The prime minister was present today, as were all other leaders, so that was a nice change. Candice Bergen led off with her script, and she declared that “fraud on the government” occurred with relation to the prime minister’s trip to the Aga Khan’s private island—the details of which Bergen omitted and framed to sound more lurid—to which Justin Trudeau noted that this was dealt with five years ago, and that the Conservatives were focused on him while he was focused on Canadians. Bergen demanded a yes or no answer as to whether he gave himself permission to break the law, and Trudeau gave a resounding no, and that the RCMP decided there was nothing to pursue, and that it was thoroughly investigated by third parties, while the government doesn’t interfere in the RCMP’s operations. Bergen suggested that Trudeau go back to the RCMP to let them reconsider, and he more emphatically noted that government does not direct the RCMP. Luc Berthold took over in French, demanded the same response on the decision not to pursue the fraud charge, and Trudeau again repeated that this matter was put to bed and that the RCMP made their own decision. Berthold tried to suss this out further, and he too demanded that Trudeau meet with the RCMP again, and Trudeau listed the things the government was doing while the Conservatives were playing petty politics.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and accused Trudeau of disrespecting Canadians and Ukrainians by not chartering flights for those refugees, to which Trudeau read the script that they are working safely and effectively, and thanks to the emergency travel fund, it was the safest and most effective way to act. Blanchet took issue with the rapidity at which this is happening, and Trudeau insisted that they were taking all measures to expedite this travel.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and after some word salad about profits and corporations, he demanded the government block the proposed merger between Rogers and Shaw. Trudeau noted that they set a goal to lower prices, it actually happened, which is why they were focused on competition and access. Singh switched to French to repeat the demand, and Trudeau recited the same response that did not address the demand.

Round two, and Dane Lloyd decried that the justice department’s legal opinion would not be released to the Emergencies Act inquiry (Mendicino: We got independent advice on invoking the Act, it worked, and we look forward to working with the inquiry), Pierre Paul-Hus repeated the demand to waive Cabinet confidence in French (Mendicino: Same answer), and Michael Chong gave a more sanctimonious demand to waive Cabinet confidence (Mendicino: Same answer yet again).

Dane Lloyd says the government is trying to make the Emergencies Act inquiry focus on the protesters, which is…not true.
Mendicino suggested that Lloyd read all of the terms of reference. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) April 26, 2022

Monique Pauzé raised the environment commissioner’s report, and in particular the point about the over-counting of hydrogen assumptions (Guilbeault: Thanks to the commissioner, and we are working toward his concerns), a further report on the increase in natural disasters (Guilbeault: We have tasked a working group of experts to come up with an adaptation strategy), and took a swipe at Guilbeault over the approval of Bay du Nord (Guilbeault: I would draw your attention to the latest GHG inventory where emissions went down).

Dan Albas tried to make an equivalence between housing plans and the air passenger’s bill or rights (Hussen: We have a strong record of collaboration with provinces and territories, look at child care), Stephanie Kusie delivered a one-woman play on the housing secrecy (Hussen: Your party’s plans are all over the place), Kerry-Lynne Findlay gave her own denunciation of housing policy (Hussen: Same answer), and Michelle Ferreri worried about a constituent who couldn’t accept a job offer in her riding if he couldn’t find a place to live (Hussen: We recognised housing as a human right and your party voted against it).

Laurel Collins returned to the environment commissioner’s report and demanded a reckoning (Guilbeault: We are transitioning to a clean economy), and Charlie Angus gave some unctuous sanctimony about the report on the failure of the “just transition” thus far (O’Regan: Consultations began on sustainable jobs, and we are moving forward on it).

Round three saw questions on inflation (Bendayan: Your platform committed to sending even more than we did; inflation is rising around the world in part because of the war in Ukraine, but our budget has affordability measures), Buy American provisions in the US (Virani: We are continuing to dialogue with our largest trading partner), more inflation (Bendayan: Paycheques help, and we have created good jobs), the unilingual anglophone board at CN Rail (Petitpas Taylor: We will solve this situation as quickly as possible, and we are revising the Official Languages Act), a particular immigration file (Fraser: I cannot comment on this file in the House, I will follow up), people losing jobs for refusing vaccination (Fortier: Vaccination makes our workplaces safer), ending vaccine mandates for air travel (Alghabra: This is about protecting Canadians), poor service as Passport Canada offices (Gould: We have hired 500 additional officers, and we will meet the increased demand), new commitments on MMIW calls to action (Battiste: We have investments not only in this, but also in addressing root causes like housing), and Afghan refugees (Fraser: We need to maintain the integrity of the process).

Cheryl Gallant calls the vaccine mandate for air travel “cruel and inhumane.” #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) April 26, 2022

Overall, it was an even louder and rowdier day today, as we had visitors from the general public back in the galleries, so they had a live audience. (Live theatre is back!) The Conservatives have decided to go even harder on this dead issue of the RCMP not pursuing a fraud charge against the prime minister for the Aga Khan trip, and Trudeau was fairly frank and forthcoming about it in his responses, though not terribly contrite in that this violated ethics rules (though I do remain particularly dubious about former commissioner Mary Dawson’s conclusions about how to judge whether Trudeau could consider the Aga Khan a family friend). And in spite of Trudeau actually answering the questions posed to him, it sounds like this is going to be QP fodder for the coming days, until something else comes along to distract the Conservatives. It’s guaranteed to get very stupid in the coming days.

Otherwise, I was keen to hear more questions on the environment commissioner’s report, considering that there is a lot you can legitimately criticise the government for out of it. Unfortunately, it was more about the cheap shots than it was these legitimate questions and calling them to account on something real, but that’s what QP is about these days.

Sartorial speaking, snaps go out to Élisabeth Brière for a dark grey jacket over a navy dress, and to Arif Virani for a grey suit with a white shirt and a maroon striped tie and a maroon pocket square. Style citations go out to Steven Guilbeault for a greenish-grey jacket with a white shirt, a bright yellow tie, and some horrid bile yellow slacks, and to Stephanie Kusie for a black jacket with a navy smock top, and a black skirt with an oversized fish-scale sequinned pattern.