With Justin Trudeau back in Europe for more NATO and G7 meetings, most of the other leaders didn’t show up either, even though it was caucus day. Candice Bergen was present, however, and led off, concern trolling about the confidence agreement between the Liberals and the NDP, and insisted there was a signed agreement between them that is being kept secret (never mind that the details of the agreement are public). Mark Holland noted that Canadians expect MPs to work together in a hung parliament, which is a foreign concept to Conservatives given that they didn’t even try when they were in similar circumstances under Stephen Harper. Bergen insisted that there must be a signed agreement and that there is a so-called new executive committee that excludes the opposition, and Holland repeated that they are always looking to work together whenever possible. Bergen railed about “social experiments” (like pharmacare?) and decried the “nightmare socialist deal” that would be hugely expensive, and Holland gave another paean about working together to get things done. Luc Berthold took over in French, and he worried about “secret committees” under the agreement, to which Dominic LeBlanc reminded him that the Conservatives wrote a whole book on how to sabotage committees, so it was rich for them to insist the government didn’t respect Parliament. (Note that this government’s parliamentary vandalism is largely relegated to the Senate). Berthold worried this agreement would trample on Quebec’s jurisdictional rights, to which Pablo Rodriguez got up to list things the government is doing for Quebec.

Alain Therrien led off for the Bloc, and he too worried about Quebec’s jurisdiction, and LeBlanc lamented the Bloc’s frustration which led them to picking fights, and assured him they do respect provincial jurisdiction. Therrien read a statement from the Quebec government that gave a nonsense reading about the revenues they send to the federal government, and Rodriguez listed things they are doing that is good for Quebec, which is bad for the Bloc.

Rachel Blaney rose for the NDP, and she lamented that their motion on an excess profit tax failed, and wanted the government to tax companies and not people. (Erm, you know that people pay corporate taxes, right? That it’s not a magical money tree?) Randy Boissonnault acknowledged the sentiments behind the motion but that that the government was building a fairer and more affordable country with more benefit for people while taxing the rich. Alexandre Boulerice repeated the question in French, and got the same answer.

Round two, and Brad Vis gave a disingenuous correlation between government spending and housing affordability (Hussen: Your party has done nothing for affordability and has no plans), Rick Perkins worried that fisheries quotas were being expropriated without compensation (Murray: We are working with the local First Nations and industry to negotiate a solution in the spirit of reconciliation), Dan Albas wanted a free vote on their Supply Day motion to cut GST on gas and diesel (Boissonnault: Rising prices are due to the situation in Ukraine, and your plan would not work as gas companies would absorb the cut), Kelly Block repeated the risible notion that the confidence agreement helps Putin and demanded an expansion of oil and gas exports from Canada (Jones: We banned imports of Russian oil and gas), Richard Bragadon hollered about carbon prices (Guilbeault: Carbon prices are the most effective mechanism to reduce emissions, and one of your own MPs called on New Brunswick to restore the federal system in his province), and Jacques Gourde asked a weak question about the colours of the “NDP-Liberal coalition” being suffering—which makes no sense (Boissonnault: We are getting things done for Canadians).

Mario Simard demanded higher unconditional health transfers to provinces (Duclos: $73 billion was sent to the provinces over the pandemic on top of health transfers, which will be increasing), and Luc Thériault accused the government of picking a fight with provinces rather than just turning over money with no strings (Duclos: You are asking for transfers, and we are sending them, like these particular programmes).

Tracy Gray insisted that excise taxes and carbon prices would fuel inflation—which it won’t because taxes do not count in the measure (Boissonnault: Inflation is a global phenomenon because of energy shocks and supply chain problems), Richard Lehoux demanded support for the motion to cut GST on gas and diesel (Boissonnault: Your plan would not work), Larry Brock said the government was draining the country of wealth before demanding the planned carbon price increase be halted (Boissonnault: The inflation is a global phenomenon but we got growth and economic recovery), and Pat Kelly listed a bunch of falsehoods about inflation before demanding carbon prices not be raised (Guilbeault: In provinces under the federal price, they are getting higher rebates).

Jenny Kwan worried certain internal Ukrainian documents were not being accepted by the application process (Fraser: We are working to issue documents for those facing this issue), and Heather McPherson insisted on the need to support Ukrainian mothers and children when they arrive in Canada (Fraser: We are working with partners and provinces to sort out these issues).

Round three saw questions on who is considered a friendly foreign state when it comes to Canadians who may be prosecuted for fighting abroad (Joly: Should Canadians be in Ukraine, they should shelter and leave, and I will work with you on this issue), demands to increase energy exports (Jones: We are considering all options to preserve energy supply chains in Canada and where possible around the world), delays to the fighter jet procurement (Tassi: There is an open, fair and transparent process), demands that Canada have more presence on the ground in towns bordering Ukraine (Sajjan: We were on the ground, and have teams on the ground coordinating to get aid to the right people), chartering flights to airlift Ukrainian refugees (Fraser: We are doing what we can to facilitate their arrival and having conversations with private sector partners), lifting public health measures (Duclos: A politician can’t say when COVID will end; These measures averted thousands of deaths), no federal supports for an RCMP detachment that was fired upon (Damoff: We thank the RCMP for their hard work, and I will follow-up), carbon prices in rural communities (Guilbeault: The cost of inaction on climate change is enormous, as the floods in BC demonstrated), labour shortages in agriculture and food processing (Drouin: We are working on solutions including a trusted employer programme), when the disability benefits legislation is coming (Qualtrough: We are committed to this legislation), and the attack on a mosque in the GTA (Hussen: We have taken concrete steps, and have provided significant resources to community organisations).

Conservatives keep insisting that provinces are the ones following science by lifting public health members. That’s not what the science says.
Also, only a handful of Conservatives are wearing masks in the Chamber. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) March 23, 2022

Overall, we didn’t get the same level of juvenile behaviour that we did yesterday, but there were times when the volume was still quite loud, particularly coming from the Conservative benches, though the Bloc were playing what amounted to a kind of drinking game whenever Pablo Rodriguez spoke. The false notion that there is a coalition government kept going through the entire QP today, even when the NDP tried to mount tough questions to look like they’re not completely in bed with the Liberals. I am curious as to what “social experiments” Candice Bergen thinks the government will be undertaking with the support of the NDP, but her use of the term “socialism” seems to imply that there will be means of production being nationalized, which I have yet to see anywhere on the government agenda.

I did notice the pattern today where no Conservative MPs had follow-up questions outside of the leaders’ round, save Garnett Genuis, but rather it was individual MPs all asking similar questions. This is of course solely for the collection of clips they can put on their social media channels, because they plan to do a major fundraising push on the April 1 increases to carbon prices, which they will then try to tie into inflation (even though it’s not actually counted in the measure). It’s not clever, and the poor performances make for unconvincing theatre.

Sartorial speaking, snaps go out to Peter Fragiskatos for a dark grey three-piece suit with a light purple shirt, dark purple tie and a white pocket square, and to Melissa Lantsman for a pink jacket over a v-necked white top and black slacks. Style citations go out to Kamal Khera for a camel vest over a black turtleneck, and to Gerald Soroka for a taupe suit with a sand-coloured shirt with a black paisley tie.