QP: Alleging a national security breach

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For what was possible the last time in person for the spring sitting, Justin Trudeau was present in the Chamber, with only Mark Gerretsen on the Liberal benches with him. Erin O’Toole led off, and he immediately launched into the National Microbiology Lab firings, accusing the government of hiding the truth. Trudeau refuted this, and said that they we looking to share the information in the right way, which was why they were asking NSICOP to look into it, and that unredacted documents had already been provided to it. O’Toole tried to make the case that the government broke national security laws around the Lab, but Trudeau repeated his response. O’Toole threw out a bunch of possibly non-sequitur facts about the Wuhan lab in China and tried to tie them to the Winnipeg lab, and Trudeau chided the Conservatives for ignoring oversight of national security, which is why they created NSICOP. O’Toole tried to accuse Trudeau of advancing China’s interests, and Trudeau gave the somewhat tired response that the Conservatives were focused on political games while he was working for Canadians against foreign threats. O’Toole then repeated his first question in French, and Trudeau repeated his response about NSICOP.

Yves-François Blanchet was up for the Bloc, and he complained that Trudeau mused about COVID masks and Quebec’s “secularism” law, and Trudeau remarked that he supports Quebeckers’ rights to challenge that law in court. Blanchet was irate that people were linking Bill 21 with the rise in Islamophobia, but Trudeau instead spoke about the importance of the Court Challenges programme, which was why his government restored its funding.

Jagmeet Singh appeared by video for the NDP, and in French, demanded an end to the lawsuits related to Indigenous children. Trudeau said it was false, they were not suing the children, but acknowledged that they deserve compensation and were negotiating it — but didn’t explain the purpose of the litigation. Singh repeated the question in English, and Trudeau repeated his answer, and once again did not explain the litigation.

Round two, and Michael Chong returned to the Winnipeg Lab’s leader quitting eight weeks into the pandemic, framing it in the most sinister way possible (Trudeau: We sent documents to NSICOP), he tried to politicise NSICOP (Trudeau: You were a member of the Harper government that went overboard on national security without any oversight), and demanded the unredacted documents on the Winnipeg Lab be turned over to the House (Trudeau: We turned them over to NSICOP and two of your colleagues sit on that committee). Gérard Deltell took over in French to repeat the demand for those documents (Trudeau: We have a venue for this investigation; I’m not sure why you are ignoring the work of NSICOP).

Blanchet got back up to solemnly complain that people tied the London hate-crime killings with Bill 21 (Trudeau: Muslims across the country are still suffering from the Quebec City mosque shooting, and all Canadians stand with the community which has suffered so much), and he grew increasingly incensed by the connection (Trudeau: It’s great that Quebeckers can challenge this in court).

Michelle Rempel Garner demanded a firm date for the end of hotel quarantines (Trudeau: We are working with scientists and evidence), and accused him of trying to avoid it after his G7 trip (Trudeau: We will be staying in a government-approved airport hotel just like anyone else), and demanded federal guidelines for when Americans unilaterally open their border (Trudeau: While we work together we have had tougher measures than the Americans have), and generally insulted his foreign policy (Trudeau: I take no lessons on managing Canada-US relations).

Lindsay Mathyssen demanded “real action” on countering online hate and Islamophobia (Trudeau: We are all heartbroken by this terrorist attack, and this hate must stop, and while e have taken many steps we have more work to do), and Brian Masse repeated the question (Trudeau: We have taken unprecedented steps, and we committed $50 million to the anti-racism strategy.

Round three saw questions on hotel quarantines (Trudeau: We have taken the measures required to protect Canadians), Olympic athletes not getting hotel quarantines relaxed (Trudeau: We are working with teams, sports organisations and athletes to ensure they are protected), Bill 21 and its purported “secularism” and demanded the federal government not fund any court challenges (Trudeau: Quebeckers hold dear the defence of human rights and some have chosen to challenge this in the courts, which we respect; It’s important to listen to the Muslim community to understand their concerns and fears, and I would suggest the Bloc listen to them about what they are experiencing in Quebec), housing prices (Trudeau: Conservatives never let the facts get in the way of a political attack, and here are statistics about the National Housing Strategy), the Winnipeg Lab “cover-up” (Trudeau: We created NSICOP to let parliamentarians of every party with the proper security clearance the ability to examine these issues), and wondering where is the legislation on tackling online hate (Trudeau: We have seen a spike in hate crimes, and we have signed onto the Christchurch calls to action will have legislation).

Overall, the day was not terribly exciting, and the number of topics was narrowed significantly on all parties, which made for a more focused, less scattershot but ultimately less illuminating day, because it was a lot of repetition on both sides. As well, Erin O’Toole got back at the very end for another couple of rounds to reiterate his earlier questions, albeit with added hyperbole, while Jagmeet Singh let two of his MPs from the London area ask questions in the middle of QP rather than taking all of the slots himself. Suffice to say, O’Toole and company’s questions on the National Microbiology Lab swung around from trying to tie it to conspiracy theories, to inventing a national security breach of historic proportions – in spite of all facts to the contrary – in wild fashion, and looks again like trying to throw anything against the wall in the hope that something sticks. The attempt to politicise NSICOP remain concerning, because it undermines the work that the committee does do. I also found it troubling that Michelle Rempel Garner went from a clear question off the start – if a bit overheated – to randomly throwing around insults by her fourth and final question, which looks particularly juvenile and in poor taste. I’m not sure how she thinks it’s helpful, or that it doesn’t make her look bad in the end.

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

2 thoughts on “QP: Alleging a national security breach”

  2. Trudeau is only turning around and pointing out the hypocrisy of what the anti-mask kooks in Quebec (and elsewhere) were purporting: that mask bylaws were a stealth way of “normalizing” Sharia law. Furthermore, that Legault had no problem mandating face coverings for pandemic reasons, while disallowing them for bigotry reasons. Anyone who can’t *qwhite* figure out the obvious is being intentionally obtuse. Has Pepe the Petulant apologized to Omar Alghabra yet? I’m not holding my breath.

    Sadly, Trudeau merely conveying facts and revealing the wee emperor Legault’s nudity along with that of his anti-federalist federal consigliere, could end up costing the Liberals votes among those who prefer to be “veiled.” After all, there are none so blind as those who refuse to see. Dare I say it — *Insh’allah,* at some point reason will prevail.

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