QP: Not a question, but a direct plea

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On what promises to be the second last QP of the spring sitting, the three opposition leaders were all present, while Justin Trudeau as only available remotely, being in quarantine, once again leading only Mark Gerretsen in the Chamber. Erin O’Toole led off in person, in French, where he read a script about the military ombudsman’s comments on ministerial interference in investigations. Trudeau assured him they were working on the structural and cultural change necessary, including appointing Louise Arbour to reviewing the situation. O’Toole repeated the allegations in French, but didn’t phrase it as a question, but turned it into a plea to Canadians to vote out the Liberals. Trudeau repeated his same response in English. O’Toole then turned to the non-story about the Liberals paying for data services to a company owned by a friend of the prime minister. Trudeau stated this was for constituency casework, which was kept separate from political databases, and all rules were followed. O’Toole tried to turn this into an expansive statement about Liberal “corruption,” and demanded to know if any other contracts were given to Tom Pitfield, and Trudeau talked around the Conservatives slinging mud and hoping to see what would stick. O’Toole produced a document that claims that a contract was given to Pitfield, and Trudeau reiterated that the Conservatives were only focused on narratives and not facts, that all parties use case management databases, and all rules were followed.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, in person, and complained about the new border measures announced yesterday, complaining they were arbitrary. Trudeau insisted this was part of a gradual reopening and more stages would be announced soon. Blanchet complained there were more rules than variants, and Trudeau said that while the leader of the Bloc may want simple answer, but they needed to ensure that Canadians were kept safe. 

Jagmeet Singh led for the NDP, and he railed about that military ombudsman’s report, and Trudeau read that they have been committed to structural and cultural change, and that they have taken more concrete actions recently, including some new appointments and $236 million in the budget. Singh switched to French to complain that some benefit were being reduced, and Trudeau recited that they were there for as long as Canadians needed them, and pleaded with the NDP to pass the budget.

Round two, and Michael Barrett gave a sanctimonious denunciation of the contract for data services (Rodriguez: Aren’t you the guy who tried to shut down Parliament last week?), James Bezan read the quotes from the military ombudsman’s report before demanding Sajjan’s resignation (Sajjan: I am ensuring we look after our troops, whereas you cut the military when you were in government), and Pierre Paul-Hus repeated the same again in French (Sajjan: You can continue to play political games and sling mud, but we are doing the work).

Rhéal Fortin repeated the same question and same demand (Sajjan: We are creating a more robust independent reporting mechanism; Rodriguez: You should take a step back and look at who you are talking to, and praised Sajjan’s service record).

Michael Chong gave a lament for the government undermining the rule of law by not turning over the National Microbiology Lab (O’Connell: You have no shame, and we released the documents in two formats to the committee and NSICOP), and Michelle Rempel Garner complained the government wasn’t listening to the scientific panel on the border and was not providing benchmarks (O’Connell: Your rhetoric on the border is all over the place, and we won’t endanger Canadians).

Jenny Kwan railed about the processing times for refugees’ families (Mendicino: We have doubled the number of refugees we accept, and have extended the number of groups we protect), and Niki Ashton and complained the government wasn’t doing enough for recovering bodies at residential schools (Bennett: We are working with all of our partners, and announced more funds this morning, and we are supporting community-led initiatives).

Round three saw questions on the labour market (Fraser: The Conservatives have a long and storied people of calling people lazy, but we have had Canadians’ backs), a “pathway for normalcy” for the border (Anand: Canada is first in the G20 and G7 for first doses of vaccines), increasing pensions for seniors (Lauzon: Older seniors have higher costs), EI sickness benefits by demanding a royal recommendation for their bill (Qualtrough: EI sickness benefits are important and there are extended benefits in the budget), a request to bring Palestinian children to Canada for medical treatment (Gould: We have been providing services to uphold their human rights), the Winnipeg Lab documents (O’Connell: You are more focused on innuendo and conspiracy theories than doing your jobs; Rodriguez: We provided possible solutions for disclosure), the birthday party shooting vs weakening mandatory minimum sentences (Blair: We promised we would strengthen gun control and we are in the process of doing so, and we want to eliminate the systemic and structural racism in the justice system), a plan to reopen the border (O’Connell: We are listening to science), the government getting out of the way on vaccinations (Anand: You criticise and then take credit for our procurement), Indigenous-led initiatives to protect old growth forests (Wilkinson: We have made record investments and have partnered with Indigenous communities), and Facebook censoring a press conference (O’Connell: You should rethink your choices of spreading misinformation).

Overall, it was a bit less of a clown show than it was yesterday, but this is not the first time that Erin O’Toole has decided that he wasn’t going to ask a question and would instead speak “directly to Canadians,” and I’m sorry but this schtick is weak and abrogation of his job of accountability. If he wants to address Canadians, he can hold a press conference. He has opportunities to make speeches in the Commons. Doing it at Question Period is just more grandstanding, which is more of what we’re seeing out of this current parliament. When it comes to the demands for Harjit Sajjan to resign, the Conservatives’ approach continues to be one that makes it look like they are attacking him personally rather than his inability to do the basics of his job, which only serves to insulate him. This is why the grandstanding approach just undermines their efforts.

Otherwise, the fact that the Conservatives are outright insinuating that the two fired scientists from the National Microbiology Lab were Chinese spies is very notably done under the protection of parliamentary privilege, and I very much doubt they will repeat those allegations outside of the House, where they could be sued for them. This too is just more grandstanding, blowing the issue out of proportion and conflating issues to make it sound like a bigger scandal than it very likely is, and it makes it hard to take it seriously, in spite of how much of a parliamentary privilege this is blowing up to be.

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

One thought on “QP: Not a question, but a direct plea”

  1. Sajjan will probably get shuffled after the next election, assuming the Liberals win. Which could end up meaning they adopt your suggestion of promoting McKenna to the position, — and maybe elevate Atwin to infrastructure (or a PS position at least). As for the CPC, they should just fold up the blue tent and go home. Their only platform, besides asinine Republican-imported conspiracy theories about Chinese spies and cancel culture, is an increasingly demented hatred of Justin Trudeau. Assuming the next election is his last rodeo, the big blue circus tent will probably collapse. Freeland just isn’t that much of a lightning rod other than her gender, the rest of the Liberal front bench even less so.

    The CPC don’t have any real star talent of their own to rally behind, just their usual publicity-seeking unserious clowns like Poilievre, Rempel-Garner and Bergen. Harper won’t come back; he’s having too much fun (and probably making bank) chumming around with authoritarian thugs like Viktor Orban. MacKay? He’s persona non grata. Ford? Kenney? Forget it. They have no glue keeping them together but the one they’re presently inhaling, after they beat so many dead horses instead of actually addressing a pandemic: Justin Justin Justin, Marcia Marcia Marcia, Hillary Hillary Hillary.

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