QP: Some new faces with the same repetitive lines

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Neither the prime minister nor his deputy was present today, but Pierre Poilievre was, as he so frequently is. He led off in French, and claimed that government spending caused inflation (false), and cited an RBC report saying that inflation and higher interest rates would cost families an additional $3000 next year, before he demanded that the government stop “raising taxes” (which they aren’t, but if they were, higher taxes actually fight inflation). Rachel Bendayan said that they know Canadian are facing higher expenses, which is why they are putting forward supports, that the Conservatives are opposing, such as rental supports and dental care. Poilievre switched to English to blame the federal government and the outgoing (formerly) NDP mayor of Vancouver for overdose deaths, violence and higher housing prices. He praised the election of a new mayor and demanded that the federal government “get the message.” Mark Holland said he appreciated the leader’s interest in the mayoralty campaign in Vancouver, but here in Ottawa, he was looking for support for their affordability measures. Poilievre insisted that the federal government was forcing British Columbia to “triple, triple, triple” their carbon price and demanded that they cancel the plan. Steven Guilbeault remarked that families in provinces under the federal price got their quarterly climate rebate payments on Friday. Poilievre then said the government was forcing “energy poverty” onto the Atlantic provinces, to which Guilbeault corrected him in that they are providing support for them to transition to cleaner and cheaper alternatives. Finally, Poilievre insisted that the government was just taking the carbon price revenue, and mocked the notion that it would “trickle down” back to people (false–the revenues don’t go to federal coffers and go to each province to recycle in the way they chose, including the federal climate rebates). Holland responded with some mockery about the Conservative belief in trickle-down economics, which doesn’t actually work.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he insisted that Chrystia Freeland announced a policy of “drill, baby, drill,” and that she drove the nail in the coffin of climate change. Jonathan Wilkinson noted that she did not contradict the government and that they would only move ahead on the right projects. Therrien insisted that the government was using the war in Ukraine to sell more oil, and Guilbeault reminded him that there is a rigorous environmental assessment process and that Canada is moving ahead on renewable energy, which is why Germany came to us for hydrogen.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, and in French, he noted the Loblaws “price lock” on generic food products and demanded support for their Supply Day motion on making companies pay more. Rachel Bendayan recited that the government raised taxes on corporations. Alistair MacGregor took over in English, with the took credit for the Loblaws move, to which Terry Beech called for support for their affordability measures.

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan demanded the government “have mercy” and not raise carbon prices (Beech: Use your influence in your party to support our plan for dental care; Guilbeault: ten prime ministers ago, a programme was created to help cover the costs of natural catastrophes, and it has paid out a lot in the last few years because of climate change), Shannon Stubbs recited some nonsense about inflation and demanded the carbon price not be hiked (Qualtrough: You could make life more affordable for people by supporting our measures; Gould: We have measures you an support), and Pierre Paul-Hus made the same demand in French (Bendayan: We have the lowest deficits and you want to attack our fight against climate change).

Kristina Michaud returned to the concern that the government was planning to drill more oil in off of Newfoundland and Labrador (Guilbeault: That board is independent and all projects need to adhere to our assessment and emissions caps; You know that your leader approved drilling projects without consultation when he was Quebec environment minister), and Claude DeBellefeuille gave the same torqued reading of Freeland’s statements (Guilbeault: We are looking for renewable energy projects, which is why Germany came to us for hydrogen).

Rachael Thomas recited some utter nonsense on government spending and inflation before  repeating the the “triple, triple, triple” talking point (Beech: Your party continues to put forward policies that attack Canadians, like raiding pensions; Gould: If you cared about Canadians, you would support our measures), Anna Roberts raised food back usage and demanded an end to “tax hikes” (Khera: We have done more for seniors than your party did).

Taylor Bachrach worried about the price tag of ArriveCan (May: The app was launched to protect Canadians, and the development was less than $1 million), and Leah Gazan worried about Ontario’s changes to their child care agreement (Gould: There is a cap on fees going back to the time we signed the agreement, and we are moving forward expeditiously on affordable childcare, and the 50 percent reduction should be in place by December).

Round three saw questions on the carbon price and other so-called tax increases (Wilkinson: Every member of your party campaigned on maintaining a carbon price; Beech: Your talk about “payroll taxes” is EI, whose premiums are lower when you were in government, it’s CPP to give people a pension, and carbon prices, which are revenue neutral and benefit eight out of ten families; Hutchings: The government is helping provinces recover from Hurricane Fiona, which is why we need to address climate change; Gould: You could help families with our affordability measures), the government paying the EI account deficit rather than raising premiums (Qualtrough: We are modernising the system before the end of the year), the supposed rise in violent crime (Damoff: We are redoubling our efforts to tackle gun crime; Lametti: With Bill C-21, we are increasing penalties for gangs and firearms trafficking), so-called “payroll taxes” (Bendayan: We are talking about contributions that Canadians get back; Ng: We have been there for small businesses at every opportunity), support for Ukraine (Joly: We need to do more, but we have done a lot so far), and a woman who needs a rare drug that cannot be sourced in Canada (Duclos: Please see me in person).

Overall, it was one of those days where the Conservatives were just trying to get all of their new critics some face time, so they all stood up to ask the same questions, and use the same risible “triple” talking points that aren’t actually true, and used them to start gathering clips so that they can put new faces to their next round of social media shitposts. The government, in return, varied the ministers who were answering, most of them giving slight variations on their own same happy-clappy pabulum about their own affordability measures. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat.

Otherwise, the Bloc were carrying on with a bad-faith reading of what Chrystia Freeland said last week at her speech in Washington (which, I will note, waaaaaay too many media outlets and pundits also did not seem to understand or also interpreted in such a way), and I’m not entirely sure that the government was communicating effectively enough the difference in what was being alleged from Freeland’s speech and what the reality is. Again, they have pretty much shot themselves in the foot, the same way they do every single time. 

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Yasir Naqvi for a tailored dark grey suit with a crisp white shirt and navy tie, and to Anita Anand for a medium grey jacket over a white collared shirt and black slacks. Style citations go out to Michelle Ferreri for a leopard print top with a ruffled collar under a black suit, and to Darren Fisher for his hateful brown corduroy jacket with tan slacks a grey shirt and no tie.