QP: A lacklustre showdown on Chinese interference allegations

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The prime minister was present for the first time in over a week, but curiously, not every leader was. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, as he usually does, and he quoted the prime minister in saying that state actors from elsewhere act aggressively toward our institutions and democracy, and he wondered what kinds of aggressive games they are playing. Trudeau said that whether it’s Russian disinformation on Ukraine, or Chinese interference in the diaspora or the media, or the Iranian government putting pressure on Canadians of Iranian origin, they always remain vigilance. Poilievre switched to English to wonder if the prime minister was briefed on any Chinese interference activities in the country. Trudeau remarked that he is regularly briefed by intelligence and security experts on threats to Canada, whether it’s cyber threats or interference in diaspora communities or online disinformation, there are a range of threats out there that our security agencies are vigilant against. Poilievre wondered what specific interference was referring to when he raised concerns with Xi Jinping, and Trudeau said that there are consistent engagements by Chinese officials into Canadian communities, such as the reports on the illicit “police station,” which they continue to be concerned about. Poilievre then changed topics to the carbon price, worrying about heating costs doubling in some communities and deployed his “triple, triple, triple” ear worm, concern trolled that the implementation of the federal price in three more Atlantic provinces was just delaying damage, and demanded the price be scrapped entirely. Trudeau reminded him that the price returns more money to most households, so it not only took climate action but it helped them as well, then called out the misinformation and disinformation that was being spread. Poilievre insisted that the PBO—whom he pointed out that the PM appointed—indicated otherwise (he didn’t), and demanded it be scrapped. Trudeau countered that the PBO did indeed prove that most households get more money back,  and decried the disinformation. 

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he returned to the allegations of Chinese interference in elections, and wanted clarity and the names of those allegedly funded. Trudeau took a script to insist that they had a non-partisan committee to assess threats to electoral integrity and they established that there was no compromise in either 2019 or 2021, as well as the Chief Electoral Officer didn’t see any interference, and he worried about creating false concerns. Therrien insisted he was confused, and wondered if the PM went after Xi Jinping on the basis of a newspaper article alone, and Trudeau insisted that every briefing that he has had about security or intelligence and those monitoring elections, that the integrity of elections were not called into question.

Jagmeet Singh got up, and in French, made up an allegation that wages were being blamed for inflation (they’re not), and demanded that corporate greed be tackled. Trudeau recited the well-worn talking points about raising taxes on the one percent and lowering them on the Middle Class™, stopped sending child benefit cheques to millionaires, and they raised corporate taxes and instituted their recovery dividend. Singh switched to English to decry rising interest rates, insisted that he was respecting the Bank of Canada but demanded the government do more about inflation using fiscal policy instead of monetary policy (which was entirely economically illiterate). Trudeau recited that they stepped up with supports like the doubled GST credit, the rental supports, or dental care for children (as Peter Julian kept shouting “Thanks to the NDP!”)

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan once again recited a litany of disconnected nonsense before the usual demand to scrap the carbon price (Trudeau: Our measures in the pandemic ensure our economy bounced back faster than others), and called Trudeau a carbon hypocrite (Trudeau: You can keep attacking me but you don’t have a climate plan while ours returns more to people), Melissa Lantsman got up to also list a number of  disjointed talking points before demanding the price be scrapped (Trudeau: The PBO confirmed that eight out of ten families get more back, and your plan to scrap the price takes money out of their pockets), and Gérard Deltell falsely blamed the carbon price on the high price of lettuce, and accused him raising taxes in an inflationary period, never mind that taxes aren’t going up and higher taxes fight inflation (Trudeau: Same answers).

Therrien got back up to demand a reinstatement of the per-vote subsidy to fight foreign funding (Trudeau: The Chief Electoral Officer insisted there was no interference; Let’s not scare Canadians for nothing, our institutions are strong).

