QP: Too tired to land a punch

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While the prime minister was landing in Rwanda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, his deputy was supposed to appear virtually, but didn’t in the end. Every other leader was present, one of them with a special guest. Candice Bergen led off, script on her mini-lectern, and she read the accusations that the PMO interfered in the investigation of the Nova Scotia mass shooting, and demanded an independent investigation into the matter. Bill Blair recited that there was no interference and no pressure, and pointed to the statement of the RCMP to corroborate this. Bergen insisted the government has a pattern of interference, and repeated her demand, and Blair repeated his own denial under the banner that this was the truth. Bergen pivoted to inflation, and demanded tax cuts, saying the government would rather let people suffer than accept their ideas. Jonathan Wilkinson reminded her that they have a package of affordability measures, and that they are working with global partners to stabilise the global oil supply. Luc Berthold took over in French to lament inflation and demanded tax cuts, and Rachel Bendayan denied that the Conservatives’ proposals would lower the cost of living, and that the government won at the Supreme Court to win about carbon prices, and that the Liberals have a plan. Berthold then raised the issue of passport lineups, and Karina Gould assured him that they have strategies to get those who need their passports expeditiously.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he too raised the passport lines with a dose of sarcasm about the prime minister’s international travel, and Gould reiterated that the situation in Montreal is unacceptable but different from elsewhere in the country, and that they have management teams to assist the situation. Blanchet gave it a second go and got the same response. 

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, his daughter on his arm, and he decried high inflation, demanding action for families. This gave Gould an opening to talk about child care. Singh repeated the question in French, and Gould repeated her points about child care.

Round two, and Rick Perkins returned to the allegations of interference (Blair: There was no interference), which was followed by Stephen Ellis, Dane Lloyd, and Blaine Calkins each gathered their own clips (Blair: This was standard procedure and there was no interference).

Blanchet was back up, and he tried to equate the Emergencies Act to the War Measures Act in 1970 (Mendicino: I’m proud we invoked it to end the occupation), and then decried the government’s environmental record, taking shots at Guilbeault (Guilbeault: I never circumvented the rules on environmental assessments, which you did thrice when you were in provincial government).

Kerry-Lynne Findlay accused the government of throwing another woman leader—the RCMP Commissioner—under the bus and demanded a committee hearing on the matter (Blair: Sharing information is standard information and there was no interference), and Pierre Paul-Hus repeated the demands in French (Blair: Same answer).

Alistair MacGregor added his own brand of sanctimony on the same question and demand for an investigation (Blair: I will have to repeat once again…), and Niki Ashton demanded support for her bill to transform the Infrastructure Bank, calling it corporate welfare (O’Connell: Your comments are out of touch with the reality of the work the Bank is doing).

Round three saw questions on inflation (Beech: There are signifiant global factors, we are focusing on growth and affordability; Bendayan: We lowered taxes on the Middle Class™ which you voted against), passport lines (Gould: We adopted a new strategy for Montreal and management is on the scene), CRA demanding repayments on pandemic supports (Lebouthillier: People can come to an agreement with CRA to suit their needs), denying passports for child predators (Gould: It’s important that we get the integrity of passports right), downloading files to constituency offices (Gould: Public servants are working around the clock), veterans’ widows (MacAulay: We have been working with Statistics Canada and stakeholders to get survivors’ situation so that we can make appropriate changes), and the disability benefits bill not being prioritised (Qualtrough: We are about to release our first action plan).

Overall, it was another fairly repetitive day, as the spring sitting limps to a close. It’s like cartoon boxers who are so tired that they keep lazily swinging at one another but can’t land a punch at this point. There were also enough issues in play—inflation numbers, the allegations of interference out of Nova Scotia, the lines at passport offices and in particular the problems in Montreal—that there wasn’t able to be the same focus on particular issues that we’ve seen with other issues in the past few weeks. I would add, however, that there were a lot of questions that premised that the US president Joe Biden’s proposal to cut fuel taxes for three months was being treated as a fait accompli, when it is far from, and everything I’ve heard says that it’s unlikely to happen because of political dysfunction (not to mention it’s not great policy). I would also add that many of the questions around those allegations of interference in the RCMP investigation were also constructing themselves to sound very conspiratorial, because there’s nothing the Conservatives love more than another conspiracy theory, even if they need to build it themselves.

Otherwise, behaviour was not great today, but the Speaker once again was letting a lot of things slide that he should’t have. He instead told people to take a breath, or chided that name-calling was coming from both sides, but would’t step in or discipline any members. Even before QP, there was an instance during Members’ Statements when someone pointed to the presence in the gallery of a group, which they’re not allowed to do, and yet the Speaker, once again, gave them a gentle chiding that they’ll ignore and keep doing what they’re not allowed to. What good are rules if you don’t have anyone enforcing them?

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Candice Bergen for a white dress with a grey geometric pattern under a white jacket with black piping, and to Adam van Koeverden for a fitted dark blue jacket with a white shirt and a red striped tie. Style citations go out to Chris Lewis for a navy jacket with a grey grid pattern over a dark blue shirt, light grey slacks and no tie, and to Marie-Hélène Gaudreau for a white dress with large florals in various shades of pink. Dishonourable mentions go out to Pam Damoff for a black dress with yellow florals, to Anju Dhillon for a bright yellow jacket over a black top and slacks, and to Tracy Gray for a dark yellow dress under a black jacket.

2 thoughts on “QP: Too tired to land a punch”

  1. The people throwing Lucki under the bus aren’t Blair and Trudeau. It’s her feckless male subordinates, deflecting from their catastrophic incompetence, and who were never happy to begin with that a woman was hired for the top job. So why not run to the convoy cons to help oust her and make Blair and especially Trudeau collateral damage, to satisfy their grievances and play CYA. It’s just like what happened with OPS and Sloly. And it’s really a disgrace that the national media is yet again being led by the nose with a one-sided narrative just because it feeds their preexisting biases. CPC are making besties with terrorists but no, gotta go with the he-said/she-said cop drama because it’s “juicier.”

    • I agree that the female RCMP commissioner is being treated worse than her male counterparts especially by her own senior subordinates because IMO they are annoyed that a woman should be leading the RCMP.

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