QP: A puzzling and aborted attempt to change the channel

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The PM was present today, while his deputy was not, though most of the other leaders weren’t. Pierre Poilievre led off in French by accusing the government of fuelling inflation and added in some nonsense about rising taxes and deficits making interest rates go higher (no, that’s not how this works), and demanded an end to government spending. Justin Trudeau said that Canadians are concerned about the cost of living, the cost of going to the dentist, and the cost of rent, which is why they put forward measures that the Conservative have been opposing. Poilievre switched to English to insist that everything that Trudeau does makes everything worse, and demanded the prime minister stop driving up the cost of living by ending government taxing Canadians (which are wildly disparate concepts being mashed together with zero regard for how things work). Trudeau listed measures that they have made to support people and employers through the pandemic and ensured that our economy came “roaring back” faster than other countries, because it ensured economic growth. Poilievre insisted that Trudeau’s “own parliamentary budget officer” (which is some weird bullshit) that much of that COVID spending had nothing to do with COVID, and quoted some Desjardins figures about federal debt charges which he asserted could have been better spent on health transfers. (Erm, really? That’s your line? Also, those “bankers and bondholders” for that federal debt actually goes a lot to things like pension plans.) Trudeau once again touted the investments they made to support low-income families, and that the Conservatives would rather see cuts. Poilievre spun a tale of woe for people’s credit card rates, with some disingenuous laugh lines about the government assuming debt so people wouldn’t have to in the pandemic, leading to a false reading of how federal debt works. Trudeau repeated that they face supports to people, before calling out Poilievre for not condemning Doug Ford’s preemptive use of the Notwithstanding Clause. Poilievre then went on a bad faith rant about the ArriveCan app and trolled for support for his Supply Day motion on calling the Auditor General on the app. Trudeau said it was no surprise that Poilievre would not condemn this attack on rights, before returning to the points that the Conservatives want to raid EI and pensions.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he lamented the state of the healthcare system and worried that the federal government was “scheming” to deprive provinces of funding. Trudeau said that they want to see an effective system, which is why they want to supply more money, but they need to work with provinces to ensure that there are results. Therrien turned this into an attack on Quebec, and referenced the (largely apocryphal) Night of the Knives under his father. Trudeau insisted they want to work with provinces but need tangible results rather than throwing money at a broken system. 

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, and in French, he shouts about fossil fuel subsidies, saying that 2023 was two months away. Trudeau said that the elimination of “inefficient” subsidies would happen by the end of 2023. Daniel Blaikie took over in English, and demanded the government eliminate GST off of home heating (which is really just a subsidy for rich households. Trudeau praised their climate rebates, and other affordability measures. 

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan quoted a survey about food insecurity and demanded an end to the plan to “triple the tax” on groceries, which is not a Thing (Boissonnault: Yay dental and rental supports, while you are misleading people; You are experts in revisionist history), Leslyn Lewis accused the government of promising low interest rates forever—they did no such thing—and demanded no more tax increases (Gould: The Conservatives keep voting against our measures to help Canadians), and Pierre Paul-Hus railed about “inflationary spending” and taxes (Rodriguez: Who wrote your questions? The web giants?).

Monique Pauzé wondered how the government could show their faces at COP27 when they are laggards on fossil fuels (Wilkinson: We are eliminating subsidies and moving ahead on green energy; Duguid: We need to go further and faster on eliminating subsidies, and we are as well as putting in an emissions cap and a clean fuel standard), and Kristina Michaud asked more of the same (Wilkinson: We have the most detailed environment plan in the world).

Stephanie Kusie delivered a one-woman play about so-called inflationary spending (Boissonnault: Hooray our measures; Gould: When we talk about extraordinary spending, it was to support people through a pandemic), and Luc Berthold asked the same again (Boissonnault: We made the decision to support Canadians, and Stephen Poloz says this allowed the economy to avoid a major contraction; You only want to cut).

Gord Johns demanded demanded immediate mental health supports for workers (O’Regan: We are talking about mental health policies including a right to disconnect), and Lindsay Mathyssen wanted more Magnitsky sanctions against Iranian officials (Joly: We are taking strong measures including more sanctions announced yesterday).

