QP: Taking shots at the Supreme Court of Canada

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Wednesday, caucus day, and proto-Prime Minister’s Questions day. Justin Trudeau was indeed present, as were most but not all of the other leaders. Candice Bergen led off, script on her mini-lectern, and she decried the “failure” to make life affordable, as though the prime minster has magic powers to set world oil prices, or to stop droughts in food-producing regions. Trudeau reminded her that the first thing they did was to cut taxes to the middle class and bringing in the Canada Child Benefit, which is indexed to inflation. Bergen insisted that the Liberals were cheering on high gas prices, and then worried about rising interest rates, as though you can have both low inflation and near-zero interest rates in perpetuity. Trudeau took up a script to list affordability measures like cutting cellphone bills, child care, and increasing the federal minimum wage (which affects only a tiny minority of people). Bergen pivoted to the rise in violent crime and worried that violent criminals would just get house arrest (which is an utter falsehood). Trudeau read a script about how they need a system that punishes criminals but does not target Black and Indigenous people, and that the legislation increases maximum penalties. Luc Berthold took over in French to equate both higher prices and violent crime, eventually getting to a demand to lower taxes (which fuels inflation, guys), and Trudeau read some talking points about affordability measures. Berthold decried the rise in interest rates, and Trudeau extemporaneously pointed to lower child care fees thanks to his government.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he decried the potential federal intervention at the Supreme Court on Quebec’s so-called “secularism” law, and Trudeau said that he must have misheard, that the Bloc insisted that those who want to challenge the law are not real Quebeckers. Therrien insisted this as an internal matter to Quebec, and insisted Canada was trying to “force” religion into their state, and Trudeau took exception to this, saying that minorities have the same across the country, and the federal government would stand up for them.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and listed the number of people who have died from toxic drug overdoses since 2017, and wanted the same decriminalisation approach that BC across the country. Trudeau said this was about working with provinces and municipalities to ensure there is a framework around it, but it was a complex solution. Singh repeated the question in French, and Trudeau gave the same response in French.

Round two, and Rob Moore listed murders who were given jail sentences of over 40 years, which the Supreme Court struck down, and wanted federal action (Trudeau: We argued for sentencing judges to have discretion to set longer sentences, but nothing in the Supreme Court of Canada decision states that anyone eligible to apply to parole will get it), Stephanie Kusie repeated the same demand with added melodrama (Trudeau: We are ensuring there are fewer victims of mass killings by banning assault rifles and freezing handguns), and Karen Vecchio gave a torqued reading of the Supreme Court of Canada ruling on automatism (Trudeau, with script: We are carefully reading this decision to ensure we are protecting victims).

Mario Simard accused the government of trying to put Quebec under “trusteeship” by taking a away the notwithstanding clause, based on the comments of a backbencher (Trudeau: When a government chooses to ignore the protections of minorities it should require reflection), and insisted this was “democratic” (Trudeau: We need to protect fundamental freedoms).

Raquel Dancho accused the government of letting gun smugglers off the hook by eliminating mandatory minimums (Trudeau: We are actually increasing maximum sentences, but your worry about guns gives me hope you will support our gun control measures), and she insisted that removing mandatory minimums would actually hurt Black and Indigenous communities (Trudeau: We are tackling systemic racism in the system that targets Black and Indigenous people), Pierre Paul-Hus went another round in French (Trudeau: I can’t believe that a Quebecker is going to bat for looser gun restrictions).

Lindsay Mathyssen demanded culture change in the military (Trudeau: We have accepted the Arbour report and are already working to implement it), and Daniel Blaikie demanded a windfall tax in order to double the GST credit (Trudeau: Inflation is global, and families know that we have their backs with things like child care).

Round three saw questions on gas prices and a GST break (Trudeau: The carbon rebate returns more money to most households than they pay), inflation (Trudeau: We have supported Canadians through the pandemic and we have measures to help them now), control of immigration in Quebec (Trudeau: We are partners with the government of Quebec to bring in more francophone immigration), the broadcasting bill capturing user-generated content (Trudeau: The bill applies to platforms, not to users), extending public health measures for travel (Trudeau: We can’t wish away the pandemic and people are still dying from it), the disability supports legislation (Trudeau: We will be reintroducing it, and we know that getting it right matters), and drug decriminalisation (Trudeau: We are acting, we have moved forward with the BC government and are ensuring this comes with a wraparound approach).

Overall, it was something of a curious day, where we started out with a fairly scripted series of exchanges, and where Trudeau got fired up and put down his scripted responses during the Bloc’s first round, and he got quite fiery and indignant at the Bloc’s suggestions about who is and is not a real Quebecker when it comes to the kinds of laws the Legault government is pushing through with the pre-emptive invocation of the Notwithstanding Clause, and this bizarre notion that if the use of said clause were limited that it would essentially put Quebec into “trusteeship.” The notion that Quebec is somehow being threatened if they are forced to respect the rights of minority populations is really dangerous rhetoric, and the Bloc should think very carefully about trying to justify it as being the “democratic will” of the people. Mob rule is not democracy.

As well, it was a bit unseemly for the Conservatives to be attacking the Supreme Court of Canada as much as they were today, and what bothered me in particular was that they simply wouldn’t come out and declare that they wanted the government to use the Notwithstanding Clause to overturn the decision around parole. It is a legitimate political request to be made, albeit one that should be very carefully considered. The prime minister did have a reasonable response prepared around the fact that the government’s position was that it should have been up to the discretion of the sentencing judge, but also reminding them that access to parole is in no way a guarantee one gets it. Still, he should have called out what they were demanding or told them to have the courage of their convictions to actually say it rather than dancing around it with angry rhetoric.

Sartorial speaking, snaps go out to Michael Barrett for a tailored navy suit over a white shirt and medium-blue tie, and to Ruby Sahota for an olive green jacket over a white top and black slacks. Style citations go out to Patty Hajdu for a long grey jacket with loud pink and white florals over a grey top and off-white slacks, and to Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe for a linen jacket over a light blue shirt, a dark blue floral tie and blue jeans. Dishonourable mention goes out to Marie-Hélène Gaudreau for a bright yellow jacket over a black top and slacks.

One thought on “QP: Taking shots at the Supreme Court of Canada”

  1. Many times here, I have lamented the failure of the Liberal PM and ministers to emphatically call out the misinformation ladled out by the opposition, primarily the Cons. Today there was glimmer of pushback. Of course a setting straight of the record is lost on the Cons. In particular, the sounds that emanate from prissy face of the temporary leader of the conservatives who finds a way to prove her complete ignorance of fact and an illustration of the tin ears of these deadbeats show Canadian the vacuity of her and her sycophants. I hope that the Libs with their freedom provided in part by the feigned assistance of the Singh rump will continue to exhibit a more acerbic tone in QP.

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