With Justin Trudeau away—first to Mississauga to announce the child care deal in Ontario along with his deputy, then off to Vancouver, none of the other leaders bothered to show up in the House of Commons for Question Period today, so happy Monday to you all. Luc Berthold led off, script in front of him, and in French, he regaled the Commons with a tale of how people approached him in the grocery store about complaints about the rising cost of living, and demanded to now how the prime minister intends to feed Canadian families. Randy Boissonnault accused him of creating economic fiction, and recited Statistics Canada data on the growth of the GDP. Berthold railed about the price of gas and what it was doing for inflation, to which Boisonnault praised the child care agreement with Ontario as an affordability measure. Berthold then switched to health care transfers to provinces and the principles the government were attaching to them, to which Jean-Yves Duclos praised their measures to save Canadians’ lives. Kyle Seeback got up and in English, railed about the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s report on carbon prices, selectively quoting a report that only selectively looks at a portion of the issue, to which Terry Duguid assured him that the PBO stated that most families will get more back in rebates than they pay. Seeback insisted this was wrong, that the PBO stated otherwise, and Duguid repeated his points.
Alain Therrien rose for the Bloc, and he demanded that health transfers have no conditions and blamed the federal government for underfunding provincial health systems, and Duclos recited some good news talking points about the $2 billion for surgery backlogs. Therrien listed federal failures to insist that they had no competence for healthcare, to which Pablo Rodriguez quipped that the Bloc should invest in shirt-making companies because they keep tearing their shirts every day.
Alexandre Boulerice appeared for the NDP by video and wondered about enforcement of sanctions in Canada, to which Mélanie Joly praised the sanctions and the assets that they froze. Heather McPherson repeated the question in English, and Joly repeated her assurances.
Round two, and Ed Fast he mumbled some nonsense about the confidence agreement (Boissonnault: You keep talking down the economy but here are some facts from StatsCan), and he demanded action on inflation (Boissonnault: We signed a child care with Ontario which will help with affordability), Adam Chambers insisted that government spending would make inflation worse—which ignores what is actually driving inflation (Boissonault: You keep blocking Bill C-8 to provide more rapid tests and ventilation for schools), Damien Kurek shouted about inflation and the carbon price (Boissonnault: Carbon prices are an effective market mechanism, and here are rebate figures), and Gérard Deltell repeated the question in French (Boissonnault: Climate change has costs too).
The benches are nearly full, but I spy only about ten masks among the Conservatives, while everyone else in the Chamber is masked.
This after at least two MPs who were here in person tested positive last week. #QP— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) March 28, 2022
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe thrice demanded transportation for Ukrainian refugees (Lalonde: We are expanding biometric capacity in the region to speed processing; We expanded the programme and we will be providing other services like language training when they arrive).
John Barlow railed about the increasing carbon price (Bibeau: Farmers understand the importance of fighting climate change, and they are the first to be impacted, which is why we are helping support them with clean technologies; Duguid: Rebates are increasing and most families get more back than they spend), and Rachael Thomas scoffed at the climate rebates by misrepresenting the PBO report (Duguid: Same answer).
Laurel Collins denounced the government’s climate actions to date (Duguid: Here are a list of actions we have taken), and Charlie Angus decried increasing oil production (Duguid: Same answer).
Round three saw questions on unvaccinated truckers (Alghabra: We are protecting the health and safety of Canadians), unvaccinated public servants (Duclos: We have saved tens of thousands of lives thanks to vaccines), crying about an unvaccinated traveller (Duclos: Vaccines are great), demanding a hard cap on future oil and gas projects (Duguid: We are in the process of cutting off subsidies), decrying they reliance on the future of carbon capture and storage (Duguid: Feel-good talking points), the selection of the F-35s (Tassi: This is a highly complex procurement process), demanding updated anti-tank weapons for Canada and Ukraine (Anand: I have announced six tranches of aid since February alone totally $100 million, and we have been providing airlift support), training for Canadian troops (Anand: Here is a re-announcement of our deployment to Latvia), water advisories in Nunavut (Vandal: We have been engage on the file, and we have been assisting however we can), challenging an official languages court ruling (Lametti: We are committed to official languages, particularly in minority communities, and we are considering the Federal Court of Appeal decision), excise taxes on wineries and cideries (Boissonnault: We will have a budget announcement in the coming days), a promised Coast Guard station in a coastal First Nation (Murray: We have renewed the Coast Guard), and the upcoming emissions reduction plan (Duguid: We flatted our curve but we need to do more on a faster timeline).
