QP: Pretending the pandemic is over

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Despite the prime minister being in town and having chaired a Cabinet meeting hours before, he was absent from QP, as were every other leader. Luc Berthold led off, and in the spirit of his party’s Supply Day motion, insisted that it was time to lift mask and vaccine mandates because “enough is enough.” (Erm, when did the pandemic end? Asking for a me.) Adam van Koeverden read that we know more about the pandemic than we used to, and that vaccines work. Berthold was not mollified, and demanded the measures end to speed lines at airports. van Koeverden read that they have tools to detect variants of concern and to prevent transmission. Berthold listed all of the files that he accused the government of being in “chaos” over, to which Karina Gould recited her lines about working to speed processing of passports. Melissa Lantsman took over in English, and demanded an apology to travellers who missed flights because of “incompetence.” Annie Koutrakis read that CATSA has hired 400 new screening officers in various stages of training, and that they are working with airports to relieve bottlenecks. Lantsman insisted that there was some kind of secret advice the government was following that no other government was, to which Gould repeated her lines about passport processing delays.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he was worried that the government plans to appeal the court decision in New Brunswick around the appointment of the lieutenant governor (which is a bad ruling because of what it does for executive appointment powers and constitutional incoherence) while three Liberals spoke out against it. Ginette Petitpas Taylor state that they would ensure future bilingual appointments for the province. Therrien was incensed that the Bloc were being considered radicals, to which Pablo Rodriguez launched into his particular rant that the Bloc are not the only real Quebeckers in the Chamber.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, and in French, he railed about inflation, and demanded an excess profit tax on oil companies and to give more GST refunds. Randy Boissonnault reminded him that they indexed benefits to inflation and raised taxes on the top one percent. Daniel Blaikie took over in English by video and made the same demand, and Boissonnault repeated his same answer in English.

Round two, and Dan Albas selectively quoted one economist about inflation while ignoring the actual drivers of it (Boissonnault: We lowered taxes on the middle class and the war in Ukraine is driving up inflation, and stop blocking our budget bill), Alain Rayes demanded concrete solutions for inflation in French (Boissonnault: We have affordability measures in the budget), Larry Brock demanded to end carbon pricing because diesel (Boissonnault: Eight out of ten people are better off with carbon rebates), and John Williamson insisted that the price difference between gasoline in Canada and the US was all tax (Boissonnault: Canadians deserve a fact-based discussion not partisan talking points).

Monique Pauzé demanded the cancellation of certain oil projects and “climate bombs” (Guilbeault: Our plan works and emissions declined ahead of the pandemic), and Kristina Michaud insisted Canada was lagging on the issue of “carbon bombs” and fossil fuel subsidies (Guilbeault: Energy policy tracker has shown independently that Canada is investing more in green technology than fossil fuels, and we are ahead of our partners on phasing out subsidies).

Dominique Vien worried about shortages in hypo-allergenic baby formula (Bibeau: We are working with reliable sources to ensure there are no shortages), Randy Hoback demanded action on non-tariff barriers in the coming Canada-UK trade agreement (Ng: We are working to ensure that the markets are open), Jeremy Patzer says the government is tying the hands of grain exporters (Ng: More bromides about trade).

Don Davies worried about the spectre of long COVID (van Koeverden: the government has invested $250 million in COVID research with more money in the budget for long COVID research), and Lori Idlout cited the PBO report on Indigenous Services (Hajdu: We have made historic investments and passed legislation to empower Indigenous communities to reassert jurisdiction on things like child welfare).

Round three saw questions on housing prices (Hussen: You keep voting against our affordability measures), child care spaces (Gould: Here are benefits he is eligible for and we are reducing the cost of child care), creating a gang registry (Mendicino: We need to move forward together on combatting gun crime; Police have had a record number of gun seizures thanks to our investments), processing delays for Ukrainians (Lalonde: 24,000 have made it to Canada so far and the first charter flight arrives next week), sending Ukraine our used LAVs (May: We recently announced $50 million in new military aid), supporting Ukrainians (Oliphant: We are supporting Ukraine and we are putting pressure on Russia), getting organ donation on tax forms (van Koeverden: I support the issue and will look into it), a Board of Internal Economy matter—which is not government business (Calkins: A fairly partisan statement), and nuclear disarmament (Oliphant: Canada is unwavering in its commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons, our focus is on the nonproliferation treaty and the Stockholm Process).

Overall, the day wasn’t anything special, and there weren’t any particularly good exchanges either. It was a lot more of the same gathering of outrage clips for social media, and Liberals giving their usual tired talking points, because that’s pretty much what this cursed exercise is all about any longer. There was one particular bit of real bullshit, which was the question about the allegations that the Clerk had engaged in partisanship (which is a ridiculous assertion, stated so by Conservatives in the Senate whom he worked closely with) and the matter being taken up at the Board of Internal Economy. That is not a matter of government competence, it was not a question about scheduling to a committee chair, and this should never have come to the floor of the Commons. Why the Deputy Speaker allowed it was a mistake, and for Blaine Calkins to use it to be “clever” (which was, dear reader, not clever at all) in taking a dig at the Liberals was one more reason why this should’t have happened.

Sartorial speaking, snaps go out to Eric Melillo for a tailored medium-grey suit over a pale blue shirt and pink striped tie, and to Iqra Khalid for a red suit over a black v-necked top. Style citations go out to Monique Pauzé for a white floral-printed jacket over a white top and black slacks, and to Alain Therrien for a blue windowpane jacket over a white shirt, a grey-green tie, and blue jeans. Dishonourable mention goes out to Rachael Thomas for a black jacket and skirt over a dark yellow top.