QP: Directly quoting selectively from the PBO

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The prime minister was present once again, while his deputy was busy testifying at the public inquiry. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he worried about deficits causing inflation (which they’re not), and demanded a course correction. Justin Trudeau reminded him that they were there for Canadians during the pandemic in order to ensure it was less severe than other places on the world, and that our economy bounced back faster, and insisted that the Conservatives only want to cut. Poilievre switched to English to denounce alleged comments from Seamus O’Regan, and demanded they cut the carbon price. Trudeau dismissed the concern as twisting the words of minister, and pointed to the PBO report on the carbon price and how it helps eight out of ten families. Poilievre picked up that report and cited several numbers out of context to “prove” his talking points. Trudeau, looking rather pleased, insisted that Poilievre did not look at the section about the rebates, and called him out about not caring about climate change. Poilievre insisted that the rebates were “tiny” and didn’t cover costs—and was called out by the Speaker for using the report as a prop—and Poilievre went on a tear about how the price is ineffective and hurts people. Trudeau disputed that the rebates were tiny, and noted the other benefits they have delivered, noting that Poilievre is only playing rhetorical games. Poilievre tried to bring up the cost of the hotel for the Queen’s funeral and insisted that the report proved that people are being hit hard. Trudeau countered that the report shows that the rebates compensate most families more than they pay, because fighting climate change is important while Poilievre only wants to nickel-and-dime them.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he returned to the alleged contradictions in the reports about the Xi Jinping confrontation and demanded a return to the per-vote subsidy to prevent foreign funding. Trudeau clapped back that the Bloc only want the subsidy because they can’t raise money on their own. Therrien was incensed, and insisted that China was exploiting this vulnerability, and Trudeau countered that political financing is robust and transparent, and pointed out that the media are invited to his fundraising events, and encouraged other parties to do the same.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and decried the crisis in emergency rooms and demanded the federal government show up. Trudeau took exception to the insinuation he doesn’t care about children, and pointed out that they have transferred billions to provinces and are sitting down with provinces. Singh switched to French to repeat the question and got the same response.

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan got up to insist that the Governor of the Bank of Canada proved that the carbon price is inflationary and demanded it be cancelled (Duguid: He pointed out its effect is marginal at 0.01%; Gould: We have benefits that have lifted 450,000 children out of poverty), Michelle Ferreri blamed the federal government for poor teen mental health and suicide rates as a way of denouncing the carbon price (Gould: You need to look within and find compassion because you voted against our supports; Boissonnault: We lifted 2 million people out of poverty after the Conservatives were in power), and Dominique Vien listed a number of non sequiturs to claim the carbon price was not working (Boissonnault: We have a plan to help people but you don’t; Rodriguez: You only want to cut).

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1595877671552315392

Xavier Barsalou-Duval decried the current rules around infrastructure funding project deadlines (LeBlanc: I just had a productive conversation with my provincial counterpart, and things are moving along fine), and Mario Simard repeated the insinuation that the government was blackmailing Quebec (LeBlanc: The Bloc just want to pick fights, while we are working with the provinces).

Larry Brock decried the murder rate and said the government was being “soft on crime” (Lametti: We are focusing judicial and police resources on serious crimes, and allowing conditional sentence orders on minor offences to use resources better where they are needed), and their gun control bill (Mendicino: Our bill is strengthening sentences and gives resources to combat smuggling), and Pierre Paul-Hus repeated the accusations in French (Mendicino: Same answer).

Alexandre Boulerice decried the government’s environmental record (Duguid: We got praise out of COP27 for our climate finance measures and our emissions caps), and Don Davies decried provinces trying to privatise healthcare services (Duclos: We are concerned about this, and want to maintain accessibility and fairness in the system).

Round three saw questions on death threats from the Iranian regime (Mendicino: We stand with Iranians marching for their rights, and we have listed the regime members under the strongest sanctions we have), whether there were any briefings on Chinese interference in elections (Mendicino: We had independent evaluations of those elections and we gave our security apparatus all the tools they need), a demand for all relevant documents on any alleged interference (Mendicino: Same answer, with a dig at the Conservatives cutting security and intelligence services), an inquiry into toxic culture in sports (St-Onge: I salute the courage of athletes who spoke out, and we have created the office for integrity in sports, and they can investigate or hold inquiries), the official languages bill (Petitpas Taylor: People are telling us they want this bill passed so stop obstructing), deficits and inflation (Boissonnault: You voted to support us in helping Canadians and if you regret that now, it’s on you), carbon prices (Duguid: The PBO, confirmed most families get more money gets back and your party has a terrible environmental record; Khera: We have increased supports for seniors; O’Regan: I’m pleased to say that people in my province will be getting more money back in their pockets), outsourcing veterans services (Samson: This contract will give access to 9000 medical service staff at 600 outlets across the country), and commercial anchorages off the Salish Sea (Alghabra: We have seen port congestion because of supply chain problems, and we are putting together an action plan, and Bill C-33 will have new tools).

Overall, it was something of a punchier day today than yesterday, and we had some pretty lively back-and-forth between Trudeau and Poilievre. Poilievre actually brought a copy of the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s report on the carbon price’s distributional impact, and apart from the moment he used it as a prop instead of using it to quote from, it made for a decent exchange! Of course, he also cherry-picked certain numbers without context, which Trudeau rather gamely pushed back on with regard to the rebates, and got Poilievre to admit that yes, rebates exist, though Poilievre has been trying to spin them as minuscule and not enough (which isn’t really true, but admitting to their existence is a first step). In either case, it was a much better exchange than we’ve seen in weeks.

It was, however, not to last, and we got back to the usual cheap sniping and playing for clips, so nothing was really new from the round two onward. The mendacity in the questions continued, with new attempts to put words in Tiff Macklem’s mouth, and more selective misquotes to try and justify the Conservatives’ misleading economic beliefs, which got some minor pushback, but the tendency not to engage with those misquotes remains.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Greg Fergus for a tailored navy suit with a light blue shirt and a navy bow-tie, and to Julie Dzerowicz for a tailored red jacket over a black v-necked to and slacks. Style citations go out to Mélanie Joly for an oddly-cut grey jacket with black exterior pockets over a ruffled white blouse and black slacks, and to Gerald Soroka for a dark brown suit with a yellow shirt and a burgundy tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Anju Dhillon for a black cowl-necked top with a shiny yellow skirt.