPs’ questions in the third round continues to be a practice that is transparently about gathering clips for social media, but that’s all that QP has degenerated into these days anyway.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Eric Duncan for a dark grey suit with a pink shirt and a blue and pink tie, and to Shannon Stubbs for a black dress with a long grey jacket with a subtle grid pattern. Style citations go out to Filomena Tassi for a black half-sleeved dress with a gold vine and floral pattern across it, and to Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay for a black suit with a neon blue shirt and a navy patterned tie.

3 thoughts on “QP: Going hard on the CanSino conspiracy theory”

  1. All O’Toole and his cronies have is fabrications, fear mongering and outright lies. Canadians watch this and the day will come when the Cons make the mistake and force an election. It will take malfeasance with Singh and the Block heads. In the meantime we’ll let them dig their hole so deep they won’t be able to hoist themselves out. Just like Kenney today, asking to have additional help. Tories have no shame. As long as they have Trudeau as a whipping pony they think they can get away with this stuff. Gradually we see a more stern callout of this stuff from the Libs. They don’t need to stoop into the mire with the Cons until election time, then it let it all out. Trudeau will have all the goods and the Cons will have nothing.

  2. Blah blah blah, wah-wah noises like Charlie Brown’s teacher. All I hear from the Cons and their de facto Quebec caucus of Blanchet’s is tin foil Infowars garbage about the Chinese microchip mind control vaccine. This is what to expect when O’Toole has the Canadian equivalent of Brad Parscale doing his PR. You know what, just for gits and shiggles, the day that the House votes on the mini-budget, I would love to see every Liberal MP troll the QAnon Cons by rising for their vote with a statement that “Justin Trudeau is the kindest, warmest, most wonderful prime minister I’ve ever known in my life.” Sartorial snaps would go out to Chrystia Freeland in full regalia as the Queen of Hearts.

  3. Because you are watching Question Period every day, I would be interested to find out whether you think O’Toole is doing a better job here than Scheer did. Or worse.
    Overall, I have had the impression that O’Toole is showing himself to be out of his depth as a federal leader – but then again, so was Scheer. So maybe that’s just where the Conservatives are at these days.
    I know you are impatient with the vague “talking points” Liberal response to many of the questions they get asked – I get annoyed by this too. But I also wonder if the Conservatives are relying too much on their own scripts and are not flexible enough, or knowledgeable enough, to talk about issues as they come up.

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