QP: How is Dr. Seuss an insult?

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The prime minister was off in Whitehouse, which may or may not have anything to do with the balloon shot down over its airspace on the weekend, but his deputy was present for the first time in a couple of weeks, which was a nice change. Melissa Lantsman led off with a script on the mini-lectern in front of her, and she quoted a Statistics Canada survey about people feeling economically stressed. Chrystia Freeland praised her plan which was compassionate but affordable, and listed measures that it included. Lantsman quoted a Léger poll about people feeling the country isn’t working, and demanded the prime minister take responsibility. Freeland suggested that the Conservatives take responsibility for telling people to invest in crypto. Lantsman then read out the talking points about “random Liberals” saying the government spent too much, but Freeland retorted with the gangbusters January jobs numbers. Luc Berthold took over in French, worried about food price inflation and demanded the prime minister take responsibility for it (never mind the actual causes of droughts, floods, and Russia invading Ukraine). Freeland listed the measures they made to help people, which the Conservatives voted against. Berthold insisted they voted against inflationary policies, and this time Pablo Rodriguez who got up to decry that the Conservatives would cut programmes.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, quoted Chantal Hébert in saying some anglophone Liberals in Quebec who wanted Parliament prorogued in order to keep the official languages bill from being passed as amended. Ginette Petitpas Taylor insisted that they wanted the bill passed. Therrien mocked anglophones in Montreal who feel oppressed by Quebec language policies, to which Rodriguez insisted the Bloc needs to get their own MPs in order and accused them of delaying that bill.

Peter Julian rose for the NDP, and in French, he demanded the minister block the Roger-Shaw merger. François-Philippe Champagne said that he favours competition but he is still reviewing the Federal Court of Appeal decision. Daniel Blaikie took over in English to repeat the demand with some additional sanctimony. Champagne repeated his pledge for more competition in English.

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan recited some talking point word salad before decrying the carbon price (Gould: Child care feels have reduced by 50 percent around the country), and then called her “Dr. Seuss” before reciting more talking point word salad (Gould: Dr. Seuss has some pretty good lessons, like protecting the environment, and maybe you should read some), Marilyn Gladu quoted some random numbers to couch her talking points (Guilbeault: My son likes to play hockey outside, but because of climate change, that may be a think of the past; Wilkinson: You guys keep changing your minds if climate change is real), and Dan Albas gave some non sequiturs to decry inflation (Khera: We have taken measures to help seniors which your party opposed; Freeland: We lifted people out of poverty while maintaining a triple A credit rating).

Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe worried about smugglers at Roxham Road and demanded the government suspend the Safe Third Country Agreement (Lalonde: Before I answer I want to mention the explosion in my riding, and as for Roxham Road, we need to modernise the agreement; You lost your credibility when you said asylum seekers cross the border as though it were a vacation; Rodriguez: These people are leaving difficult situations and we need to welcome them with dignity).

Raquel Dancho blamed the prime minister for violence on public transit (Mendicino: You keep voting against measures to keep Canadians safe), and Dominique Vien made similar accusation in French (Lametti: We are supporting victims and the way to help is with a justice system that works).

Alistair MacGregor demanded a windfall profit tax on grocery chains (Freeland: We have introduced the tax on share buybacks, we have a tax on luxury goods and a 15 percent recovery dividend on banks and insurance companies), and Heather McPherson appeared by video to worry about foreign interference (O’Connell: We have implemented measures to help national security agencies).

Round three saw questions on military procurement woes meaning we couldn’t shoot down that Chinese balloon—not actually true (Mendicino: I want to thank NORAD for doing its job), the cost of the hotel for the Queen’s funeral (Holland: thank you for your interest), recited an accusation that a former Ontario Liberal was a potential Chinese agent (Holland: Every one in this place takes national security seriously), taxes on inter-generational transfers of farms (Freeland: We are working on this; Drouin: The tax law is being applied), the Comptroller General warning civil servants not to put opinions on documents (Holland: There was no impropriety in the contract, and you are suggesting that you would have political interference in the civil service making its contracts), the plight of veterans (MacAulay: When you guys were in power, you fired a thousand veterans case workers), illegal gun smuggling (Mendicino: We have invested in CBSA, and you need to vote for those appropriations), housing policy (Hussen: Here is a list of our measures), the rollout of the outsourcing of some veterans rehabilitation services (MacAulay: This will give veterans access to services they need, and it will be seamless), and taxing profits from oil and gas companies (Freeland: Our share buyback tax is double what the Americans want).

Overall, I was surprised that it took until the third round for the alleged Chinese spy balloons to be raised, and even then, Michael Chong’s denunciations about government procurement should have been responded to with a demand to look in the mirror for the complete hash that the Conservative government in which Chong served made of military procurement, whether that was with the F-35 debacle, or the promises about new sensors in the Arctic that they never got around to doing (probably because they realized how expensive it is), nor did they do anything about modernising NORAD, so blaming the current government for not acting fast enough on doing that work is…a bit of a look.

Otherwise, there’s not much to say about the worsening talking points Mad Libs or word salad that QP has degenerated to. The only decent exchange was when Jasraj Hallan somewhat mysteriously called Karina Gould “Dr. Seuss” for some unknown reason, and the fact that she was able to hit back and essentially start quoting The Lorax was the kind of spontaneous, actual back-and-forth that QP should have, but we almost never do anymore in the never-ending cycle of outright lies and pabulum.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Seamus O’Regan for a tailored navy suit with a white shirt and pocket square with a pink tie, and to Chrystia Freeland for a black short-sleeved dress. Style citations go out to Marie-France Lalonde for an oversized off-white and black striped collared top under a black vest, and to Mark Holland for a light grey suit with a white shirt and a pink and red striped tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Rachel Bendayan for a yellow top with black polkadots and a pussy bow over black slacks.

3 thoughts on “QP: How is Dr. Seuss an insult?”

  2. Of course the PM is responsible for the violence on public transit. On Mondays he hands out clubs to transit riders in Ottawa, Wednesdays at Metro stations in Montreal and has aides doing the same in other large cities. The PMO says he hopes to make a personal appearance in Vancouver after he leaves the Yukon.

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