QP: Freeland vows to protect free expression

Posted on by

The Commons was a little emptier than the new normal of late, but as our rock of stability, Mark Gerretsen was again the only Liberal on the Chamber. Again. Candice Bergen led off in person, with a script in front of her, and she complained that Americans were getting together and attending packed sports stadiums while most Canadians were still “locked down,” and blamed the federal government’s inability to procure vaccines out of thin air. Chrystia Freeland reminded her that over twenty million doses have already arrived, and more were on the way. Bergen then read a bunch of blatant falsehoods about Bill C-10, for which Freeland assured her that as a former journalist, she understands the importance of freedom of expression and they would never endanger it, which this bill does not do. Bergen then raised Guilbeault’s blunder about “Net Neutrality,” and accused the government of trying to control speech, and Freeland repeated her response. Gérard Deltell carried on raising Guilbeault’s many blunders, and Freeland reassured him that everyone was against censorship, but they were concerned with the cultural sector. Deltell raised that Guilbeault keeps needing to correct himself, and Freeland repeated that as a former journalist, she would never limit freedom of expression, which the bill does not do.

Yves-François Blanchet rose for the Bloc, and he crowed about the Quebec government tabling a bill on protecting French, and Freeland read that the federal government recognises that the situation of French in Quebec is unique, and that they would study the bill in depth. Blanchet was disappointed that Freeland was insufficiently thrilled with the bill, and demanded a promise that the federal government would not challenge that bill in court. Freeland would not give him such an assurance.

Jagmeet Singh raised the blood deferral for men who have sex with men, and demanded to know why the prime minister would promise to overturn the ban and then not do it. Freeland assured him they support overturning the deferral, but they respect the authority of independent decision-makers and science. Singh complained in French that this didn’t make sense, but Freeland repeated her answer.

Round two, and Ed Fast railed about the budget, insisting it wouldn’t provide growth (Freeland: This is about growth, and bond ratings agencies have given their stamp of approval), Luc Berthold complained about companies who gave out dividends got the wage subsidy (Freeland: We supported 5.3 million workers in Canada), and Raquel Dancho claimed there wasn’t enough oversight on these subsidies but a woman entrepreneur in her riding cannot get anything (Freeland: That question betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of how bankruptcy protection works in Canada, and it entirely appropriate for companies to be encouraged to maintain jobs).

Stéphane Bergeron returned to Quebec’s new language bill (Joly: We recognise the need for the protection and promotion of French, and the language of work, and we are following the situation closely), and Mario Beaulieu repeated the same (Joly: Same answer).

Michael Chong promulgated conspiracy theories about former workers at the national lab in Winnipeg, including lying about the nationality of the workers in question (Hajdu: This lab does work all over the world, but I can’t comment on these former employees).

Charlie Angus raised the Ethics Commission’s report on Bill Morneau’s dealing with the Kielburgers (Freeland: The prime minster was cleared of all allegations), and Alexandre Boulerice repeated it in gloating French (Rodriguez: The report exonerates the prime minster).

Round three saw questions on second doses of vaccines (Hajdu: I don’t know where to even start with that mixed bag of half-truths), AstraZeneca doses (Hajdu: We are listening to science and want to ensure no doses go to waste), Bill C-10 not going far enough to protect Quebec culture (Guilbeault: We hope the work will go well at committee), privacy breaches in the immigration system (Mendicino: We have protocols and are transparent when there are breaches), support for small businesses (Ng: We have lots of measures and are doing more), testing for temporary foreign workers in Quebec (Qualtrough: We are taking this situation seriously), Enbridge Line 5 (O’Regan: It continues to operate, thanks to our efforts), enforcement of the sea border from American charter boats (Blair: We are working with the Americans), final regulations for the pay equity bill (Monsef: We are working on this issue), and Israeli settlements (Garneau: These jeopardise the efforts toward a two-state solution).

https://twitter.com/journo_dale/status/1392917581770727425

Overall, it’s been a while since we’ve seen Chrystia Freeland take the lead in her role as deputy prime minister, and taking on the leaders’ round herself, so that was a welcome change today, and lo, she also did better answer Bill C-10 questions than Steven Guilbeault does. Funny how that happens. And yes, Guilbeault did step in it yet again by not understanding the concept of Net Neutrality (which the government and everyone in the Commons supports) and sounding off on it, which he will inevitably have to walk back later. (Again, how is he still being allowed to clatter around like this?) Otherwise, we continued to get the usual bouts of lies and misdirection from the Conservatives, but I have to say that it is tremendously disappointing to see Michael Chong, who was seen as the moderate, Red Tory in the ranks, and who had some level of integrity, now going full-bore in promoting conspiracy theories and lying about the nationalities of the two former employees at the Winnipeg lab, so that they can score cheap points by pointing and shouting “CHINA!” and letting people think that this is connected to the imaginary notion that the lab in Wuhan created COVID as some kind of lab experiment that got loose (or worse). That the party keeps doubling down on these tactics is a real problem in our democracy, because it’s not sustainable and it will cause a lot of damage in the long term.

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

One thought on “QP: Freeland vows to protect free expression”

  1. Not guilty, no collusion. Chuckles and his pet pigeon need to be ordered to apologize for dragging Margaret Trudeau through the dirt. Hopefully now the Process committee will drop their WeGhazi witch hunt and move on to actual serious matters like protecting election integrity. Hopefully also, Jesse Brown gets his behind sued to oblivion and his Chapo ripoff podcast go the way of Gawker. You could serve up omelets for an army with all the egg these deplorables have on their fugly, lying, orange faces.

Comments are closed.