Clifford Small worries about someone who can’t travel because she’s not vaccinated, and that her mental health will suffer.
I mean, that was pretty much her choice, right? #QP— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) March 28, 2022
Overall, the quality of the exchanges today was incredibly poor, as most of the questions—as terribly as many of them were—were met with non sequitur talking points that had little to do with the issues at hand, and around and around it went. Questions about inflation shouldn’t be met with praise for GDP growth, but rather with explaining what’s causing it so that there is a clear picture, but no, that would go against this government’s ridiculous insistence upon making everything a happy-clappy sound bite, just as the opposition is in the process of creating incendiary clips for their social media channels. As well, the government could have explained about the PBO figures that were cited, that the doom figures were about the full price in 2030 assuming no behavioural changes (which is the whole point of the carbon price) mostly affecting the highest income quintiles, and with no counterfactuals about the price impacts of climate change, or other measures instead of carbon prices. But they didn’t, because they sincerely believe that when you’re explaining you’re losing, so they never explain, and misinformation and disinformation lingers on the record.
As well, the false insistence that there is a coalition government in place persists, as though they think it’s clever when it’s not. The NDP, for their part, kept trying to come up with increasingly mean things to say about the government to prove that they’re not in bed with them, but when you’re asking, presumably rhetorically, why anyone should trust the government, it might indicate a lack of self-awareness when that is exactly what the party is doing in going along with the supply and confidence agreement. There is a better way to ask these questions, but it escapes them.
Sartorial speaking, snaps go out to Terry Beech for a dark grey suit with a light blue shirt, navy tie and off-white pocket square, and to Julie Dabrusin for a cowl-necked short-sleeved dress with a dark grey checked pattern. Style citations go out to Heather McPherson for a long-sleeved and high-necked dress that had about seven different clashing patterns (and the only way to make it work would be if McPherson were thirty yeas older, and had some chunky statement jewellery and glasses, and maybe it might make her come off as an eccentric arts maven), and to Darren Fisher for a brown corduroy jacket with an off-white shirt and a blue and yellow tartan tie.
The problem of our representatives in our government both those in power and those in opposition is simple. It, the government, is not a meritocracy, but a mixture of people who represent ridings either by a slavish loyalty to party policies, if there are any, of their chosen brand or popular members of the riding’s society, through money, family, business and religion, that being the worst reason of all except for party loyalty which is rewarded by advancement and assistance in maintaining ones seat in the future. Therefore, the level of competency if one could say that, is so low as to manifest itself in the questions asked and answers given in QP or in committees. Some voters from time to time gnash their teeth at how government works out of frustration. What they don’t understand is that our government is working as it has been designed, and as such, very well. Until we demand some universal tests of intelligence, knowledge of jurisdiction and fundamental understandings based on facts, the leaders of these parties will continue to rely on absolute control of the vast majority of the slabs of protoplasm sitting in their parliamentary places while collecting huge salaries, expense accounts and benefit from exorbitant pensions for their bovine stupidity and sheep like behavior in the course of their tenure in our capital. Take the time to have a conversation with one of these members just once and you will ascertain this fundamental truth, that the MP you are facing hasn’t got a clue about much. They can be charming. That is their business. They avoid direct answers because there is no profit for them to do otherwise, except when parroting the propaganda fed to them by their leaders.. But, they will be well versed in their party line factual or not. Like the salesman who has sent them down the road with damaged goods at a high price they have a ready smile and a condescending attitude because they want you know they are superior and you are ignorant. Perhaps, and this is rare, if they allow that you are well versed they will pivot and tell you that you can rest assured that your point or issue will receive the benefit of being sent to the leadership for consideration and of course you will leave their presence with these words ringing in your ear, ” I will be back to you on this”. What a national disgrace and we put up with it on a daily basis. We get what we deserve.