QP: The pre-budget questions have started in earnest

Posted on by

It was a very unusual Wednesday in that most leaders were once again absent—the prime minister was off at the Williams Lake First Nation, missing his self-imposed Wednesday PMQs for the second week in a row, and missing from QP for over a week now; his deputy was also absent. Candice Bergen has been absent for days (and there has been some chatter that her husband tested positive for COVID), as has Yves-François Blanchet. As well, somewhat unusually for a Wednesday, the benches were emptier than they typically are. And possibly worth noting, Speaker Rota remains away, and his deputy, Chris d’Entremont remains in the big chair. Luc Berthold led off, and lamented that they have a date for the first “NDP budget,” which merited him applause from the NDP benches, and he decried what it would represent. Randy Boissonnault stood up to insist that the Conservatives were talking down the economy, and he recited StatsCan data on GDP growth. Berthold quoted Jean Chrétien about deficits, as though it were still 1995, and Boissonnault made a plea to pass Bill C-8 to buy more rapid tests. Berthold accused Chrystia Freeland of selling her soul for a majority, and Boissonnault listed measures they have taken for Canadians. Dan Albas took over in English to decry inflation and a measure around housing, for which Ahmed Hussen dismissed the concerns as the Conservatives did nothing for affordable housing. Albas spouted a few misleading things about what the Bank of Canada Governor and the Parliamentary Budget Officer said about carbon prices, demanding they not increase, and Randy Boissonnault recited that the carbon rebates were progressive and most will get back more than they pay.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he decried the policy that seniors aged 75 and older age getting a top-up rather than all seniors, wondering if this was a Conservative or NDP decision, and Darren Fisher responded with a few points about how affordability gets tougher for older seniors. Therrien insisted that inflation meant they were abandoning seniors, and Fisher read some talking points about measures they have taken for seniors to date.

Jagmeet Singh rose in person for the NDP, and accused the government of siding with banks over people. Boissonnault said that while they understand the sentiment of the NDP’s failed supply day notion, they have taken action on taxing the wealthiest. Singh repeated the question in French, and got the same answer.

Round two, and Stephanie Kusie delivered a one-woman play about the government killing jobs with the carbon price (Gould: It’s great that we now have national child care across the country, which helps affordability), Dane Lloyd complained about the move to quarterly payments for carbon rebates instead of getting them now (Duguid: Canadians will get their rebates on July 15th, and that will be a double payment), Michael Cooper selectively quoted the PBO report on carbon prices to mislead about what it said (Duguid: Most Canadians will get more back than they pay), Gérard Deltell demanded the carbon price not increase on Friday (Duguid: This price not only reduces pollution but drives innovation), and he tried to tie the increase to inflation (Boissonnault: We indexed benefits to inflation and you voted against it).

Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe returned to his demand for an air bridge for Ukrainian refugees (Lalonde: We are working with our partners including airlines, and we have loosened biometric measures), and was concerned that this was a solution to an administrative problem and not a human one (Lalonde: We have welcomed 12,000 Ukrainians to date).

Chris Warkentin misquoted the Bank of Canada Governor and the PBO about carbon prices (Duguid: This creates jobs as it drives innovation), Shelby Kramer-Neuman demanded a fix for the “abysmal economic situation” of seniors (Fisher: We are strengthening supports for seniors), Marty Morantz and demanded no tax increase in the budget (Boissonnault: Here are some facts about affordability), and Matt Jeneroux complained the government wasn’t doing enough for housing affordability (Hussen: You should speak to your caucus members who don’t believe in federal spending on housing).

Laurel Collins insisted the new emissions reduction plan was insufficient (Duguid: This is a practical document), and Blake Desjarlais worried about student debt (Qualtrough: We have relief measures and are moving to eliminate interest on student debt).

Round three saw questions on the decision to buy the F-35s (Tassi: We did a rigorous open competition rather than a sole-source contract based on speculation; Anand: We are ensuring our Forces have the equipment they need), delays on procurement projects (Anand: This is rich given your record of cutting defence spending), unhappiness with the emissions reduction targets (Duguid: We should work together to reduce emissions), something vague about the confidence agreement (Duguid: Did you catch our emissions reduction plan?), confusion around reducing energy production or increasing it to offset a Russian oil (Dabrusin: We have reduced our imports to the lowest level since 1988), inflation (Boissonnault: Here are facts from StatsCan; We indexed benefits), Indigenous languages (O’Connell: We are working with Elections Canada to ensure access to voting in Indigenous languages), and the emissions reduction plan (Duguid: Our plan is getting great reviews!).

Overall, it was a weird mood in the Chamber, and everyone seems a little punchier than usual, or than they should for this time of year. Today’s silliness included the NDP clapping and cheering every time they got mentioned in a question about so-called “NDP-Liberal coalition” or similar epithet, and with the attempt to make “spenDP” a happen. (It’s not going to happen). There were also plenty of occasions where the noise levels got loud enough that the Deputy Speaker had to actually shout, which he hasn’t had to do before, which is not a great sign about how things are going. There was also a continued focus on getting clips about the carbon price going up, because they each need something to post on their socials, regardless of how untrue or hyperbolic they are. More than anything, it just felt a lot more devoid of actual content than usual, which is already a very low bar.

Sartorial speaking, snaps go out to Mélanie Joly for a well-cut dark grey jacket with leather trim on the lapels over a black top and slacks, and to Peter Fragiskatos for a dark grey three-piece suit with a white shirt and pocket square, and a purple paisley tie. Style citations go out to Kevin Waugh for a medium brown jacket with a black shirt and a grey striped tie, and to Shelby Kramp-Neuman for a dusky rose sleeveless dress with a large bow over the left shoulder.