QP: Crocodile tears for the anti-vaxxers

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As the prime minister was in Europe, and his deputy in “private meetings,” it was another day with virtually no leaders present, save one. Michael Barrett led off, quoted the health minister as saying that it was “complicated” to lift federal vaccine mandated, and wondered why it wasn’t complicated for provinces. Jean-Yves Duclos listed the number of people who have been vaccinated. Barrett accused the government of moving the goal posts and demanded a number for when the mandates be lifted, and Duclos noted that the mandates worked, otherwise they would not be all sitting in the chamber again. Barrett tried again, raising the provinces that lifted their mandates, but Duclos did not change his answer. Dominique Vien took over in French, and demanded the mandates be lifted, and Duclos reminded her that her party kept saying that Canada would be the last country in the world to be vaccinated, and that vaccines were great. Vien tried again, insisting that provinces are following science, but Duclos reminded them that COVID is still with us, which is why they need to be careful.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and complained that while the government tabled a bill to maintain Quebec’s seat count, their relative influence continues to wane as more seats are gained elsewhere. Pablo Rodriguez insisted that the Bloc was only trying to pick a fight and reopen the constitution while the government was protecting Quebec. Therrien repeated his complaint that it wasn’t good enough, and Rodriguez repeated his response.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and wanted more supports for Ukrainian refugees when they arrive in Canada, and Marie-France Lalonde read some talking points about their new travel authorisation programme. Singh repeated the question in French, and Lalonde read the French version of her response.

Round two, and Stephen Ellis returned to the demand to lift vaccine mandates (Duclos: There are health and social consequences to this pandemic; sixty thousand people would have died without our public health measures), Melissa Lantsman repeated the demand (Duclos: We would all like to declare the date that the pandemic is over, but we can’t), and wanted the orders lifted before people lose their pensions (Alghabra: Vaccines are not a punishment), and Mike Lake gave a plea for the “mental health” of those who refuse vaccinations (Duclos: It’s true that mental health has taken a toll, especially for healthcare workers, and we need to protect them).

Mario Simard complained that the federal government wanted to intrude on areas of provincial jurisdiction and wanted the right to opt out with full compensation and no conditions (Rodriguez: Our agreement is good for Quebeckers, but it’s bad for the Bloc, and I wonder why), and worried that the climate action was not urgent enough (Guilbeault: We have committed to eliminating these subsidies two years earlier than the rest of the G20), and Luc Thériault demanded higher health transfers to provinces (Rodriguez: We are increasing transfers but you only want to squabble).

Laila Goodridge returned to the demand to lift vaccine mandates (Duclos: What about the 700,000 patient backlog because hospital beds are full of COVID patients), and Jeremy Patzer gave his own plea for the unvaccinated (Duclos: If people didn’t get vaccinated, we would be back in lockdown).

Lori Idlout urged more housing units for Nunavut (Hussen: The investments in Nunavut cross several programmes, not just the one you mention), and Jenny Kwan repeated her question from yesterday on travel documents for Ukrainian refugees, demanding visa-free travel (Lalonde: Our programme is cutting through red tape).

Round three saw questions on alternatives to ArriveCan and ending vaccine mandates (Duclos: There are significant consequences for transmission, which is why people need to get vaccinated), supporting tourism by removing vaccine mandates (Duclos: Tourism is important for my riding), demanding an airlift for Ukrainian refugees (Lalonde: We are taking measures to help them), more questions on dropping vaccine mandates for the armed forces (Duclos: We could have avoided more deaths if we had higher vaccine uptake, and we need to encourage people who have misgivings; We have saved $4 billion because of vaccinations), lifting travel mandates (Alghabra: I want to thank everyone in the aviation and tourism sector who did the right thing and got vaccinated), data on lifting restrictions (Duclos: Our federal mandate played a role in saving lives; I can’t tell you when COVID will end), the reallocation of crab fishing licences without compensation (Murray: We are having consultations and this is taking time), and Canada joining the International Energy Agency plan to reduce oil use (Dabrusin: This is under active discussion right now).

Overall, it was a bit of a strange day in that the Conservatives were going fully to bat for anti-vaxxers, until one realizes that it was the subject of their Supply Day motion today, insisting that all federal mandates be lifted, so they were going to use every rhetorical tool at their disposal, which apparently includes crocodile tears and exaggerated concerns about “mental health” as though it’s the anti-vaxxers who are the ones who’ve had it tough because of a choice they made. But it was incredibly repetitive, between the pleas to lift mandates and Jean-Yves Duclos throwing out statistics about vaccinations and the good they’ve done, be it in preventing deaths or the costs to our healthcare system of things like long COVID. It was really just one more exercise in clip-gathering, but quite an eye-glazing one (when one’s eyes weren’t rolling because of the sob stories of the anti-vaxxers that they hoped to used go generate sympathy).

Sartorial speaking, snaps go out to Anita Anand for a lavender jacket over a black top and slacks, and go Greg Fergus for a medium grey suit with a light blue shirt and a navy bow-tie. Style citations go out to Laila Goodridge for a leopard print dress under a navy jacket, and to Alex Ruff for a dark grey suit with a blue and red checked shirt and a clashing blue and red patterned tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Anna Roberts for a gold-yellow sweater over a black top and slacks.

One thought on “QP: Crocodile tears for the anti-vaxxers”

  1. Covidiot Party of Canada’s choice of new “leader” in September is immaterial to the fact that the party itself is rotting from within with stupidity. The long-shot underdogs Brown (predatory behaviour) and Charest (all-and-sundry influence peddling) have their own (alleged?*) problems, but present a more “palatable” veneer as O’Toole attempted, once again trying to cover the rot with yet another coat of paint or pretty wallpaper. Which is all the more reason Poilievre will win. Him getting in the driver’s seat of the big blue big rig vindicates the Tonka tantrum truckers who comprise the Trumpish Tory id: a malevolent, mutant life force that doesn’t want to play coy about its beliefs anymore.

    The caucus itself is the problem, championing anti-vaxers and Big Lie enthusiasts and Fox News aficionados and all manner of other conspiracy theorists, bigots, and, yes, deplorables. But that’s who keeps them employed. That’s who keeps voting them in, solely on a platform of “F— Trudeau” and “owning the Libs.” Policies? What policies? The CPC is the GOP: Grievance Over Policies. You really won’t find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

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