QP: “Bludgeoning” the Auditor General

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The prime minister was still in Montreal at the COP15 biodiversity conference, and his deputy was in town but elsewhere, while only some of the other leaders were present today. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he decried the interest rate hike from the Bank of Canada, but blamed “inflationary deficits” from the government as the cause, which is not actually true, no matter the misquote that Poilievre attributed to the Bank Governor, and told the government to stop spending. Randy Boissonnault responded that the Bank is independent, that Canadians are living through difficult times, and he rejected the notion that their investments caused inflation, quoting the former Bank Governor, Stephen Poloz, that the investments stopped deflation, and then implored them to support Bill C-32. Poilievre switched to English to repeat the same misleading concerns before quoting a single mother from a news story, saying that she listened to the government’s assurances that interest would be low for long. Boissonnault responded that Poilievre shouldn’t talk about advice given that he told people to invest in crypto, before he listed measures the government has taken to help people. Poilievre then changed topics, and raised objections from the Liberal MP for Yukon to the firearms legislation as currently envisioned and needled the government about it. Marco Mendicino gave a fairly standard response about not targeting hunters and farmers and that the bill gives resources to police and border agencies. Poilievre switched back to French, to raise the story of the RCMP getting a contract linked to someone under criminal suspicion for espionage in the United States, and whose parent company is in China. Helena Jaczek noted that they are studying the issue, but the company did meet their needs, so they are ensuring that they are protecting national security. Poilievre returned to English to accuse the answer of being “encrypted in bureaucratese” before repeating the question, and Mendicino noted that there is a rigorous process for contracts and they are scrutinising the process run by independent civil servants, and then raised the independent panels observing the last two elections to point out that they took actions but the Conservatives did not.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and gave an analogy about dangerous driving as a way of demanding the federal government increase health transfers to provinces. Mark Holland stood up to offer bland assurances that they are continuing to invest in the system. Therrien insisted there was no cooperation, and demanded increased transfers. Carolyn Bennett insisted they were working with the provinces to ensure there was not only funding but a national vision on healthcare, and listed the transfers sent to provinces.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and decried the interest rate hike, and demanded the prime minister find a way to tackle inflation without hurting workers. Boissonnault reminded him that the Bank of Canada is independent and the government is doing their job of keeping fiscal firepower for when they need it and listed actions they have taken. Singh switched to French to worry about consumer debts and repeated his same demand, Boissonnault repeated his same answer.

Round two, and Leslyn Lewis decried so-called “inflationary spending” (Qualtrough: We are proud that the Auditor General found that our help met the goals of keeping food people’s tables and kept the economy from stalling), Kerry-Lynne gave a list of torqued accusations about the government’s response to the Auditor General’s report (Lebouthillier: We thank the Auditor General for her report), and the closure of Meals on Wheels in her riding, which is somehow the federal government’s fault (Gould: We start from a place of trust in Canadians), and Luc Berthold gave his own torqued complained about the Liberal response to the AG report (Lebouthillier: People tell us they were glad we were in power during the crisis because the Conservatives only cut, cut, cut).

Julie Vignola returned to the question of the contract to the Chinese company hired to secure the RCMP’s communications (Mendicino: We have implemented a rigorous process to protect ourselves from threats of foreign interference).

Melissa Lantsman kept on the same topic (Jaczek: We are examining the contract; Mendicino: We are examining the details of how this contract was awarded), and Pierre Paul-Hus gave the same again in French (Mendicino: Same question, same answer; Jaczek: Same answer as before).

Blake Desjarlais was concerned about children’s hospitals and blamed the federal government (Bennett: We are working with provinces on the health human resource crisis and adequate funding going forward), and Lindsay Mathyssen gave the same with a southwestern Ontario spin (Bennett: Same answer).

Round three saw questions on the gun control legislation (Mendicino: We are targeting guns used in mass shootings; Hutchings: We support respectful, law-abiding hunters and target shooters, and we need to work together to keep assault-style rifles out of our country; St-Onge: We are not targeting hunters or sport-shooters; Lebouthillier: In hunting season in my riding, hunters hunt for moose and deer, not wage war on them), the 100th birthday of Riopel, and the National Gallery not looking to celebrate it—even though it’s not the government’s call (Rodriguez: We would love to celebrate Riopel, and the government has been there to celebrate him), carbon prices (Khera: We have been there for seniors; Duguid: We are doing something about the affordability challenge and you can do something by voting for Bill C-32; Fraser: Climate change is endangering the family farm and your party doesn’t support Canadians), vaccine tracking—but ignoring that provinces won’t share data (Champagne: Thanks to our government, we now have domestic vaccine capacity for the future), inflation (Boissonnault: A Scotiabank report showed our spending had no effect on inflation and our supports helped protect the economy), the murders of Indigenous women in Winnipeg (Battiste: We have invested $2.2 billion to addressing this, and recently made an announcement of $8.4 million for Winnipeg).

Overall, the day was a bit rowdier, but didn’t devolve into the absolute theatrics that yesterday did, though there were still some. The swipes at the Bank of Canada and complete inability to understand how monetary policy works continues to be astounding, much as this government’s inability or unwillingness to counter the misinformation and disinformation that is being delivered. And it went beyond just the Bank of Canada, as we had MPs demanding the government enforce a fantasy version of the Canada Health Act to somehow force provinces to act on their healthcare crises (that’s not how it works), or that they are directing the operations at the National Gallery (they do not). And the MPs asking these questions should know this, just like the government should be able to say that it’s not how these things work, but they never do.

As well, the Speaker delivered a ruling at the end regarding unparliamentary language heard yesterday, and once again let MPs off with yet another gentle chiding rather than consequences, because he remains utterly useless when it comes to doing the job of enforcing decorum in the Chamber.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Michelle Ferreri for a black suit over a black v-necked top, and to Peter Fragiskatos for a dark three three-piece suit with a white shirt and pocket square and a dark pink tie. Style citations go out to Darren Fisher for his hateful brown corduroy jacket over an off-white shirt with a grid pattern, a blue and red plaid tie, and blue jeans, and to Marci Ien for a dull green, orange and maroon-patterned long-sleeved dress. Dishonourable mention goes out to Julie Vignola for a dark yellow leather jacket over a black top and slacks with a blue patterned scarf, and to Brenda Shanahan for a black and yellow sweater over black slacks.