QP: Selectively quoting reports to one another

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There were only three Liberals in the Chamber today, which remains a problem, but they keep telling themselves they’re setting a “good example.” They’re not. Pierre Poilievre led off, and he lamented a Canadian Federation of Independent Business report citing that up to twenty percent of small businesses may close because of the pandemic. Appearing by video, Chrystia Freeland quoted this week’s IMF report that praised the federal government’s quick action in providing supports. Poilievre then gave a mendacious comparison of unemployment figures, to which Freeland responded with comparisons of the participation rates in the labour force. Poilievre railed about people not getting jobs, but Freeland repeated her IMF quotes. Pierre Paul-Hus was up next, and he gave a fictitious version of the CanSino deal, to which Freeland read the talking points on the vaccine portfolio. Paul-Hus demanded a back-up plan for vaccinations, to which Freeland haltingly read talking points about the breadth of the portfolio as being Plans A, B, C, and D.

For the Bloc, Sébastien Lemire quoted that experts did not agree with the CanSino deal and falsely quoted the “putting all our eggs in one basket” notion, for which Freeland read assurances that the government always listens to expert advice, before repeating the assurances about diversifying the portfolio. Lemire then complained about the Laval candidate not getting funding, for which Freeland read that the researcher got a million dollar subsidy from the government.

Rising for the NDP, Jagmeet Singh complained in French about the federal sickness benefit, and demanded it being improved — though in 94 percent of workplaces, sick leave is a provincial responsibility. Freeland read that the sickness benefit was an important programme, and that provinces have put protections for employment in place. Singh repeated his demand in English, and Freeland agreed that paid sick leave is important, which is why they provided the benefits they could.

Round two, and Candice Bergen demanded that Huawei be banned because their technology is used for surveillance of Uyghurs (Champagne: We take the advice of our security agencies; You know that the grants are awarded by an arm’s length process), Jasraj Hallan worried that a Canadian visa office in India being subcontracted to a company with Chinese ties (Mendicino: We protect privacy standards and ensure they are being met), and Garnett Genuis demanded to know what evidence was sufficient to recognise a genocide in China (Garneau: We have demanded that the government of China give unfettered access and we are working with international partners to pool resources and intelligence).

Mario Simard returned to the gripe about the Laval vaccine candidate (Champagne: We announced bio-manufacturing supports less than a month after the announcement of the pandemic), and he disputed the timeline on domestic investments (Champagne: We made strategic investments with a long-term vision).

Michael Chong demanded support for the Supply Day motion to recognise a genocide was taking place against Uyghurs in China (Garneau: We are positive toward this motion, and we’ll see what happens when the vote takes place), whether the government would recognise the motion if it passes without the government supporting it (Garneau: That’s a hypothetical), a Biden-led dialogue in the Asia Pacific that could turn into an Eastern NATO (Garneau: We have been interested in this region, particularly with trade, and it is natural for Canada to develop those relationships).

Charlie Angus raised Facebook blocking news content in Australia (Guilbeault: We are at the forefront of the battle to ensure that web giants pay their fair share, and are working with our allies), and Alexandre Boulerice demanded federal support for francophone education (Joly: We can always do more to protect official languages, and we see the need for access outside of Quebec, and we condemn the inaction of conservative provincial governments).

Round three saw questions on the vaccine task force not recommending CanSino (Anand: We received their advice to procure seven candidates, and that’s what we did), relocating the Olympics from Beijing (Garneau and Guilbeault: This is the call of the Canadian Olympic Committee), not banning handguns nationally (Blair: This bill has the strongest restrictions in all part of the country), certainly on temporary foreign workers on farms (Qualtrough: We are working to ensure their timely arrival and are tailoring quarantine solutions), border crossings (Alghabra: We ensure they are accessible for essential movement of goods), demanding that Trudeau personally intervene on Line 5 (O’Regan: We take this seriously, and we are defending it), “ethical oil” (O’Regan: Here is a list of ways we have been supporting the energy sector), demanding a tantrum over Keystone XL (O’Regan: This pipeline is a loss but it is not the end of our energy sector), rent arrears (Hussen: We took quick action to provide benefits to ensure they can stay in their homes in the pandemic, and we are concluding agreements with provinces to ensure they can receive direct payments to make rent), and a laundry list of China’s sins (Garneau: We are gravely concerned with the allegations coming out of China and are working with our allies in putting together our expertise).

Overall, I would have to say this is one of Chrystia Freeland’s most disappointing performances in ages. While I did appreciate that she was countering Poilievre’s mendacious unemployment comparisons with participation rate figures, the rest of her time was spent woodenly reading the same few talking points as always, which was frankly lame. You can’t just counter Poilievre and his parade of lies with the same four wooden talking points. Seriously. Stop it. Meanwhile, the accusations that the government disregarded the advice of the vaccine task force around CanSino seems to be a very selective reading of what was said (which my understanding was that the task force didn’t elevate CanSino above other candidates), but this narrative that the government put “all of their eggs” in the CanSino basket has never held water. And yet they keep bringing it up, but what does the government do? Repeat the same lines about the breadth of the vaccine portfolio. Come on, guys.

Sartorial snaps and citations remain on hiatus for lack of a suitable sample size.

2 thoughts on “QP: Selectively quoting reports to one another”

  1. Somebody has to get to these meek Ministers to tell them that they must reply that health matters in the main are provincial jurisdictions. Every session they miss the opportunity to do so. Lame.

  2. Everything that the Liberals say is twisted by the opposition and the largely supported by the media who reports every word the opposition says with minimal fact checking to see if the statements are factual. The Liberals are fighting a losing battle on the communication front because everything they say is automatically called so much malarkey by the opposition and fully supported by conservative leaning media which is the majority of media in Canada.

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