QP: From solemn moment to clown show

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Following every party’s statements and a moment of silence for the anniversary of the massacre at École Polytechnique, things got underway in earnest. While the prime minister was absent, Chrystia Freeland was present. Candice Bergen led off, script on her mini-lectern, and she asked for an update on the government’s programmes to combat violence against women. Freeland highlighted the importance of the day, and spoke about the “unprecedented” investments in the budget, and then called on all women in the a House to rise for a moment to remember those women. Bergen then pivoted to the topic of inflation and wanted to know what was happening with the Bank of Canada’s inflation target, and Freeland assured her the decision was coming in due course. Bergen was not satisfied, and demanded action on rising prices—though she did not call for price controls. Freeland assured her that they understand the difference between fiscal and monetary policy, and have confidence in the Bank, and that they don’t disparage them like the Conservatives do. Alain Rayes took over in French, and demanded a “concrete plan” to tackle inflation. (Like price controls?) Freeland listed off global inflation figures in response. Rayes repeated his demand for a “concrete plan,” and Freeland responded with praise for the GDP growth and job numbers.

Claude DeBellefeuille also raised the anniversary of École Polytechnique and the current spate of gun violence in Montreal and demanded tougher gun control. Marco Mendicino assured her the are working together with different governments to ensure that everyone can live safely. DeBellefeuille accused the federal government of doing nothing, and Mendicino repeated his assurances and brought up his meetings last week with gun control advocates.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, and he raised the scourge of opioid deaths, and demanded decriminalisation of simple possession of drugs. Jean-Yves Duclos noted that they are working at several levels around things like safe supply and support for users, with more to be announced shortly. Gord Johns repeated the demand in English, and Carolyn Bennett repeated Duclos’ answer in English.

Round two, and Matt Jeneroux listed the number federal buildings and hectares of federally-owned land and demanded that they be used for housing (Fraser: This is why we brought in the national housing strategy, and we have made no shortage of investments), Pierre Poilievre worried about unaffordable housing prices, amidst a bunch of nonsense points, and from there the clown show kept rolling (Fraser: We are continuing to make investments that are increasing the supply of housing; Freeland: Once upon a time, the Conservatives used to cast themselves as sound economic managers, but here are columnists calling out your untruths; Maybe the Conservatives’ problems with truth start at the top, and here are examples of the leader being misleading; Here are some other Conservatives with a truth problem).

Kristina Michaud worried about families looking to get guns to protect themselves at home (Mendicino: We are working with the government of Quebec to deal with the situation), and she worried about the importation of American gun culture (Mendicino: I share your concerns and we are working on it).

Luc Berthold didn’t think that the recent border measures were effective and that the ArriveCan app was not working (Mendicino: We are taking the necessary steps at the border to protect all Canadians), Raquel Dancho repeated the question in English (Mendicino: We are following the science to protect Canadians).

Heather McPherson demanded an immediate end to GIS clawbacks (Khera: We have strengthen the GIS, and we are working hard to find a solution to these clawbacks), and Taylor Bachrach demanded an explanation for why there were no border tests for those coming for the US (Duclos: We are following the science, and have the Conservatives heard of the science of vaccination?)

Round three saw questions on banning Huawei (Ng: We will ensure that Canadian networks are kept safe, but we won’t comment on specific companies), Quebec using tracking bracelets for perpetrators of domestic violence (Mendicino: This issue is one of the things I just discussed with my Quebec counterpart, and we are investing to find additional resources to combat gender-based violence), the backlog of Afghan refugee processing (Fraser: The effort is well underway, and 4000 are in Canada, 1200 are in third countries approved to arrive, and 9500 are in Afghanistan approved for travel, while your party campaigned to end the government-sponsored refugee stream), the former head of CMHC musing that a capital gains tax on housing would be a good thing—though he also said no government would ever do it (Freeland: We won’t and any indication otherwise is false), the flooding of a cross-border river in BC (Blair: There are ongoing discussions), small businesses (Qualtrough: Small businesses helped us recover jobs, and we are investing in training, immigration and youth employment), the US tax credit on electric vehicles (Ng: I was just in Washington to raise this issue, and this work continues), and overdose deaths (Bennett: We will do anything it takes to reduce deaths, and we have received a Section 56 exemption request from BC and Vancouver, and are evaluating them with haste).

Overall, the shadow of the École Polytechnique anniversary did loom large over QP, but was often wedged for political purposes, particularly by the Bloc around the current spate of gun violence in Montreal, though the Liberals were painfully earnest about the commemoration in their backbench questions. And then it turned into the usual Pierre Poilievre clown show around inflation, where Chrystia Freeland today started calling out misinformation that Poilievre, O’Toole, and other Conservatives have been spouting on the topic, which is good! But she still hasn’t provided a clear explanation for the causes of this inflation beyond “supply chains” or that it’s global, and she won’t ask if the Conservatives are demanding price controls, because that would be the only real tool the federal government would have if that is what they insist they should employ.

Sartorial speaking, snaps go out to Melissa Lantsman for a fuchsia jacket with a white top with a round collar and a small-v, and black slacks, and to Eric Duncan for a dark grey suit with a pink shirt and a dark pink striped tie. Style citations go out to Mark Holland for a burgundy suit with a whit shirt and a blue and pink striped tie, and to Laila Goodridge for a three-quarter sleeved cowl-necked black top with a black skirt with a loud Christmas pattern. Dishonourable mentions go out to Julie Vignola for a long yellow jacket with wide half-sleeves over a long-sleeved black top and slacks.

One thought on “QP: From solemn moment to clown show”

  1. The cons’ response to two days of commemorating women’s issues is… to launch a strategic witch hunt by a “political assassin” against a “strong woman in caucus”. I’m not saying whether or not Stubbs is a bad boss, but you really have to admire the absolute glaring hypocritical sanctimony. Funny how those allegations were NBD last January but all of a sudden the worst thing in the world because O’Toole wants to shut up dissidents (and only dissidents of a certain gender identification). Mark Strahl is still there. So is Senator MacDonald, but not Batters. Hmm.

    But when revelations came out about JWR having gone full Klobuchar on her employees, Trudeau was being a bad feminist. It’s so transparent. Pick a lane. Skippy berated civil servants too, but he (emphasis on the pronoun) keeps his powder dry, which means he stays and she goes.

    Though I do look forward to seeing how the gun lobbyists will square this, considering Stubbs was one of their darlings. Yet O’Toole and the cons have gone out of their way to make no mention of the intersect of gun violence and misogyny. Pretzel logic at its worst.

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