QP: Just pass the budget bill

Posted on by

While the prime minster was in Brussels for the NATO summit, his deputy was attending virtually. Candice Bergen led off in person, scripts before her, and she decried that there were photos of the prime minister at the G7 meeting without a mask (because they have been testing rigorously), and complained he wouldn’t be quarantining upon his return (untrue – he will be quarantining, but at a hotel in Ottawa and not Toronto or Montreal, because he doesn’t fly commercial), and accused him of not paying attention to job losses in our economy. Chrystia Freeland suggested the most important thing they could do to show they care about the economy is to pass Bill C-30 on the budget implementation. After a lengthy issue with translation volumes, Bergen accused the government of a litany of sins including corruption, cronyism and cover-ups, and insisted that the prime minster wasn’t able to focus on the economy — but didn’t really ask a question. Freeland said the government was working hard to pass the budget implementation bill that would extend supports to Canadians, but the Conservatives were playing partisan games in delaying it. Bergen raised the golf game between senior members of the Canadian Forces with General Jonathan Vance while was under investigation, to which Harjit Sajjan read a statement about culture change, and how the new chief of defence staff was dealing with this. Gérard a Deltell took over in French to accuse the government of appointing partisan judges, based on the moral panic of an irresponsible news piece, and David Lametti read some cheery talking points about the merit-based process without explaining it. Deltell took some swipes at Lametti, and Lametti read a piece from the Globe and Mail about the Conservative criteria for appointments based on donor lists.

Claude DeBellefeuille led for the Bloc, and she demanded the government make the language of work in federal offices in Quebec to be French, and Mélanie Joly repeated the demonstrably false notion that French is in decline in Quebec, before saying that in places with a strong francophone presence, they will have a right to work and be served in French. DeBellefeuille repeated the demand, and Joly insisted that there government has committed to doing more, and would have a future bill on official languages.

Peter Julian led for the NDP, and decried that pandemic benefits were being cut, while he accused the government of giving money to oil companies and banks (which is not really true). Freeland suggested that he support the budget implementation bill which would extend those income supports until the end of September. Lindsay Mathyssen returned the Vance golf game, and Sajjan read his statement on institutional culture change and the role of the chief of defence staff once again.

Round two, and Michael Chong demanded to know why a Chinese scientist got access to the National Microbiology Lab (Hajdu: We have incredible scientists at the lab), and the Wuhan lab leak theory (Hajdu: We will work with international partners on investigating the origin of this virus), Pierre Paul-Hus demanded unredacted documents on the firing of the scientists at the Winnipeg Lab (Hajdu: We released those documents to NSICOP), and the Vance golf game (Sajjan: Same answer), and Leona Alleslev repeated the same questions on the golf game (Sajjan: Same answer, yet again).

Rhéal Fortin returned to the same moral panic about judicial appointments (Lametti: I’m proud of our process), and went two more times (Lametti: Variations on the same answer).

Ed Fast raised the horror of a Toronto developer buying houses to turn them into rentals, and decrying government wasn’t doing anything (Hussen: Hooray for our national housing strategy; The first-time home buyers’ incentive is helping, but you are voting against us expanding it).

Leah Gazan raised another possible grave site at a Brandon, Manitoba residential school site (Bennett: We will support all communities with whatever they need), and Charlie Angus gave some sanctimony before raising a situation in Kasheshewan (Miller: The outbreak there will get worse before it gets better, but we have mobilised more resources and staff and we will be there).

Round three saw questions on Liberal staffers who travelled with the minister to campaign provincially in Newfoundland and Labrador (O’Regan: Staff travel to meet operational requirements, all rules were followed to the letter, and they campaigned on their day off on a Saturday; I won’t police what my staffers do on their time off), the Federal Court case on First Nations children in care (Miller: They will be fairly and equitably compensation), the cancellation of LNG projects (O’Regan: Here is our record of approved projects), US tariffs on softwood lumber (O’Regan: We remain disappointed by the Americans taking this action; Bendayan: These tariffs are counter-productive and we continue to press for a negotiated settlement), rental and housing prices (Hussen: We are investing more money than ever before in affordable housing, and you are voting against it), green retrofits (Wilkinson: The subsidy is focused on home owners to help make changes), the blood donation deferral period for men who have ses with men (Hajdu: We continue to press Canadian Blood Services), and putting the environment in the constitution (Lametti: We made protection of the environment a priority, but we will look at all options).

Overall, the day was not terribly illuminating in any way, and the choice to try and play apparent class politics off the start – that international diplomacy is merely hobnobbing with wine and cheese – was ridiculous but not unexpected. Nevertheless, the Conservative and NDP insistence that the government was not focused on the economy or Canadians was immediately met by a call to pass the budget implementation bill (which received time allocation as of today). Not unexpected either were the questions on that golf game between General Jonathan Vance and a couple of other senior military leaders, and the Liberals could have done a great deal more to mitigate the damage done here, but instead, simply had Harjit Sajjan read some stilted lines about the need for culture change rather than sending a proper message. Compounding this were more happy-clappy talking points in the face of yet more questions and histrionics based on the moral panic around judicial appointments (thanks entirely to the irresponsible and factually dubious reporting by a single journalist at the CBC) rather than actually dispelling it with an explanation of the process. Why can’t this government simply communicate properly? Why? They keep hurting themselves by not actually communicating things, but that apparently doesn’t seem to stop them.

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