QP: Conflating the “police stations” with the interference allegations

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While the prime minister was present for a second day in a row, it was a question as to whether the tone of yesterday would carry forward today. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, wondering about the two alleged Chinese “police-stations” in Quebec, raised the Chinese donation to the Trudeau Foundation ten years ago (at a point where Justin Trudeau was not involved in the Foundation), and demanded the date for when a foreign agent registry would be in place. Trudeau took up a script and said that the RCMP was looking into those alleged “police stations,” and that they would take every measure to protect Canadians from foreign intimidation. Poilievre again demanded a date for the registry. Trudeau said he woudln’t take any lessons from a former democratic reform minister whose only shining achievement was making it harder for Canadians to vote, before he started patting himself on the back for the measures they have taken thus far. Poilievre raised the allegations that Chinese agents had “earmarked” a large transfer of funds to be used in the election, and demanded to know if Trudeau would return any funds he or the party in any capacity received from the PRC. Trudeau read that it was a fact that there are threats and that even the US is facing these threats, and that any suggestion that any MP is not loyal is dangerous and undermines democracy. Poilievre reiterated that the question was whether they will commit to return any money that came from the PRC. Trudeau insisted that this was not a partisan issue, and read the points of what the special rapporteur would do. Poilievre said that since Trudeau won’t commit to returning money and accused the prime minster of delaying, possibly until the next election. Trudeau shot back that when Poilievre was minster for democratic reform, he did nothing about foreign interference and only made it harder for marginalised Canadians to vote, while his government took action.

Yves-François Blanchet raised the so-called Chinese “police stations,” and accused the government of doing nothing about foreign interference and that the disqualified themselves from being able to do anything. Trudeau said that there are separate issues, and that the RCMP were investigating those alleged stations. Blanchet said he needed reassurance that the rapporteur would be independent, and Trudeau praised the fact that NSICOP contains parliamentarians from all parties.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP and talked tough about their “forcing” grocery CEOs, before railing about the grocery code of conduct being negotiated. Trudeau read a script about the minster of innovation getting the Competition Bureau involved in the matter, and that they had other measures. Matthew Green took over in English with even more bluster, and Trudeau repeated his same script in English.

Round two, and Luc Berthold railed about the “secret” processes to investigate interference (LeBlanc: Thanks for participating in committee), Michael Chong asked about the reports around supposed cash transfers to campaigns from Beijing (Mendicino: We gave resources to national security agencies, and we set up the monitoring force), Micheal Barrett demand Katie Telford appear at committee (Holland: Saying a foreign government is trying to get a party elected is preposterous, they want to destroy our institutions), and Pierre Paul-Hus made the demand again in French (LeBlanc: The prime minister has been answering questions in this House; Mendocino: We will build on the measures we have already taken).

Blanchet got back up to lament the possible Chinese “police stations” and demanded someone in the Liberals stand up to the prime minister to demand a public inquiry (Mendicino: We will follow the advice of the special rapporteur), and then pivoted to take a swipe at the Conservatives around Bill C-11 and listening to Quebec (Rodriguez: The Conservatives have no interest in culture but we do), and Martin Champoux wanted Quebec influence on the CRTC’s ability to determine content (Rodriguez: We have worked with Quebec all the way through).

Kyle Seeback railed that no Chinese diplomats have been expelled (Sidhu: The minister had a stern conversation with her Chinese counterpart last week), and Rachael Harder demanded Telford appear at committee (Holland: You guys did nothing when you were warned and about intelligence oversight).

Laurel Collins worried about the suspected poisonings of Iranian schoolgirls (Sidhu: We are aware of this issue and are following it with great concern), and Bonita Zarrillo wanted immigration status for all migrant workers in caregiver positions (Lalonde: We should be happy our government is protecting and supporting migrants).

Round three saw questions on housing (Hussen: Our programme is working), Poilievre got back up to decry the rise in housing and rental costs, blaming “inflationary deficits” (Gould: Canadians know they can’t trust the Conservatives to protect savings or programmes; Hussen: When you were minister, you downloaded all of the housing issues onto province and municipalities while we have re-engaged), what renegotiating the Safe Third Country means (Lalonde: Negotiations are private), more overwrought questions on housing (Boissonnault: You kept voting against our measures to help Canadians; St-Onge: Same in French), and Loblaws’ use of tax shelters (Boissonnault: We have been working to close loopholes and increased corporate taxes).

Overall, Poilievre started off once again on the attempt at playing prosecutor, but didn’t have the runway to get very far with it today, and Trudeau was possibly even worse than he was yesterday because he had scripts in hand for his answers, and was still largely evasive and didn’t answer direct questions he should have. It was also odd that Poilievre got back up in the third round to start going after housing and started patting himself on the back for great the situation was when he was the minister in charge of the file, as though the actual causes (municipalities refusing to zone for density, provinces not meaningfully holding municipalities to account for that if not outright abetting it) were not present and building to the crisis that we’re seeing today. He did nothing on the file, and he can’t claim he was a good steward of the issue.

Otherwise, it was a fairly normal-ish day, or as normal as the debased baseline of this current parliament is—talking points Mad Libs, the NDP and their blustering about grocery CEOs, the complete non-sequitur replies from Marie-France Lalonde that had no bearing to the questions being asked. It was almost like a dose of what passes for normal after the eeriness of yesterday, and the nastiness of Monday and Tuesday. This is not a healthy parliament, and the un-seriousness of this place is getting worse with every passing week.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Greg Fergus for a tailored dark grey suit over a white shirt with a navy tie, and to Dominique Vien for a closed black jacket with a banded collar over a black skirt. Style citations go out to Bonita Zarrillo for a black and gold floral top under a brown suede jacket and tan slacks, and to Ryan Williams for a dark teal suit and tie over a black waistcoat and a white shirt.