QP: Dominic Barton, Bond Villain

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The first day back of the New Year, and all of the leaders were present, and the benches were full, owing in large part to most MPs having spent the weekend in town for their caucus retreats. Before things got underway, new MP Charles Souza was presented to the Speaker so that he could take his place, up in the nosebleeds. 

Pierre Poilievre led off, and in French, he complained about the national debt and so-called “inflationary deficits” (which aren’t a thing) and wondered where the money went to, as people are lining up at food banks, and he turned that into a question on McKinsey contracts. Justin Trudeau stood up to pat himself on the back for job creation and investing in supports for Canadians. Poilievre insisted that the response somehow meant that the “Middle Class™” was high-priced contractors, and demanded to know how much McKinsey got. Trudeau again responded with some platitudes. Poilievre again tried to connect food bank use and rising crime with McKinsey contracts, and for a third time, Trudeau recited some platitudes about delivering supports for Canadians. This went yet again for a fourth round, and Trudeau repeated yet again that the government has stepped up to support Canadians while maintaining the best balance sheet in the G7. And then a fifth time around, and I wanted to scream.

Yves François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he decried that the new special representative to combat Islamophobia, Almira Elghawaby, supposedly said mean things about Quebec. (She really didn’t). Trudeau spoke about attending the memorial service in Quebec City and the need to combat Islamophobia. Blanchet demanded a meeting with Elghawaby, and Trudeau said he would try to make it happen, so that she can teach him about systemic racism.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he denounced Trudeau for saying that Doug Ford’s increased privatisation was “innovative.” Trudeau insisted that they have always defended the public health system and clawed back provinces who abused it. Singh repeated the same again in English, and got the same answer.

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan lied about what the Bank of Canada said about deficits (Freeland: Here is a list of supports we have delivered; Your only plan is to eviscerate EI and pensions), Tracy Gray worried about rent increases (Freeland: If you were so concerned you should have supported our rent supports, but we have a great job creation record; You keep talking down the economy which is reckless), and Luc Berthold recounted his visit to food banks in his riding (Gould: If we are going to talk about poverty, this government has raised more people out of it because of our programmes, and you voted against them all).

Alain Therrien railed that the government is opposed to use of the Notwithstanding Clause (Lametti: We always support the rights of minorities), and Therrien quoted Pierre Trudeau to defend the clause (Lametti: Legislatures are supposed to have the last word, but preemptively using the Clause means they have the first word and are not letting courts test them).

Stephanie Kusie and Garnett Genuis returned to clownish accusations about the McKinsey contracts (Jaczek: We ensure all contracts get value for money, and I will testify at committee).

Taylor Bachrach raised the backlog of travel complaints (Alghabra: We passed a bill to support passenger’s rights, and we will give the Canadian Transportation Agency the resources they need), and Laurel Collins demanded a windfall profits tax, which would apparently be magic (Freeland: We implemented the COVID recovery dividend on banks, and increased corporate income taxes and introduced a luxury tax).

Round three saw questions on Mary Ng’s improper contract (Ng: I apologised, and at the time it was urgent to communicate with small businesses), a demand for Ng’s resignation (Holland: No), the constituency contracts from Ahmed Hussen’s office (Hussen: MPs are allowed to use local service providers and rules were followed), a service not being available in French (Mendicino: We are working to meet the needs), the upcoming meeting with premiers and a call to bring the cheque book (Duclos: We are all looking forward to this meeting), the column by Elghawaby about Quebec (Hussen: She has already clarified her statements), bail reforms (Lametti: The laws on bail are clear, and you know provinces and police have a role to uphold bail conditions; Mendicino: I am concerned about the spike in violence on the TTC, and we had offered supports for homelessness and mental health), a company buying a senior’s complex in Winnipeg (Vandal: We are here to call for more non-profit housing and I have not gotten a response to my inquiries on this), and a harbour front development in Toronto (LeBlanc: We have been meeting with Toronto over the waterfront).

Overall, there wasn’t any kind of refresh for the New Year, and they just all picked up where they left off in December. The whole atmosphere continues to have this sense of exhaustion, of going through the motions, the same well-worn pattern of lies being countered with pabulum. Absolutely nothing was enlightening the entire time. There were no good or memorable exchanges. It was pretty much the same, tired bullshit going around and around.

I would note that there was a lot of chatter over social media over the weekend that insisted that the government threw Almira Elghawaby under the bus immediately after her appointment, but that didn’t appear to be the case, as both Justin Trudeau and Ahmed Hussen clearly stated that she addressed the concerns from her previous columns, and that was that, and Trudeau even through a bit of shade at Yves-François Blanchet in saying that Elghawaby could teach him about systemic racism (which you may recall, Blanchet doesn’t believe exists in Quebec). 

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Julie Dzerowicz for a light purple jacket over a black v-necked top and slacks, and to Arif Virani for grey suit with a light purple shirt and a dark purple tie and pocket square. Style citations go out to Martin Shields for a taupe suit with a grey patterned shirt and striped green tie, and to Joyce Murray for a fluorescent pink jacket over a black turtleneck and grey and black tartan slacks. Dishonourable mention goes out to Brenda Shanahan for a yellow and black sweater over black slacks.

One thought on “QP: Dominic Barton, Bond Villain”

  1. The Liberals are a bunch of milquetoasts period. Polly and his incompetent sycophants give them so many opportunities to slam them but there are no takers on the government side. This has to end! I wonder… where are the warriors? Sheesh!

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