While Justin Trudeau was in the building, he didn’t show up for Question Period today, nor did his deputy, but all of the other leaders were present. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and decried that the national debt has doubled (ignoring the reason, being the pandemic), and decried that rent and mortgage payments have doubled, worried about seniors, lamented supposed rising crime rates, and then somehow tied this all to McKinsey contracts, because that makes logical sense. Pascale St-Onge got up to agree that it was a difficult period with high inflation, but the government would be there for people who need it. Poilievre wondered if those most in need were McKinsey consultants, and lamented how much the government was spending on consultants (never mind the explosion in such contracts under the Conservative government and in Poilievre’s department in particular when he was a minister). Mark Holland got up to remind the Conservatives that when they were in government, they never talked about poverty or people using food banks, while praising his own government’s record on lifting people out of poverty. Poilievre then accused the government of telling people that they should stop complaining because they’ve never had it so good. Holland called out Poilievre for doing nothing about the situation other than making YouTube videos. Poilievre went on a tear about rental costs—which is provincial responsibility—and red tape preventing housing development—a municipal issue—and blamed the federal government for it. Holland got back up to insist that Poilievre is just amplifying anxiety. Poilievre then accused the government of trying to silence the debate, and demand they fix the problems instead, and Holland reiterated that the government is playing it straight about the problems the country is facing, while Poilievre’s only solution was to tell people to invest in crypto. Poilievre got back up, but had run out of questions. 

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc to wonder what the Notwithstanding Clause was for if not preemptive use—which is hilariously wrong. David Lametti got up to talk about minority rights, the dialogue between legislatures and the courts, and why the last word should not be the first. Blanchet rambled for a moment before quoting Pierre Trudeau on the Charter, and Lametti reminded him that Charters in Canada and Quebec were about protecting minority rights, and he repeated his point about dialogue with the courts.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and recalled the horrors that were in long-term care homes early in the pandemic and accused the government of doing nothing since, demanding legislated standards—never mind this is provincial jurisdiction. Kamal Khera got up to remind Singh that she was a nurse, and that the government appreciated the work of the Canadian Standards Association in developing national standards. Singh switched to French to lament increased privatisation, and Jean-Yves Duclos insisted they were holding up the principles of access and the public system.

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan gave a word salad about McKinsey and poverty (Qualtrough: We will soon have a vote on Bill C-22, which can lift people out of poverty), and accused the government of overspending (Fraser: Sometimes you say the quiet part out loud, and we kept the lights on for businesses in the pandemic), Melissa Lantsman gave a series of random accusations about the government’s record (Fraser: Every step of the way we have helped Canadians) and railed about the carbon price (Guilbeault: You never talk about the costs of climate change), and Luc Berthold worried that people are driven to shoplift food and blamed the federal government (St-Onge: Your only solution is to cut, cut, cut).

I’m not getting the Conservatives’ point here—blaming government use of consultants for poverty? Are they advocating more wealth redistribution? #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) January 31, 2023

Rota doesn’t like to enforce decorum. https://t.co/FTPmxUvED5

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) January 31, 2023

Julie Vignola wondered why the government had a contract with McKinsey until the year 2100 (Fortier: It’s not a contract, it’s a preselection agreement with no compensation, and hundreds of other suppliers have this kind of agreement), and Jean-Denis Garon predicted that Quebec would be a country by 2100 (Rodriguez: The Bloc is only trying to rile up their base and Canada will still be united in 2100; Fortier: The public service delivered all of our priorities in the  pandemic and will continue to in the future).

Garnett Genuis gave some mocking talking points about Dominic Barton (Jaczek: We only contract services if there are unexpected workflow issue and specific projects), Kelly Block demanded to know the “real amount” the government paid to McKinsey (Holland: I take exception to your saying people have never had it so bad under our government when you compare it to your record), and Stephanie Kusie repeated the 2100 talking point (Fraser: We helped people during extremely difficult times).

Apparently Stephanie Kusie has been taking elocution lessons from Traci Melchor. #QP pic.twitter.com/iKf5pl6XGX

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) January 31, 2023

Matthew Green added Deloitte and KPMG to government consultation issues (Holland: We have a world-class contracting system) and Heather McPherson lamented that only one asset has been seized in six months of sanctions (Joly: We have exposed strong sanctions, and we want to implement the new legislation that will allow us to seize assets and forfeit them, and we are the first country to do so).

Round three saw questions on “Liberal insiders” (Holland: I take exception to your saying Canadians have never been worse off), a Calgary airport bill for government (Duclos: We saved lives and the economy with quarantine measures), the upcoming first ministers meeting on health transfers (Duclos: We are committed to working together; LeBlanc: We share the concerns of Canadians and I continue to meet with premiers), blaming a sexual assault suspended sentence on the elimination of certain mandatory minimums (Lametti: Serious crimes merit serious consequences, but I cannot comment on a specific case; What you are saying is false), the gun control bill (Mendicino: Are are investing to stop smuggling at the border and to prevent gun crime), bail reform (Lametti: The laws on bail are clear, and provinces and police are responsible for upholding bail conditions; Mendicino: You need to support our gun control bill), funding university partnerships with a Beijing military university (Joly: We have been clear in our Indo-Pacific Strategy that we need to be eyes wide open, and our national security agencies are working with universities), the lack of fire protection on a First Nation reserve (Badawey: Our condolences go to the family and Indigenous Services has been in contact with the chief), a windfall tax (Beech: We have increased taxes on the wealthy).

Niki Ashton showed up in person! This is novel.
She only appeared in Ottawa for two days between May and December last year. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) January 31, 2023

Overall, it was another mind-numbing day, with the Conservatives field-testing a new talking point: “Canadians have never had it so bad while Liberal insiders have had it so good.” I know that they’re trying to capitalise on the supposed “controversy” around McKinsey, but their logic starts to break down pretty spectacularly the moment you think about the things they’re saying (such as the implication that the federal government should be redistributing more to Canadians), and completely ignores their own hypocrisy around the explosion in use of outside consultants that happened under the Conservatives, and in Poilievre’s department in particular when he was a minister in that government.

Of course, this doesn’t get brought up by the government, and Mark Holland in particular, who kept responding to these talking points today, with his favoured tool—unctuous sanctimony. It was more back-patting from the government on all of their (legitimate!) accomplishments around reducing poverty and making some key changes to the social safety net in this country, but it never actually responds to the bogus and bad-faith attacks being made, particularly when problems being cited (such as rent costs) are problems that provincial governments have neglected to tackle when it’s their jurisdiction to do so. Holland could ask if Poilievre thinks that the federal government should bigfoot provinces or municipalities on these kinds of issues, but he doesn’t. It’s just the good-news pabulum, but with his particular sanctimonious tone, and it continues to make this whole exercise a complete waste of everyone’s time.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Terry Beech for a tailored navy suit with a white shirt and pocket square and a cranberry tie, and to Melissa Lantsman for a fuchsia jacket over a white top and black slacks. Style citations go out to Rosemarie Falk for a pink floral top over black slacks, and to Jean-Denis Garon for a grey windowpane jacket over a white shirt, black skinny tie and black jeans.