QP: Down the dark path to disinformation

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For Wednesday, proto-PMQ day, you would generally expect all of the leaders to be present because they will try to take as much of the spotlight as possible, so imagine my surprise that Candice Bergen was absent yet again today, meaning she has been present less than the PM on the past couple of weeks.

Luc Berthold led off, and he started off on the RCMP memo on the Aga Khan vacation, and he wanted agreement that there is no time limit to crimes. Justin Trudeau read that this was a distraction from their support for the occupation, while they should be focused on things like the war in Ukraine. Berthold insisted that the RCMP should pursue charges in light of “new evidence,” while Trudeau repeated that the Conservatives were focusing on personal attacks instead of what matters to Canadians. Berthold pivoted to federal vaccine mandates and demanded that they be ended, and Trudeau rose to extemporaneously praise Canadians who did the right thing and got vaccinated. Melissa Lantsman worried that unvaccinated international travellers were mixing with people on airplanes so there was no point in keeping up those measures, but Trudeau disputed this, and insisted that measures kept Canadians safe. Lantsman tried to insinuate that the government was being secretive about the evidence they get, but Trudeau disputed the Conservatives’ assertion that Canadians were divided, when they united to getting vaccinated and being there for each other through the pandemic.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he demanded that the federal government turn over immigration authority to Quebec, worrying that they wanted to impose their own targets on the province. Trudeau insisted that they always work with Quebec on their immigration targets and they were willing to help them grow them. Blanchet tried again, and got the same time.

Jagmeet Singh got up for the NDP to demand that the federal government hasn’t done enough to increase access to abortion, and wanted federal funding for contraception. Trudeau recited a paean to a woman’s right to choose. Singh insisted this was about lives and not a political wedge, before he repeated the question in French, and Trudeau listed actions they have taken to claw back funding from New Brunswick for their denying funds for an abortion clinic.

https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1521922136482492417

Round two, and Michael Barrett demanded an end to vaccine mandates for travel (Trudeau: You talk about freedom but what about a woman’s right to choose?), Michael Ellis raised a particular case of someone who can’t get Novavax doses within three weeks of each other (Trudeau: You keep using words like “vindictive” when vaccines save lives), and Pierre Paul-Hus repeated that other countries have lifted their mandates (Trudeau: Our decisions ensured we had a less serious pandemic than other countries, and we had a stronger economic recovery; Your party used to demand faster access to vaccine and suddenly turned to the side of those who refuse them).

Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe returned to the demand that Quebec take over immigration files (Trudeau: We always work with the province; We have an agreement with the province, but Quebec is not and will not be a sovereign country).

Dane Lloyd accused the government of interfering with the Emergencies Act inquiry (Trudeau: When we invoked the Act, it was done in a limited and proportional way, and we are moving ahead with the inquiry, and you’re worried it will show that your support for the occupation made it worse), Cheryl Gallant worried about the use of the Canadian special forces flight over the convoy not getting authorisation (Trudeau: This was a training flight arranged before the occupation began, and you should beware spreading disinformation), Kerry-Lynne Findlay repeated the question (Trudeau: This is disinformation designed to gin up fear and conspiracy theories, and is irresponsible on the part of the opposition), and Rachael Thomas also repeated the question while trying to be clever about it (Trudeau: Same answer).

Singh was back up to demand that the Infrastructure Bank be turned into a Climate Bank (Trudeau: Infrastructure can help reduce climate impacts), and demanded decriminalisation of drugs to deal with overdoses (Trudeau: We are using all of the tools to combat this epidemic, and we are working to divert people away from the criminal justice system).

Round three saw questions on the housing programmes (Trudeau: We are investing to double construction this decade), carbon prices (Trudeau: I’m disappointed that a fellow Quebec MP is opposed to pricing pollution), raising old age pensions for all seniors, not just those over 75 (Trudeau: Here is everything we have done for seniors; costs for seniors go up the longer they live, which is why we are giving them additional support), Enbridge Line 5 (Trudeau: We are working with the Americans to ensure this stays in operation; You keep trying to invent conspiracy theories where there are none), accusations of a “sweetheart deal” at the CRA (Trudeau: This was investigated and there was no wrong doing, and CRA is independent from government interference), the home Trudeau stayed in at Tofino as it pertains to the CRA (Trudeau: Same answer), funding for the MMIW calls to inquiry (Trudeau: We are addressing this in partnership with provinces, and there is $2.2 billion in this budget), long-term care in the budget (Trudeau: We are working with provinces and territories, whose jurisdiction it is but we have a role to play).

Overall, it was a lot more heated today than I might have expected, and there was some real and genuine anger on display rather than the performance we often see. Part of this was in response to the ongoing questions around abortion, which Jagmeet Singh insisted was “about lives, and not a political wedge.” (Sure, Jan), but it was the backbench suck-up question from Sophie Chatel, where she called out Quebec Conservatives for not standing up for abortion rights that really set things off. Some of those Conservatives were livid about the accusation, and there was a lot of yelling after QP about this. Suffice to say, it’s been a while since I’ve seen this level of actual anger in the Chamber.

It was also a little interesting to see that Justin Trudeau himself got quite fired up, especially on the questions about the special forces’ surveillance plane, where the Conservatives tried to build some kind of plot or conspiracy theory that this was either unauthorised activity from the military, or Trudeau deploying the military against civilians in secret. All of this was wrong, and Trudeau had a ready answer about this being a training flight that had been arranged before the occupation took place, and even more interesting was the fact that he called this out as dangerously approaching disinformation and conspiracy theory. He’s right, and this is not the only issue the Conservatives have been engaged in outright disinformation and conspiracy theories, but there was so much rancour around this, and accusations that Trudeau “dropped the f-bomb” in relation to Findlay’s question, that it’s just utterly disheartening that we can’t stop this kind of bullshit from taking residence in our lower chamber.

Sartorial speaking, snaps go out to Lianne Rood for a black dress with fuchsia stripes under a black jacket, and to Eric Melillo for a tailored grey suit with a white shirt with a subtle pattern and a burgundy tie. Style citations go out to Darren Fisher for his brown corduroy jacket over a dark blue shirt and a lighter blue spotted tie, and to Brenda Shanahan for a black top and slacks under a black jacket with gold and white florals.

2 thoughts on “QP: Down the dark path to disinformation”

  1. Conspiracy Party of Canada has gone full QAnon. There’s no turning back. The more they attach themselves to their parasitic GQP cousins in the Untied States, the more this prion disease is going to eat away at what minimal fraction of a “brain trust” they have. Obviously Trudeau (the younger) struck a nerve, perhaps even more so than the nerves he continues to strike with them just by existing, so it was kinda nice to see him invoke the old man again. “May the Fourth be With You”… he is a Jedi, like his father before him. The Conservatives, as always, are a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

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