Round three saw questions on so-called tax increases and government spending (Boissonnault: Your plan is about cutting; Hutchings: Let me some faces on the people who lost everything from the hurricane thanks to climate inaction) the government’s communications strategy for the occupation (Mendicino: We invoked the Emergencies Act because this was an unprecedented dangerous situation), the Supreme Court of Canada decision on the national sex offender registry (Lametti: The Court found two provisions in the registry to be unconstitutional and we need to examine our options), the supposed increase in violent crime (Mendicino: We have to do better with protecting communities, which is why we are moving ahead with gun control; Lametti: I met with my provincial counterparts and we have committed to looking at the question of prolific offender and what to do), carbon prices (Wilkinson: You ran on platform of carbon prices; Khera: We gave more supports to seniors when you cut them), demanding the Auditor General audit ArriveCan (Rodriguez: You are talking about Quebec families and we re doing more for them while your plan is to cut), a diesel power plant in Nunavut needing replacement (Vandal: I will speak to my team about the outage, and we are supporting the territorial government), fixing the “archaic language” in the RCMP act around ministerial direction (Mendicino: I will work with you on your bill, but I also want to plug our oversight bill).

Overall, the day was a little all over the place, and I found it deeply weird that Justin Trudeau was trying to get Poilievre to denounce Doug Ford’s use of the Notwithstanding Clause, but didn’t make a serious effort to wedge him as a result. I mean, if you’re going to try to use that as attack fodder, then actually attack rather than leaving it hanging in the air. I will note that the PM gave reasonable responses on the healthcare transfer questions in stating that the federal government doesn’t want to throw money at a broken system, which is why they need provinces to agree to outcomes. That is a proper response, and should be repeated over and over again. There was also that very interesting correction to the promise to phase out “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies by the end of 2023, rather than the start, or at least the start of that fiscal year (which is April 1st).

Otherwise, the Conservatives’ narrative around taxes is becoming increasingly laughable because the fact of the matter is that the only tax increases happening are on profitable corporations, and the new luxury tax on luxury vehicles, yachts, and private airplanes. While the Conservatives have been more silent on the EI and CPP premiums than they were in recent weeks, perhaps because they were being called out, their narratives around carbon prices are still largely false either because it ignores rebates in the provinces that get them, or the fact that in the provinces that don’t, those revenues are recycled in other ways, usually by lowering other taxes. There are no “increasing taxes” under this government for low-income Canadians, for whom they have been reciting sob stories of hardship. If only the government could actually point this out and call out the bullshit that it is.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Arnold Viersen for a navy there-piece suit with a light blue shirt and a dark blue spotted tie, and to Christine Normandin for a cream-coloured cowl-necked sweater dress. Style citations go out to Rosemarie Falk for a floral-printed black dress with puffy shoulders, and to Mark Holland for an eggplant suit with a white shirt and dark blue-green striped tie.

2 thoughts on “QP: A puzzling and aborted attempt to change the channel”

  1. I appreciate how you identify misinformation and outright lies that are embedded in statements and questions from politicians.

    I so wish this was a standard journalistic practice, which it currently isn’t. Too many reporters now either ignore misinformation entirely, or actually repeat it and even clean it up to make it seem somewhat rational.

  2. As ineffective the PM and his ministers are at rebuttal, it is sufficient for anyone of intelligent to watch Polly show us how stupid and ignorant he is. It will only get worse for him as time goes on, then the knives will come out and the Cons will again have chance to enter the world of the 212st century with some forward looking policies that make sense for Canadians. In the meantime the Liberals will muddle through but at the same time do what is best for our future. Now, if we could just get the provinces to buy into the idea that we must develop a new economy and ways to look after our burgeoning elder population and create tax streams from the new economy. I ask my MP continuously if the conservative party have any policies on these issues and he looks at me as if I’m nuts. My neighbors think he is and in two years the way things are going with the current Con crowd, he won’t be winning his seat again.

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