QP: The King of Canada shouldn’t be a difficult concept

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Both the prime minister and his deputy were away, but every other leader was present, for better or ill today. Pierre Poilievre led off in French as he usually does, and said that the government added $100 billion to the national debt before COVID, and $500 billion before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and that he added more to the national debt than any prime minister in history, which is pretty selective about the circumstances of what happened during that time period, like, oh, a global pandemic. He blamed inflation on this spending, which is not true, then raised the reports that Chrystia Freeland has given orders to reign in spending, and wondered how they can trust the people who caused inflation to fix it, which again, completely misrepresents the facts. Rachel Bendayan reminded him that Canada has the lowest debt and deficit of all G7 countries, and that they have a budget that will cut spending by $9 billion, while maintaining the strongest growth in the G7 while the Conservatives play petty political games, and praised the government for bringing Moderna to Montreal, which was an odd non sequitur. Poilievre repeated the question in English, with a bit of added self-congratulation, before Mark Holland asked what supports the Conservatives would have not offered to Canadians during the pandemic, and called out their amplifying anxieties before demanding they support dental care and rental supports. Poilievre said they would have cut ArriveCan or WE Charity, and not given money to profitable companies, before he recited some nonsense about inflation. Holland disputed that inflation is a problem only facing Canada, which is not true, before again demanding support for affordability measures. Poilievre insisted that countries who printed money all have high inflation, but countries like Switzerland who didn’t don’t have the same issue, which is a pretty selective reading of the facts. Holland noted that we are dealing with unprecedented times, which demands maturity and serious answers, and offered a sanctimonious request for the opposition to let their affordability measures go to a vote. Poilievre was incredulous, saying that only 0.3% of Canada’s trade is with Russia and Ukraine combined, so that they couldn’t possibly be contributing to inflation—which is possibly the dumbest gods damned leaps in logic I have ever heard. Holland accused the Conservatives of not supporting people who need it.

Yves-François Blanchet got up to claim that there is a debate about pledging allegiance to the “King of England,” worried that the federal government would interfere with Quebec’s secularism law, and then demanded to know who the head of state is in Canada. David Lametti noted that the oath of allegiance is part of the constitution and that courts have said that this is not an oath to the person, but the institutions. He did not, however, say that the King of Canada is our sovereign. Blanchet again demanded to know who the head of state is, and Pablo Rodriguez got up to rip that the Bloc don’t care about the issues of the day, but only about their pensions.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and in French, demanded that the government support their plan to help people, to which Rachel Bendayan recited the measures the government has taken and pleaded for support for the other measures. Singh switched to English to decry a possible Rogers-Shaw merger, and demanded that the government oppose it. Andy Fillmore read a statement about ensuring that consumers are protected.

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan stated that Chrystia Freeland’s new orders for minsters to find savings if they want new spending programmes was thanks to Poilievre, and blamed the government for inflation (Beech: You opposed our pandemic measures that saved people), and denounced the carbon price (Beech: You need to come up with a plan to grow jobs and fight climate change), Adam Chambers was unconvinced by the government’s newfound fiscal policy (Beech:  We have been fiscally responsible, and have reduced poverty while the debt-to-GDP ratio continues to go down), and Luc Berthold repeated Hallan’s assertion in French (Bendayan: It’s glad you realise our plan is based on fiscal responsibility, and the result is that our rate of inflation is lower than our peer countries’).

Blanchet got back up to denounce the pension for the Governor General, then wondered if the government was loyal to the British Crown (Rodriguez: We are concerned with the real priorities of Canadians and Quebeckers), and Rhéal accused the government for lacking leadership around the occupation (Damoff: The invocation of the Emergencies Act worked).

Melissa Lantsman gave a rote “triple, triple, triple” recitation (Guilbeault: The PBO actually said that most families will see a net gain in the rebates they get back; The next carbon price increase is in April, which is after winter), and Dominique Vien repeated the same in French (Guilbeault: You need to learn the difference between the federal carbon price and the Quebec cap-and-trade system).

Jenny Kwan worried that Afghans sheltering in Pakistan could face arrest as their visas expire while they await passage to Canada (Lalonde: We remain firm in our commitment to resettle over 40,000 Afghans in Canada, and have mobilised our entire workforce), and Richard Cannings demanded more help to prepare communities for climate change (Guilbeault: We are working with provinces and territories to come up with our adaptation plan).

Round three saw questions on a supposed increase in violent crime versus the elimination of certain mandatory minimum sentences (Lametti: The bill is about giving serious crimes the resources they deserve by taking the focus off offenders that don’t need serious time; Damoff: We have introduced common-sense gun legislation), the faux-reading of Freeland’s speech around oil and gas exports (Wilkinson: Only the right projects can go ahead; Guilbeault: We all need to fight against climate change, and we have twice as much investment in clean energy than oil and gas), a company disputing that they received an ArriveCan contract (Damoff: CBSA is looking into the matter further), carbon prices (Wilkinson: Climate change will cost people even more), food price inflation and versus tax loopholes (Beech: We have been focused on reducing poverty, and have indexed those benefits to inflation, and have programmes like the recovery dividend), and the need for a Canada Water Agency (Guilbeault: We are working to create this agency, and we will have good new to announce in the coming weeks).

Overall, the day was probably more grating for the fact that the Liberals decided to answer Conservative misinformation with sanctimony more often than not—looking especially at you, Mark Holland—and it’s just so irritating to watch. There is such gleeful misinformation and disinformation being spouted, and even when facts are being given in return, being denounced as false—looking at you, Melissa Lantsman—that the government needs a better way to respond to this. Even when they are handed false notions like the whole “King of England” schtick from Yves-François Blanchet, they can’t even correct him to talk about the King of Canada, and that we’re a separate Crown (though he did say the oath is to the office and not the office holder, so half-marks for that at least). But seriously, this was just an embarrassing outing all around.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Melissa Lantsman for a dark blue blazer over a white top and dark brown slacks, and to Peter Fragiskatos for a tailored navy suit with a crisp white shirt and pocket square and a pink tie. Style citations go out to Yves-François Blanchet for a dark blue velvet jacket over a white shirt, a grey and blue striped tie, a blue pocket square with white dots, and blue jeans, and to Annie Koutrakis for a black blouse with pink and orange leaves and florals.

2 thoughts on “QP: The King of Canada shouldn’t be a difficult concept”

  2. Indeed it is not a difficult concept to say the King of Canada. However for the BQ they are making a point tied to history 1759. They know that everyone in Quebec will tie in to that. Le Devoir mentioned that the 3 PQ in the national Assembly also spoke of the British King. Shows how we refuse to grow up in Canada.

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