QP: Giving over to yet another conspiracy theory

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While both the prime minister and deputy prime minister stated they would be at QP today, only the latter was present in the Chamber. Erin O’Toole led off, script on mini-lectern, and he led off worrying about the CanSino deal, and news reports that some scientists objected to it. Justin Trudeau, appearing from home, said that they had looked at every option and didn’t close any doors. O’Toole was not mollified, and Trudeau reiterated that CanSino had success on the Ebola vaccine, and they had hopes they could help with COVID. O’Toole then insisted that the government wasted five months and didn’t attempt a made-in-Canada vaccine solution — which doesn’t match the timeline — and Trudeau reiterated that they got a broad portfolio of vaccine candidates so that they didn’t rely on a single source. O’Toole switched to French to raise the PornHub story, insisting that the government had done nothing about it, to which Trudeau insisted that they were moving regulations that would help tackle illegal online content. O’Toole insisted that the alarm was raised months ago, and Trudeau repeated his response. Yves-François Blanchet was up for the Bloc, worrying that not enough vaccines had been procured, to which Trudeau reminded him that they have contracts for more doses than any other country. Blanchet was not impressed, but moved onto his usual demand for increased health transfers, to which Trudeau reminded him that vaccine rollout depends on their production, and that he has given the provinces have everything they need from the federal government. Jagmeet Singh was up next for the NDP, and in French, he was concerned that the Pfizer vaccine had too many transportation problems and wondered when the Moderna vaccine was coming, and Trudeau reminded him that it was one of four candidates under regulatory approval, and that it would take different kinds of vaccines to protect everyone. Singh repeated the question in English, and got the same response.

Round two, and Pierre Poilievre raised the conspiracy theory that the government was going to seize people’s savings (Freeland: You are misconstruing my words, and there is nothing wrong with the notion of pre-loaded stimulus), Richard Martel worried about how vaccines would be distributed to members of the Armed Forces (Hajdu: We are working with federal agencies under our jurisdiction to ensure they get vaccines) and when herd immunity would be reached (Hajdu: It’s important that people don’t spread misinformation), and Shannon Stubbs returned to the PornHub story (Blair: We have asked police in Quebec to ensure they have all the help they need; Guilbeault: We have been working for months with experts to bring forward legislation at the beginning of 2021). Gabriel Ste-Marie claimed that Quebec hospitals were suffering because of a lack of health transfers (Hajdu, reading in bad French: We have given billions of funds since the pandemic). Michelle Rempel Garner stated the federal government was responsible for the second wave of suicides, domestic abuse and substance abuse (Hajdu: We have done more for people using substances than your government ever did), and demanded guidance for people isolated who could get together with family for holidays (Hajdu: People who need help can reach out to our website), and Gary Vidal said the government was not being honest about their broken promises about drinking water (Miller: We have recommitted to our promise to get the job done, and there will be about twelve advisories remaining by spring). Laurel Collins misquoted the PBO’s report on the Trans Mountain expansion (O’Regan: There are a number of factors that go into the necessary for the project, and there is a strong business case for it), and Alexandre Boulerice repeated the question in French (Wilkinson: We are working toward new climate regulations).

Round three saw questions on the Baylis medical non story (Anand: Businesses from across the country stepped up), the new framework for dealing with China (Champagne: It is a complex relationship and not black and white, and the China of 2020 is not the China of 2016), on the assisted dying legislation passing in time — calling out the Conservatives along the way (Lametti: The leader of the opposition needs to show leadership), the court challenge on the “secularism” law in Quebec (Lametti: We are not in court challenging this — Quebecers are), demanding support for a bill to allow beer and wine to be shipped by mail (Bains: We are committed to reducing barriers between provinces, and we look forward to working with him to reduce red tape), the needs of youth (Chagger: Look at all the programmes we rolled out), new businesses not qualifying for assistance programmes (Freeland: We have put forward plenty of assistance programmes, and are always looking to help cases that fall through the cracks), cyber-security threats to vaccines (Hajdu: The Canadian Forces members embedded in the Public Health Agency’s response and they are alert to threats), truckers needing access to Michigan (Hajdu: We piloted a study with Alberta to determine the best way to do testing at the borders and we will have more to say when the study concludes), local procurement in the pandemic (Bains: We have worked hard to procure from Canada), and the loophole in the Basel Conventions with the US (Wilkinson: We are taking leadership, and the US is not a party, and the agreement we put into place is to ensure that waste that moves between our countries is done in a manner that is compliant with Basel).

Overall, I remain distressed that at just how hard the Conservatives are riding on conspiracy theories, whether it’s about the CanSino vaccine candidate, or this new one cropping up about people’s savings – which is merely about Freeland remarking that people who have been saving during the pandemic (mostly upper-income households) have pent-up demand that will help fuel the recovery without additional government stimulus. And it’s not just in the Commons – the conspiracy theory was explicitly raised during Senate QP today, which is alarming. That you had backbencher John Brassard bellowing about George Soros during Freeland’s response in response to Poilievre is also alarming – and his absolute indignation when called out on it, insisting that the didn’t say anything anti-Semitic is proof that this kind of toxic behaviour is becoming ingrained and that they have become blind to just what it is they are actually saying. This is a very big problem. In addition, they keep raising a completely false narrative in the Baylis Medical non-story, and despite the facts having been explained to them in committee and in the media, they are holding fast in trying to tell the lie enough times in the hopes that people will believe it. While Freeland chided Poilievre for misconstruing her words, there continues to be insufficient effort being put into pushing back against the lies and misinformation being peddled for the cameras, which they then clip and use for shitposts. This is poisoning our democracy, and I’m not seeing nearly enough people alarmed by this behaviour.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Chrystia Freeland for a short-sleeved black dress, and to Maninder Sidhu for a tailored black suit with a crisp white shirt and red tie. Style citations go out to Yves-François Blanchet for a black jacket with a bright yellow shirt, brown waistcoat, grey striped tie, blue pocket square and blue jeans, and to Mary Ng for a boxy red dress with short sleeves and a collared neckline.

4 thoughts on “QP: Giving over to yet another conspiracy theory”

  1. I think you’ll be giving them style citations for wearing brown shirts and jackboots sooner rather than later. Or Fred Perry polos, khaki pants and red MAGA hats. Backhanded kudos to the Cons for embracing linguistic diversity; French “notwithstanding,” I’m sure their talking points sound better in the original German. Doucheland Uber Alles.

  2. “While Freeland chided Poilievre for misconstruing her words, there continues to be insufficient effort being put into pushing back against the lies and misinformation being peddled for the cameras, which they then clip and use for shitposts. This is poisoning our democracy, and I’m not seeing nearly enough people alarmed by this behaviour.”

    Even more alarming is how the Conservatives seem to be harassing anyone who may have done business with Liberals regardless of how long ago:

    https://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2020/12/07/speakers-spotlight-threatened-after-being-caught-up-in-we-affair-co-founder-2/

    Imagine… the “deputy” leader of the opposition is posting the phone number of private citizens and encouraging their members to harass them. This is getting out of hand and the CONservatives need to be called out for it.

  3. Just when I was thinking I have to see that outfit of Blanchet’s, there it is 🙂

  4. As for snaps, I was imagining Polly in prison stripes. It is axiomatic that one who is so perfect must have an indictable flaw in his character. somewhere. It just needs some sleuthing. perhaps someone has a bit of info now, you know nudge, nudge, wink, wink!

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