QP: Being ham-fisted on the hunting rifle concerns

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The prime minister was off having a photo op with Doug Ford about electric vehicles, and his deputy was also absent, leaving Pierre Poilievre as the only leader in the Chamber. Poilievre led off in French, worrying about a report released today that predicts the price of food will increase by another seven percent next year, but blamed the federal government’s “inflationary spending” for it, which is utterly risible because we know that food price inflation has bene in large part because of climate change causing droughts in food-producing regions around the world. Randy Boissonnault noted that high food prices are global, because extreme weather events have led to poor harvests and supply chains remain snarled, while the government has taken action like the doubled GST credit and dental care. Poilievre switched to English to blame rising food prices on carbon prices, which is again not the problem. Karina Gould praised their measures to help vulnerable Canadians, and noted that if Poilievre was sincere about affordability, he would have voted for their measures. Poilievre then claimed that the government was trying to ban hunters because the of the sweeping nature of the list in the amendments at committee, and demanded the reverse the “ban.” Marco Mendicino first noted that tomorrow is the 33rd anniversary of the École Polytechnique shooting, and they remain in solidarity with victims. Poilievre insisted that they too are concerned about gun crime, but the problem are guns coming across the border rather than hunters, and demanded they reinforce the border rather than attacking hunters. Mendicino reminded him they invested $450 million in the border over the past two years, and invested in CBSA, while the Conservatives voted against all of those measures. Poilievre insisted that the results of the Liberal policy was an increase in violent crime, and that their expensive policies are not working, and switched to French to demand to know why the government isn’t targeting “real crime.” Mendicino repeated his previous response in French.

 Claude DeBellefeuille led for the Bloc, and raised a report that raises the alarm about species at risk, while the government has authorised oil exploration off the shore of Newfoundland and Labrador, which is the right whale’s habitat. Julie Dabrusin read that the marine protected area will remain protected and any exploitation activities in the area will be determined on a case-by-case basis, and that the tender process does not authorize production activities. DeBellefeuille repeated her question, calling it special treatment for oil companies. Dabrusin repeated that any proposal to drill in those areas would be subject to the Impact Assessment Act, but they are not there.

Leah Gazan rose for the NDP, raising the murder of three more Indigenous women in Winnipeg to an alleged serial killer, and the decision by the city not to look for remains in a landfill, and demanded more help. Marc Miller said that he too was concerned and that he spoke with the mayor and wanted to do more where he could. Niki Ashton took over by video on the same issue, raising that the alleged killer has ties to white nationalism, and again demanded more action. Miller said that he was concerned and has a meeting in January about coming to solutions.

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan gave a word salad of misleading points about inflation, carbon pricing and the “triple, triple, triple” ear worm (Boissonnault: Inflation has a number of global causes and we have come up with supports for people which you voted against; The heat dome killed people and people demand action on climate change, and you don’t understand market economics), Shannon Stubbs indignantly equated carbon pricing with inflation (Gould: Hooray for our dental benefit), and Gérard Deltell gave the inflation talking points in French (LeBouthillier: Your party doesn’t recognise the danger of climate change, where my riding got hit by Hurricane Fiona).

Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe worried about the number of people going to Roxham Road versus asylum seekers at regular border checkpoints (Fraser: People leave because they are fleeing violence and persecution, and Canada will do what we can to help), and he complained that Quebec is being overwhelmed by asylum seekers (Rodriguez: The Bloc is not interested in offering a dignified arrival to people fleeing violence).

Michael Chong worried about the news about two more suspected Chinese “police stations” discovered in Canada (Mendicino: The RCMP is taking action, and we have been cracking down on foreign interference), Michael Cooper returned to the question about briefings on electoral interference (LeBlanc: We were dealing with foreign interference before the Conservatives were even bothered about it), Luc Berthold asked the same in French (LeBlanc: Same answer).

Alexandre Boulerice shouted about paediatric hospitals and demanded the federal government do something about it (Duclos: We need to get vaccinated and take public health measures and we are supporting provinces), and Heather McPherson gave the same by video with an Alberta spin (Duclos: Same answer).

Round three saw questions on violent crime versus targeting hunters (Mendicino: We have been clear we are not targeting hunters, we are targeting assault weapons and Bill C-21 has more severe penalties for criminals; Your friends in the gun lobby used the massacre at École Polytechnique to sell merchandise, and you need to condemn them; Hutchings: I am one of those hunters and we can’t stand when these weapons are used in tragedies, but if you have concerns over specific makes and models, reach out), the supposed decline of French in the workplace (Petitpas Taylor: We recognise the decline of French and the statistics, so our bill will do everything it can to protect it), inflation and the carbon price (Duguid: You want to make it harder to save for retirement for when people lose their jobs; Fraser: Our target is for 2030), government spending (Gould: You voted against help for Canadians), Roxham Road (Rodriguez: We are taking note of how little knowledge the Conservatives have about this issue; Fraser: We are a safe haven for those who need it), food price inflation and GST on home heating (Boissonnault: Canada is not alone in facing high food prices which is why we have supports and have tasked the Competition Bureau to keep an eye on the grocery sector), and banning corporal punishment for children (Lametti: All children have a right to be protected from violence and assault is broadly defined, and the use of physical discipline on children is discouraged).

Overall, the attempt by the Conservatives to try and pivot their message to the ban on hunting rifles has been ham-fisted, and the real concerns that the Liberals may have bitten off more than they can chew in terms of the sweeping nature of the ban could be hammered home in an effective way if the Conservatives were actually willing to be grown-ups about it. But they’re not. Instead, they are trying to keep up this narrative that the Liberals’ plan all along was to attack farmers and hunters, verging on making this a conspiracy theory, which just makes the legitimate objections seem all the more cartoonish as a result, and an effective way of actually holding the government to account is lost. I am very curious that the government is putting up Gudie Hutchings to reply to some of these, talking about how she is a hunter and she’s not concerned about this ban, but there was also a possible moment of contrition from the government as well on this today in inviting concerns about particular makes and models to be brought forward, so we’ll see if anything substantial comes of it.

Otherwise, I am going to point out that the NDP’s policy on who gets to appear remotely seems to be pretty…loose given that Niki Ashton was back in her riding after appearing for two whole days last week for the first time in six months, which is a problem considering that the job is in Ottawa, and no, it cannot actually be done remotely. I also find it curious that both the Bloc and the Conservatives were using exactly the same talking points about Roxham Road, and I am always amused/cringe when I see Diane LeBouthillier getting up to clap back at French questions from the Conservatives, even on areas that aren’t in her wheelhouse, while she reads or recites attack lines in response. It’s a bit odd, really. I’m also going to note that Alain Rayes has been throwing out some really disparate questions over the past few weeks, and it’s always interesting to see what these MPs do once the party’s talking point shackles are off.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Blake Richards for a tailored dark grey suit with a crisp white shirt and a dark purple tie, and to Jennifer O’Connell for a dark grey jacket over a navy dress. Style citations go out to Shelby Kramp-Neuman for a brown jacket with blue and orange lines over a navy top and brown slacks, and to Darrell Samson for a black suit and tie over a sickly pink-ish shirt. Dishonourable mention goes out to Brenda Shanahan for a dark yellow poncho over a black turtleneck and slacks, and to Lena Metlege Diab for a black suit over a black top with a yellow swirling pattern.