QP: Those “heartless” increases to pensions and safety-nets

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The PM was in Newfoundland and Labrador to survey more damage from Hurricane Fiona, but his deputy was present today. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and once again, misleadingly insisted that deficits and government debt were fuelling inflation—not actually true—and demanded the government cap spending to fight inflation. Chrystia Freeland recited that the latest Fiscal Monitor shows the government is currently $6 billion in surplus, and that we have the lowest deficit and debt in the G7. Poilievre repeated the question in English, and Freeland repeated her answer extemporaneously rather than reading a script. Poilievre turned to the increasing carbon price, to which Freeland recited the rebates for Ontario, the lower taxes than under the Conservatives, and threw in things like childcare as other programmes to help the government. Poilievre cited food bank usage and a dubious statistic about students  living in homeless shelters, and wanted the carbon price cut, to which Freeland accused the Conservatives of either trying to cripple pensions or raise deficits. Poilievre tried yet again on the same talking points and Freeland returned with some quips about Bitcoin.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, made some comment about getting lemon wedges from the Governor General, before he demanded action on the situation at Roxham Road. Freeland responded with some scripted talking points about the strength of the asylum system., and workin with the Americans. Blanchet was not satisfied ,and point-blank asked why they didn’t just use existing ports of entry (as in suspending the Safe Third Country Agreement) than spending billions on new infrastructure at Roxham Road. Freeland said that the country is in need of labour, Quebec especially, and immigration was essential.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he once again trotted out his “greed-flation” attempt, demanding support for their committee study on grocery CEO profits. Freeland reminded him of their corporate tax increases. Singh repeated the demand in French, and got the same answer.

Round two, and Melissa Lantsman tested the Speaker’s patience with “JustInflation” and demanded so-called payroll taxes be cut (Qualtrough: EI premiums are lower than ever, and benefits are more generous than when you were in government), Luc Berthold tried again in French (Freeland: Canadians understand that EI and CPP premiums allow us to fund safety nets and retirements; If you had bothered to read the latest Fiscal Monitor, we are currently in surplus), and Kerry-Lynne Findlay decried the carbon price increasing (Wilkinson: Under provinces with the federal system rebates are issued quarterly, but your province is not under the federal system; You guys campaigned on a carbon price).

https://twitter.com/AaronWherry/status/1575198802964754432

Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe insisted that making Roxham Road permanent is a gift to human smugglers (Mendicino: We are investing at the border to protect refugees’ rights and the integrity of our system).

Clifford Small wanted donation matching for the Salvation Army as well as the Red Cross—as though the Salvation Army wasn’t a deeply homophobic evangelical organisation (Naqvi: We have a long-standing relationship with the Red Cross and their ability to scale-up aid), fishers who don’t have storm surge insurance (Murray: We are going to work in partnership with fish harvesters), Stephen Ellis insisted on bolstering cell service in Atlantic Canada (Freeland: The situation with cell service is unacceptable, and I will be meeting with the telecoms later today to say the situation is unacceptable), and demanded more military assistance (LeBlanc: We have said yesterday to every request).

Jenny Kwan decried corporate landlords (Hussen: We have legislated a tax on vacant properties and banned foreign ownership for two years, and are reviewing housing as an asset class), and Peter Julian demanded more action on telecom companies, but louder (Fillmore: We are meeting with telecom providers later today).

Round three saw questions on the supposed tax hikes, which are not actually taxes (Freeland: You want to slash pensions, EI, and ignore climate change, but we have a better plan; Gould: You voted against our tax cuts for the middle class, and now you are planning to vote against dental care; We lifted 450,000 children out of poverty; Hussen: You guys are voting against help for renters), Roxham Road (Mendicino: We respect the asylum system; Lalonde: We are working with the Americans to reform the Safe Third Country Agreement), the mandatory minimums bill as being “soft on crime” (Lametti: I reject the premise of your question, because these policies have failed and wasted time and resources), the supposed outbreak of “scoring” by gang members (Lametti: Public safety is our priority and this bill ends the practice of filling prisons with those who made minor infractions in order to focus on serious criminals), and demanding support for a bill to lower the voting age to 16 (LeBlanc: We have made significant efforts to encourage young people to get involved, and we look forward to working with you on this issue), and food price inflation (Ng: We have the backs of small businesses).

Overall, things have been settling into a very, very repetitive pattern, with the exact same line of attacks based on the exact same misleading talking points about so-called “tax increases” that aren’t taxes, and where carbon prices in most provinces will now come with rebates (and in those provinces that don’t, there are usually other tax reductions). The only thing different today was that Poilievre and others added the word “heartless” to the so-called tax increases, which ignores what these pay for. (Because seriously, actual tax dollars don’t get lit on fire). There has been almost no variation in this for days (the only real variation being that sometimes other ministers will answer aspects of affordability), and it’s a bit boring, but I’m sure someone will tell me all about how this is some kind of grand scheme.

Otherwise, the rest of QP from the other parties has also been pretty repetitive, with the Bloc bemoaning Roxham Road, and the NDP trying to make “greed-flation” happen (it’s not going to happen). This is a pretty sorry state for the exercise of democracy and accountability, and unfortunately that seems to be where we are at the moment.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Melissa Lantsman for a hot pink jacket over a white v-necked top and black slacks, and to Han Dong for a navy suit with a light pink shirt and light blue tie. Style citations go out to Patricia Lattanzio for a light blue floral patterned jacket with puffy shoulders over a pin eggplant top and black slacks, and go Brad Redekopp for a medium-blue jacket over a navy shirt, black slacks, and a tan tie.