Garnett Genuis worried about death threats are being sent to Iranian-Canadians and demanded the IRGC be listed as a terrorist entity (Trudeau: We have imposed the toughest sanctions on the regime), Michael Chong raised Trudeau’s comments about the Globe and Mail reporting around the SNC-Lavalin to insinuate that he wasn’t being honest about the alleged Chinese interference (Trudeau: In all of the extensive briefings I have received or the panel of the experts who assess electoral threats could not find interference), and Michael Cooper and Luc Berthold tried again (Trudeau: Same answer).

Singh got back up to demand that oil and gas subsidies be eliminated (Trudeau: At COP27, we prevented backsliding on commitments and we are ahead of schedule on phasing out subsidies), and demanded the government change the law to protect wages and pensions in a bankruptcy (Trudeau: We will support the bill on this).

Round three saw questions on gang-related homicides (Trudeau: We are fighting for community safety while your party wants to make assault weapons available; Our legislation is against over-incarceration of Black and Indigenous people so that we can focus on serious criminals), COP27 and Trudeau’s absence—never mind he was travelling to four other summits (Trudeau: Hooray for our climate plan), comments allegedly made by Seamus O’Regan, which turned to a demand to scrap carbon prices (Trudeau: You twist words and misrepresent what people say, while our plan puts money in people’s pockets; A few weeks ago, I was in Port aux Basques and I comforted a woman who saw her house was destroyed by the hurricane), carbon prices on farmers (Trudeau: Rural and remote communities get a top-up on their rebates), the complaint that Canada is “broken” (Trudeau: I have spoken about other supports, so I’m going to talk about child care and how that helps families, but you opposed it), no new investments on MMIW (Trudeau: We have invested historic amounts, and we will continue to be a partner on the road to reconciliation), and the official languages bill binding Treasury Board (Trudeau, with script: I share your concerns, and the bill strengthens Treasury Board’s powers to enforce language rights).

Overall, it was a fairly lacklustre day considering that this was Trudeau’s first appearance in nearly two sitting weeks, and there were a lot of topics that we would have liked to see him weigh in on, like the allegations of Chinese interference in the 2019 election. And it looked almost like Poilievre was going to try to set up a running fight about it, but after a couple of questions he just stopped and returned to his usual mendacious talking points about the carbon price, and it was entirely anti-climactic. Alain Therrien did try, as did Michael Chong and a couple of others, but by that point, you could tell the way they scripted it was entirely for clips and not for any other purpose. I will note that Trudeau did push back on some of the absolute mendacity today, calling out misinformation and disinformation on carbon pricing, but he didn’t similarly call out Jagmeet Singh’s completely bonkers initial questions on monetary policy and fiscal policy, which were divorced from pretty much any credible economic reality.

Speaking of Singh, he took all of the spots for the NDP today, which defeats the point of these proto-Prime Minister’s Questions exercise where the point was that anyone could ask him a question, not just provide more spots for the leaders to showboat and gather clips for their social media channels. I was a little surprised that Poilievre didn’t get back up again, but I will add that Hallan and Lantsman have been employing this tactic of making a bunch of wild and disjointed claims about how “broken” the country is before running out of breath and demanding the carbon price be scrapped, and it’s just an exercise in throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. I just fail to see how this is working for them. Additionally, Raquel Dancho blaming Bill C-5—which received royal assent—for the rise in violent crime over the past seven years defies logic, defies credulity, and is a sign that not thinking through your talking points leads to mistakes like this.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Maninder Sidhu for a tailored navy suit with a crisp white shirt and a purple tie, and to Rosemarie Falk for a long black and white jacket over a black top and slacks (and this is a welcome change for Falk, who is a habitual sartorial offender). Style citations go out to Stephanie Kusie for a long-sleeved leopard print dress, and to Darren Fisher for a cranberry jacket with a light purple shirt and no tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Rachael Thomas for a dull yellow top with a lace pattern under a black jacket and skirt).