QP: Demanding a “data-driven” plan to re-open

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On a beautiful Tuesday in the Nation’s Capital, the prime minister was indeed in the Chamber for QP, along with fourth other Liberals, which was a very pleasant change of pace. Erin O’Toole led off in person, script on mini-lectern, and he raised the fatigue over lockdowns and the spectre of opioid overdoses, and true to his party’s Supply Day motion, demanded a “data-driven” federal plan for re-opening the economy. Justin Trudeau noted that the federal government has always been there for Canadians and would continue to listen to the recommendations of experts on re-opening. O’Toole tried to wedge a mental health angle, and Trudeau insisted that they stuck to the advice of science, and poked that some Conservatives didn’t even believe in masks. O’Toole then falsely accused the federal government of making a political decision around second doses, before accusing the federal government of being late on everything, to which Trudeau pushed back, citing that the provinces make the decision around spacing vaccine doses. O’Toole then repeated his first question in French, got much the same response in French, and for his final question, O’Toole accused the country of trailing behind. Trudeau took the opportunity to say that while O’Toole wanted a plan for the economy, he still doesn’t believe that the environment and the economy go hand in hand.

Yves-François Blanchet rose to for the Bloc, and after raising the announcement on high-speed internet yesterday, demanded higher health transfers. Trudeau reminded him that they have given higher transfers to the provinces in the pandemic and they would discuss future transfers after it was over. Blanchet then raised the panic over a certain obnoxious blow hard professor’s “Quebec-bashing,” but this time, Trudeau didn’t bite and returned to talk about federal supports for provinces. 

Jagmeet Singh then rose for the NDP, and in French, demanded an apology for General Vance getting a raise after allegations were raised against him, and Trudeau spoke about the importance of independent investigations. Singh switched to English to demand the government support their Supply Day motion on taking profit out of long-term care, to which Trudeau reminded him that under the constitution, this is a provincial responsibility. 

Round two, and Candice Bergen demanded federal guidance on when vaccinated grandparents could hug children or when religious facilities can re-open (Hajdu: These are provincial and local health decisions, not federal ones), James Cumming demanded a plan for economic recovery (Freeland: Here is a quote from a ratings agency reaffirming our AAA rating; look at these great GDP numbers), and Michelle Rempel Garner returned to a demand for federal guidance for vaccinated Canadians (Hajdu: We work with provinces on their guidance).

Stéphane Bergeron raised a report on provincial debt levels to demand higher health transfers (Hajdu: We have been working with the provinces to support them; Rodriguez: We have be there for the provinces and will always be there).

Pierre Poilievre gave a smarmy recitation of his demand for question about a PMO staffer’s communications with WE (Chagger: The non-partisan public service determined this charity was the only one that could deliver the outcomes but it did not work out as hoped; Rodriguez: We always had ministers appear at committees without hesitation because ministers are accountable), and Pierre Paul-Hus returned to the question of General Vance’s pay raise (Sajjan: We don’t determine pay increases, as they are determined independently).

Rachel Blaney demanded an end to systemic racism in policing (Blair: Our condolences go out to the Boushie family, and we have been working toward modernising training for policing, and are accelerating the co-development of a plan for First Nations policing), and Charlie Angus demanded an end to legal proceedings around survivors of the St. Anne’s residential school (Bennett: Their compensation was not according to the agreed principles and we need to revisit it).

Round three saw questions on COVID tests for quarantining temporary foreign workers (Bibeau: We are working on this issue), demanding a quarantine exemption for humanitarian workers (Gould: The policy is designed to keep Canadians safe), snowbirds returning from Florida requiring quarantine (Hajdu: Our tough measures keep the rate of COVID importation extremely low), essential pipeline workers being quarantined (Mendicino: We value essential workers and are working with them), Canadian citizenship for Raïf Badawi (Mendicino: We are working with Global Affairs, given that he is not on Canadian soil), small business debt (Freeland: Pass Bill C-14, which has measures to help them), CRA locking out 800,000 accounts (Lebouthillier: We took precautionary measures and no one’s account was compromised), lockdowns (Hajdu: Provinces decide on this), vaccines (Monsef: We put Canadians at the heart of our plans, and we have taken the opportunity to connect every Canadian to high-speed Internet), childcare as part of economic recovery (Hussen: We have an ambitious plan to ensure every child has access to high-quality childcare), vaccines (Champagne: We have invested in increasing bio-manufacturing).

Overall, the day was simply obnoxious in so many ways. O’Toole and the Conservatives banging on about their Supply Day motion demanding a “data-driven plan” to end lockdowns and re-open the economy was not unexpected, but their motion and its demands are pure shenanigans, blurring federal and provincial jurisdiction and demanding powers of precognition that would challenge anyone other than the Kwisatz Haderach. That they are trying to trade in mental health tropes to justify their demand is disingenuous at best, but is probably best described as a fog of bullshit. That the Conservative MPs kept demanding exemptions for quarantines misses the whole point of quarantine, and it boggles the mind that they think this is somehow in the best interests of Canadians. As well, their concern trolling that we are still suffering lockdowns in parts of the country ignores that this is solely the fault to premiers who didn’t implement strict enough measures to control the spread of COVID.

Another obnoxious event was the Liberals using a backbench suck-up question to set up an announcement on the budget date. This particular way of making announcements just defeats the whole purpose of the exercise, but things have degenerated to this point already, so why not continue to make it worse?

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

2 thoughts on “QP: Demanding a “data-driven” plan to re-open”

  1. “O’Toole and the Conservatives banging on about their Supply Day motion demanding a “data-driven plan” to end lockdowns and re-open the economy was not unexpected, but their motion and its demands are pure shenanigans, blurring federal and provincial jurisdiction and demanding powers of precognition that would challenge anyone other than the Kwisatz Haderach.”

    Big upvotes for the Dune reference!!!

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