QP: Promulgating microbiology lab conspiracy theories

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The prime minister was indeed present for his Wednesday proto-PMQs, in spite of it feeling kind of like a Tuesday because of the holiday Monday. Of course, the only other Liberal present was once again Mark Gerretsen. (We really, really need this pandemic to be over). Erin O’Toole led off with his script on mini-lectern, and he asked how a person with “deep connection” to China were able to get high-level security clearance to work in the National Microbiology Lab, and Justin Trudeau simply stated that the scientists were no longer employed by the government. O’Toole went on a tangent about the government’s “failure” in granting them clearance and demanded and end to all partnerships with China, and Trudeau read a statement about the research security working group. O’Toole kept insinuating that the two scientists in question were Chinese when they were in fact Canadian citizens, and Trudeau read more statement about national security agencies reaching out to research organisations to ensure that security was being taken seriously. O’Toole raised the supposed “cash for access” fundraisers Trudeau had with supposed Chinese agents early in his time in office, threw a bunch of non sequiturs against the wall, and then again demanded an end to all partnerships with China’s military medical institute. Trudeau read yet more talking points about the development of guidelines that take into account national security issues with research projects. O’Toole then repeated his first question in French, and got another scripted response about how the government takes espionage seriously and that Public Safety and CSIS were working with universities.

Yves-François led for the Bloc, and he wanted support for a motion coming to the House around support for Quebec’s bill 96, and Trudeau stated that he looked forward to it, reminding him of the 2006 Harper motion. Blanchet waxed poetic about the motion, and Trudeau stated that he will work to protect French and that they already declare Quebec to be a nation in a untied Canada.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and decried that cuts to the Canada Recovery Benefit were on the way, and demanded the decision be reversed, and Trudeau reminded him that they would be there for Canadians, and that would not change. Singh then railed about banks raising fees, and Trudeau noted that they have been clear in discussions with these institutions that Canadians are going through a tough time which is why it’s important that everyone have their backs.

Round two, and Pierre Paul-Hus returned to the promulgation of conspiracy theories around Chinese researchers at the National Microbiology Lab (Trudeau: We can’t comment on what is happening, but we increased safeguards in March; I am concerned this will fuel anti-Asian racism), and Michael Barrett demanded Chinese scientists be barred from sensitive facilities, but with added sanctimony (Trudeau: We have strengthened our safeguards).

Martin Champoux demanded that Bill C-10 get royal assent before summer (Trudeau: We are pleased with the cooperation we’ve had to protect Canadian creators).

Rachael Harder tried to consider Bill C-10 an attack on net neutrality (Trudeau: The justice department has assured us that it does not impact Canadians’ Charter rights, and it applies to web giants and not users; That’s not what net neutrality means; We have stood up for Canadian producers after a decade where Conservatives attacked the cultural sector).

Singh was back up to worry about the COVID situation in Manitoba, and he demanded federal paid sickness benefit be “fixed” — because you can just handwave the back-end IT limitation away (Trudeau: The best leave is employer-paid, but that needs to come through the provinces), and in French, Singh accused the federal government of refusing to save Laurentian University (Trudeau: We are ready to cooperate when the province comes up with a plan, as it’s their jurisdiction).

Round three saw questions on Bill C-10 (Trudeau: You still don’t understand what net neutrality means, as this has nothing do with internet suppliers; You’re attacking culture in Canada), the decision not to boost incomes of seniors between 65 and 75 (Trudeau: We increased the GIS as one of the first things we did in office, but we also realised that seniors face greater costs as they get older), the National Microbiology Lab cooperating with Chinese scientists (Trudeau: The two scientists are no longer employed, and we took more steps to to increase national security considerations; I proudly stood with Chinese Canadians and I would caution you against contributing to anti-Asian racism), considering Major-General Dany Fortin as a “war buddy” of the defence minister (Trudeau: We became aware of an investigation, but it was up to the military to leave him there; We know more needs to be done to support the women and men in the Forces and we are taking more actions), and Black civil servants being subjected to harassment and racism (Trudeau: We have recognised that there is systemic racism in this country and we are working with the Black community, and to reform hiring and retention practices in the civil service).

Overall, the day had a bit of weirdness to it in several ways. For starters, the leaders’ round was almost entirely in English, which is unusual, especially from Jagmeet Singh. We also had a different pattern of questioning today, where you’d have the same MPs asking the same thing three or four times, and then occasionally passing it off to a colleague to ask again in the other official language, which meant sustained exchanges on the same topics – not that they were any more substantial, because the questions never really built to anything. If anything, they got more sanctimonious in tone, but when you pre-script everything, it’s hard to actually respond to what has (or has not) been said and drill down that way. It makes for poor exchanges, but hey, they’re not there for debate, they’re there to collect clips for social media. Also, once again Jagmeet Singh took all of the spots for his party, which is increasingly poor form and takes away from the point of these proto-Prime Ministers’ Questions.

Meanwhile, the decision to go hard on trying to pander to these conspiracy theories around the National Microbiology Lab is concerning, and pointing the finger and going “China, China, China,” is also worrying. Trudeau didn’t do a great job of responding to these, robotically reading scripts for the most part, but only when he put down the scripts to warn the Conservatives that this line of attack has the potential to fuel anti-Asian racism did he actually look sincere about it – and boy, did that set off the Conservatives (for whom being accused of racism is the bigger insult than their actual racist insinuations). The Conservatives continued their attempt to muddy the waters around what net neutrality is and is not, which Trudeau deflected a little better than his minister did, and no, Bill C-10 is not affecting net neutrality. I also found this like of attack that Major-General Dany Fortin being allowed to stay in his duties while under investigation because he may have been an “Afghanistan war buddy” of the minister to be utterly bizarre and devoid of substance, but they’re throwing everything at the wall and hoping something will stick. Hell of a way to do the job of accountability in parliament, guys.

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

One thought on “QP: Promulgating microbiology lab conspiracy theories”

  1. I hope its not too petty of me to hope that the Covid-Wuhan-Lab-Origin story is not true, simply because I don’t want Trump and his CPC acolytes to get a “win” on this conspiracy theory and turn it into an anti-China smear.

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