Both the prime minister and his deputy were present today, which tends to always be a better day than when they’re away. Pierre Poilievre started off in French, where he cited a report stating that inflation and interest rates will cost Canadians an extra $3000 this year. Justin Trudeau responded with a fairly standard rebuttal of his government helping Canadians while the Conservatives, who were free to disagree with their affordability measures were now blocking them from passing. Poilievre switched to English to insist that the rental supports would help no one, and that the government oversaw the worst housing bubble on planet Earth. Trudeau reiterated that no only does he not support people, he his also blocking the measures from going forward. Poilievre took the opportunity to decry the cost of rent and housing, and that the government was tripling the tax on the costs to heat them (not true), and Trudeau dismissed this as attack politics, and repeated that Poilievre was blocking their supports rather than simply disagreeing. Poilievre tried to sound wounded, and demanded that home heating be exempted from the carbon price, to which Trudeau insisted that most families get back than they spend on carbon prices. Poilievre then dismissed this, and tried to call Trudeau a “high-carbon hypocrite,” to which Trudeau accused Poilievre of simply trying to help the rich, and pointed out that trickle-down economics doesn’t work, as the UK is learning right now.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he accused the government of secrecy on the contracts linked to Roxham Road, and Trudeau took up a script to say the contract decisions were made by public service and CBSA contacted the land owner, where they could not change the location, and they got market value for the use. Therrien railed that the government insisted on national security clauses in the contracts to hide them from the public, and Trudeau reiterated the same response.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and in French, he worried about a possible recession on the horizon, and demanded a plan from the government before people suffer. Trudeau insisted they were already engaged, and called on support for the other affordability measures like rental supports and dental care. In English, Singh raised the state of the EI system and repeated his demand for a plan in the event of a recession, and Trudeau repeated his tired line that they have Canadians’ backs.

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan accused they government of fuelling inflation and demanded the carbon price not increase (Freeland: If you cared about people, you will support our measures; Guilbeault: The only way to be free of energy poverty is to transition to the clean economy while the Conservatives want to chain us for foreign oligarchs controlling world prices), Mark Strahl trotted out the tired “triple, triple, triple” line (Freeland: Support our measures; Wilkinson: You know that the average family gets more back in the rebate than they pay, but we have to address the climate crisis if we want to tackle affordability), and Gérard Deltell repeated the carbon price talking points in French (Rodriguez: This is just your stealth austerity agenda).

Deltell accuses the government of fuelling inflation, then demands tax cuts, which would…fuel inflation. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) October 18, 2022

Kristina Michaud gave a bad-faith reading of Freeland’s speech last week and accused her of trying to fast-track oil and gas—which Freeland did not say or promise (Wilkinson: We will tackle the energy crisis by investing in good projects, but all projects need to respect climate ambitions and the right of of First Nations), and Monique Pauzé worried about an oil exploration tender off the coast of Newfoundland (Guilbeault: The Bloc should perhaps look up independent in the dictionary because an independent commission made the recommendation, not the government; Freeland: We need to make a green transition, and the need to attract private capital to invest in it).

Poilievre got back up to pick up Guilbeault’s point on foreign oligarchs to completely mischaracterise the Canadian oil and gas market (Wilkinson: We have committed to assisting to increase production to help in Europe, but under your government, foreign imports were double what they are now), and Poilievre accused the government of blocking 15 LNG projects—ignoring that those projects could not find buyers (Wilkinson: They didn’t move ahead because your government gutted the assessment process), before Matt Jeneroux returns to the carbon price demands (Guilbeault: Your government cut energy efficiency programmes to help low-income households, and you created energy poverty), and gave a rambling answer about income taxes (Freeland: You should support our assistance measures).

Poilievre accuses the government of blocking 15 LNG projects but didn’t get off the ground.
Wilkinson says they didn’t move forward because the assessment process was gutted under the previous government.
Not mentioned was the fact that these projects could not find buyers. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) October 18, 2022

Laurel Collins demanded action on transitioning energy workers to clean jobs (Wilkinson: We do need a proactive economic strategy, which is why we have a critical minerals and clean energy strategy), and Charlie Angus demanded the same with added sanctimony (Champagne: We will be producing green steel, green aluminium, and titanium).

Round three saw questions on the Roxham Road contracts (Jaczek: The lease was negotiated by officials and no political staff), the month wait between being alerted about Leith Marouf and his funding being cut (Hussen: We implemented new measures to ensure this does not happen again; We reviewed the funding details and followed the procedures to cut it), accusing the federal government of not being prepared for the occupation—WHICH WAS THE CITY’S GODS DAMNED RESPONSIBILITY (Mendicino: We invoked the Emergencies Act because it was necessary), carbon prices and EI and CPP premiums (Freeland: EI contributions are insurance for unemployment, and the contribution rate is lower than at any time the Conservatives were in power; Gould: You have the opportunity to support families with our bill on dental and rental supports; Wilkinson: The direct rebate to families is greater for 80 percent of families than what they pay, and inaction on climate change will cost even more), inflation in the North versus carbon prices (Vandal: I was in Inuvik six weeks ago and announced new money for Nutrition North, which includes country old supports), support for Alberta workers (Wilkinson: I was just meeting with the Alberta Federation of Labour and were discussing this very issue), and the Roxham Road contracts instead of suspending the Safe Third Country Agreement (Lalonde: The contracts were negotiated because of proximity to the border at fair market value).

The Bloc are once again trying to blame the federal government for the occupation, despite the fact that THIS WAS THE CITY’S RESPONSIBILITY.
You would think the Bloc of all parties would care about jurisdiction. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) October 18, 2022

Overall, it was a bit of a punchier day in the Commons today, which it hasn’t really been much to this point in the Poilievre era. As with anything, there were a lot of swings, but few if any punches actually landed. The most noteworthy exchange was when Steven Guilbeault chided the Conservatives for essentially advocating chaining Canadians to the whims of foreign oligarchs who exercise control over world oil prices. Poilievre got back up and tried to pick this apart—which is great that he has the ability to react to things that are said—but of course, he twists it to the point of misinformation in terms of the alternative. Even if they managed to get Canada completely off of oil imports (which would require an NEP 2.0, and drive up costs, particularly to those on the East Coast), the country would still likely be exposed to world prices, which is the point. This point wasn’t really made by the government front bench, and while they did make some good points, such as the fact that oil imports are half now what they were under the Conservatives, there remains an inability to actually hit back to what Poilievre is saying.

The Bloc, meanwhile, continue to completely mischaracterize Chrystia Freeland’s speech last week, and haven’t been called on it, because of course the Liberals can’t call a bad faith lie out, but they spin their answers with feel-good pabulum instead. That the Bloc also took testimony from the public inquiry on the Emergencies Act and also spun it in bad faith is again unsurprising, and again, they didn’t get called on it.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Laila Goodridge for a navy short jacket over a white and navy high-waisted dress, and to Adam Chambers for a navy suit with a light blue shirt and a bright pink tie. Style citations go out to Steven Guilbeault for a chocolate brown suit with a white shirt and yellow tie, and to Kelly Block for an eighties-cut dusky rose dress with maroon leaf patterns.