For Monday, there was but a single Liberal on the government benches, and if you guessed that it was Mark Gerretsen, you’d be right. Candice Bergen led off in person, and she raised the testimony last week that the prime minister’s chief of staff knew about the allegations against General Vance. Harjit Sajjan told her that he followed the same process that Erin O’Toole did when he was in Cabinet and heard rumours about Vance that he wanted investigated — which may not be the slam dunk Sajjan may think it is. Bergen then raised the problem of people flying into the US and then driving over the border, which was allowing variants to spread. Omar Alghabra listed the measures, particularly around air travel, that had been implemented, and quarantine measures. Bergen said that Alghabra wasn’t understanding that people were landing in the US and driving up to the border to avoid hotel quarantines, and Alghabra stated that people still need tests before they fly into the US and upon landing. Gérard Deltell took over in French, lamented that the prime minster said he had no regrets over the handling of the pandemic, and demanded more rapid tests, for which Patty Hajdu reminded him that they delivered over 25 million rapid tests to provinces. Deltell railed at the fact that the government seemed to be blaming the provinces and demanded more rapid tests at the border, and Hajdu reminded him of their measures to date, and that they are working with provinces and territories. 

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and blamed the federal government for the strike at the Port of Montreal and stated that the government hadn’t sat both parties down (erm, pretty sure federal mediators have been involved), and Pablo Rodriguez reminded him of the importance of the port to all of Quebec. Therrien accused the federal government of dragging their feet on every labour dispute, and Rodriguez hit back accusing the Bloc of not being there for Quebec.

Jagmeet Singh was up for the NDP, and in French, he raised the death of a thirteen year-old over the weekend and demanded more federal action on the pandemic, to which Carla Qualtrough reminded him of federal supports available. Singh amped up his indignation in English, demanding paid sick leave and more vaccinations to hardest hit areas — both of which are provincial jurisdiction — and Qualtrough reiterated that they are doing what they can to get things like paid leave to people who need it.

Round two, and Richard Martel accused the government of being too slow to deal with the strike at the Port of Montreal (Rodriguez: We have been working on negotiations for two-and-a-half years and had mediators involved, and will you support our strategy?), James Bezan raised the testimony that the prime minister’s chief of staff knew of the General Vance allegations (Sajjan: We have no tolerance for misconduct, and we followed the same process the previous government took including what your leader did when he was aware), and Pierre Paul-Hus repeated the questions in French (Sajjan: Same answer).

Luc Thériault railed that the government was not giving higher health transfers but was spending $3 billion to develop national standards for long-term care (Hajdu: Here is a list of transfers we have given to provinces), and wanted more resources for mental health (Hajdu: We created Wellness Together because we knew the provinces would need additional help), and Marilène Gill demanded that any childcare funds going to Quebec be without any strings (Rodriguez: You are trying to start a fight).

Pierre Poilievre railed about the size of the national debt “on the national credit card” (Fraser: You are ignoring how much we have helped Canadians through the pandemic), and tried to rail about the unemployment rate for much of the pandemic (Fraser: I won’t take lessons from someone whose government had the worst economic growth rate since the Great Depression).

Poilievre is starting in on the federal debt as being a “national credit card.”
No. There is zero correlation between national debt and credit card debt. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) April 26, 2021

Alexandre Boulerice demanded the government not legislate the Port of Montreal strikers back to work (Rodriguez: This port is essential to the entire economy, and there is a consensus to this effect), and Lindsay Mathyssen policed the government’s feminism around sexual misconduct in the military (Sajjan: We are taking more action and will have an announcement in the weeks to come).

Round three saw questions on Iran being on the UN commission on the status of women (Garneau: The UN is not perfect, and our position on Iran’s human rights abuses has been made repeatedly), a Veterans Affairs report not released to the Desmond inquiry (MacAulay: This was provided to the judge to determine if it was to be used), the Port of Montreal dispute (Rodriguez: There is a consensus in Quebec calling for our action), demands to extend the tax filing deadline (Lebouthillier: CRA’s call volume has increased by 83 percent, but we are taking steps), a gang killing in Vancouver (Blair: We are tackling ways in which criminals acquire guns), tax credits for carbon capture technology (Serré: We are investing in those who are working on this technology), people going across the border for vaccines (Hajdu: I’m glad they had access to a strong partner in the US), prioritising CBSA officers for vaccinations (Blair: Provinces need to set priorities, and we’re glad Ontario has agreed), the prime minister having “no regrets” on pandemic handling (Hajdu: I have no regrets with helping provinces and no country has had a perfect pandemic), vaccine supplies (Anand: We are working with supplies), and the fiscal anchor (Fraser: We will take your suggestion under advisement).

Don Davies has joined the ranks of those who believe that scarcity of vaccine supply doesn’t exist, nor do supply chain issues, or time necessary to manufacture them. Apparently we can just acquire them in a replicator. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) April 26, 2021

Overall, the government’s complete reversal of their previous positions on negotiated solutions to labour disputes, like the strike at the Port of Montreal, and their sudden willingness to bring in back-to-work legislation when they resisted such calls prior, as with the rail strike in 2020, was quite something. Even more stunning, however, was the way in which they completely weaselled around their previous position by pointing out that this port had a bigger economic impact, and that there was a “consensus” in Quebec that they needed to step in and impose a solution. It makes it hard to take them seriously as having any kinds of principles as a party when they are willing to completely swallow themselves whole when there’s a situation that involves Quebec (but then again, pretty much all parties do this, so no one is faultless). Otherwise, I’m not sure that Harjit Sajjan’s attempt to deflect from his handling of the Vance situation by pointing out that it’s what Erin O’Toole did when he was in Cabinet is really the slam dunk that he thinks it is. Everything about this reinforces that he was far too incurious as the responsible minister to see that the situation was dealt with, and he needs to tender his resignation over it. Finally, I still do not get why parties think it’s a winning move to pretend that vaccine scarcity is not an issue. You can’t get them out of replicators – there have been supply chain issues, and manufacturing scale-up issues throughout the process, and those can’t be hand-waved away. Some credible opposition would be appreciated.

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