QP: Demanding a show of urgency on Calls to Action

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For Wednesday, proto-PMQ day, Justin Trudeau was present with his one other MP, Mark Gerretsen, because of course he was. Erin O’Toole led off, script on his mini-lectern, and he mentions the Kamloops mass graves, and wanted urgent action on several of the Calls to Action in the Truth and Reconciliation report. Trudeau had a script to read that they accepted all of the calls to action, and are working with Indigenous communities to fulfil those calls, including millions of dollars from Budget 2019. O’Toole insisted that this wasn’t good enough and wanted “urgent” action, for which Trudeau insisted that they have been taking it seriously, and that they are working with the communities, but mentioned that this fresh sense of urgency comes from non-Indigenous Canadians, but Indigenous people have been living with this. O’Toole tried to sound somber in saying that the families deserved a precise roadmap to achieving these calls to action, and Trudeau slowed down to annunciate that they were working in a culturally appropriate and trauma-informed way, and then slammed the Conservatives for not giving funding when the Commission asked for it in 2019. O’Toole insisted that they needed to “show urgency” and that this wasn’t time for political rhetoric — and yet that was all he was offering. Trudeau repeated that they are moving forward and put the boots to the Conservatives for fighting the UNDRIP bill. O’Toole then switched to French to repeat his first question about the renounced funding, and Trudeau reiterated that they are taking action and allocated funding.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he wanted time allocation on Bill C-10, musing that perhaps the government wanted the bill to fail so that they could blame the Conservatives, and Trudeau condemned the games the Conservatives were playing in committee to delay the bill while praising the aims of the bill. Blanchet then meandered about protecting French, before returning to C-10 as a mechanism to do so, and Trudeau thanked him for recognising the cultural protections in the bill, which was why they were trying to get it passed.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he returned to the topic of the mass grave, and once again raised the court cases against Indigenous children and survivors (though, as a lawyer, Singh should know that narrow points of law do need to be contested when they create bad precedents). Trudeau somewhat sharply reminded him that they support compensation and moving forward in culturally appropriate ways. Singh repeated the question in French, and got much the same reply.

Round two, and Michael Chong demanded to know how a Chinese scientist was granted access to the National Microbiology Lab (Trudeau: We take national security seriously and that people who have security clearances get them for the right reasons), and demanded the production of unredacted documents on the firings from the Lab (Trudeau: This is rich from your party given that you refused to implement national security oversight), tied the firings to the investigation into the origins of COVID (Trudeau: The creation of NSICOP was to ensure there is parliamentary oversight, and of course we support the investigation into the origins of COVID), and Gérard Deltell trolled in wondering if President Biden asking for answers from China was racist (Trudeau: We support an investigation), and tried to stoke the conspiracy theory around the firing of the two scientists (Trudeau: We can’t comment due to privacy concerns, and we have NSICOP to look into sensitive matters, which includes two Conservative members).

Xavier Barsalou-Duval demanded that the government withhold funds for Air Canada until their executives repay bonuses (Trudeau: The agreement we signed insisted that they have limits on compensation and we are shocked that they would pay themselves these bonuses while they were negotiating, and we are waiting for Air Canada to explain themselves).

Michael Barrett complained that the government turned over redacted documents to committee (Trudeau: When we were in opposition we were frustrated by government secrecy, which is why we created NSICOP), and tried to tie in to the Winnipeg lab conspiracy theory (Trudeau: We created NSICOP).

Singh got back up to returned to demand that all 94 Calls to Action be implemented — because you can do them at the drop of a hat, including the ones in provincial jurisdiction (Trudeau: Some of these are not our jurisdiction, I am impatient but we are moving to do this in the right way), and the national plan on MMIW report (Trudeau: We launched the inquiry after years of inaction, and we are working with provinces and Indigenous leaders).

Round three saw questions on the Fish report on military justice (Trudeau: We have taken concrete actions to address this, and we will be immediately implementing dozens of Justice Fish’s recommendations; We have taken significant steps but we know there is more work to do), judicial appointments (Trudeau: We made significant reforms to the process to address the gaps in the process, and reinforced the role of independent advisory committees), Bill C-10 as an attack on freedom of expression (Trudeau: We are disappointed by not surprised by the Conservatives attacking culture, while the bill respects Charter rights; web giants are not doing their fair share to support cultural creators in Canada), determining what counts as “Canadian” under C-10 (Trudeau: The bill aims to level the playing field between creators and web giants), and supporting an NDP motion on the TRC calls to action (Trudeau: We have moved forward on all of the calls to action).

Overall, I found it a bit off-putting to see Erin O’Toole standing up, and with performative somber tones, demand faster action on work that the government is doing in consultation with Indigenous communities. Trudeau made this point in a press conference yesterday that they could do everything immediately and do it poorly – and anyone who has paid enough attention to the file will have seen countless examples of times were the government is set to move ahead on an Indigenous policy only to be told that the community is not in favour, and demanding that they restart the process with new grassroots consultations. Trudeau could perhaps make this point more clearly and more often, but he hasn’t been a complete lost cause on it (and he’s finally stopped prefacing every Indigenous-themed question with the recitation of there being no relationship of greater importance). Trudeau’s answers on the National Microbiology Lab questions were also better than some we’ve seen from responsible ministers, and directing MPs to get NSICOP on the case if they’re so concerned – which is great, but you and I both know that these national security concerns are overblown and about trying to play into the conspiracy theories about the origins of COVID.

I am also increasingly losing patience with Rachael Harder’s insistence on getting ministers or the prime minister to weigh in on what counts as “Canadian” under the CRTC’s rules. She knows full well there is a formula that was arrived at through the regulatory process, and that this would not be in the legislation, precisely because it’s a matter for regulation. This is an entirely disingenuous line of questioning that is designed for her to create shitposts to say “The Liberals don’t even know what’s in the bill!” knowing full well that what she’s asking for isn’t in the bill. I keep saying this, but seriously – this is no way to run a democracy, you guys.

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

One thought on “QP: Demanding a show of urgency on Calls to Action”

  1. Instead of bad-faith parsing of CanCon formulas and McCarthyesque allegations of dual loyalty, how about the barely-Canadian cons answer for the British team of sh*tposters they just hired, or Postmedia which is owned by a Trump-affiliated hedge fund, or Harper’s desperate hire of Lynton Crosby as his PR flack, or his involvement with the I.D.U. giving a boost to thugocracies like Viktor Orban’s around the world, or how many times cons have made appearances on Pox News, etc. etc. etc. Instead they go after the CBC and make dog whistle noises about “globalism.” What they practice is more like Goebbelism: accuse your enemy of what it is you’re guilty of in the first place!

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