QP: Fighting to take credit for the Telford decision

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After a morning full of rapid-fire decisions around what was happening with Katie Telford heading to committee and David Johnston’s mandate being released, the prime minister was present, as were all other leaders. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, took credit for pressuring Trudeau to change his mind in letting Telford testify, and took a swipe at Johnston before demanding a public inquiry starting today. Justin Trudeau responded that this should’t be a partisan issue, which is why the appointed Johnston and were waiting for his recommendations. Poilievre switched to English to again take credit, and took several more swipes at Johnston before demanding a public inquiry right now. Trudeau repeated that this shouldn’t be a partisan issue which was why they appointed Johnston, and that they would abide by his recommendations while they moved forward on other measures. Poilievre then switched topics to inflation, blamed rising food prices on carbon prices (it’s not the cause) and demanded the planned increase be cancelled. Trudeau said that when he sat down with farmers, they underlined their real problems and leadership on climate change, before he listed climate rebates levels. Poilievre went on his usual talking points about carbon prices, and Trudeau listed how much the climate rebates were going up in Poilievre’s riding. Poilievre spouted some disingenuous bullshit about the ongoing heating costs at 24 Sussex and Trudeau’s flights, while Trudeau shrugged off the personal attack while patting himself on the back for dental care and rental benefits.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he demanded a public inquiry be called right here and now. Trudeau insisted that appointing Johnston was the first step and that they would follow his recommendations. Blanchet was talked around the appointment of Johnston, before again demanding the inquiry. Trudeau read some praise for Johnston and insisted he rejected the attacks against Johnston.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he too took credit for forcing the government to make Katie Telford appear at committee, and then tried calling out Poilievre for blocking their attempt to move a motion on calling a public inquiry. Poilievre theatrically got up to answer, before the Speaker stood up to remind everyone what Question Period was for, which is holding the government to account, and Trudeau took the opportunity to denounce personal attacks and praise Johnston. Singh said that his proves neither the Conservatives nor the Liberals wanted a public inquiry before he switched to French to demand said inquiry right here and now. Trudeau insisted that they appointed Johnston to who could make recommendations about next steps, while NSICOP was doing their work.

Round two, and Michael Chong demanded to know if the prime minister was ever briefed by CSIS about Beijing’s plan to help the Liberals win an election (Mendicino: Hooray Johnston, who will make recommendations), and demanded to know if the PM was briefed on Chinese diplomats boasting about defeating Conservative candidates (LeBlanc: You guys ignored CSIS’ warnings when you were in power), Michael Cooper accused the government of sleeping on these warnings (Mendicino: Listed efforts taken; LeBlanc: You should be very careful not to make accusations that have no basis in the truth), and Luc Berthold praised the Globe and Mail’s leaker (LeBlanc: We did take measures after you guys didn’t).

René Villemure wondered what was so secret the government was considering toppling their own government (Holland: We provided ministers and other witnesses; Rodriguez: You don’t want to work with facts and are only trying to start a fight), and Denis Trudel decried the real threats faced by Chinese Canadians (Joly: We have made our position on China clear and we will never tolerate interference).

Larry Brock demanded a public inquiry (Mendicino: We have put in the people, authorities and systems in place to combat foreign interference, and we are waiting for Johnston’s recommendations), Rachael Thomas feigned confusion about what the reports in Global were saying (Mendicino: We have committees to delve into the allegations), and Pierre Paul-Hus tried again in French (LeBlanc: You know full well that we took the treat of interference seriously and set up a number of measures).

Daniel Blaikie took credit for ending the filibuster before demanding a windfall tax on grocery chains (Boissonnault: Inflation is coming down but not fast enough, and we are helping people), and Laurel Collins praised Joe Biden and demanded Canada do more on climate change (Dabrusin: Hooray our climate measures).

Round three saw questions on carbon prices (Wilkinson: We are addressing climate change while tackling affordability; Khera: Your party’s plan for seniors was to raise the age of eligibility for OAS; Gould: You voted against supports; St-Onge: Same again in French), clawbacks for provinces who are not living up to their Canada Health Act obligations (Duclos: The Act is clear about private services), the increase in beer prices (Boissonnault: We have supported breweries, and this increase is less than a penny per can), access to primary care (Duclos: We have credential recognition included in our agreements with provinces), privacy leaks by Passport Canada (Gould: The situation was unacceptable and I have asked the department to conduct an investigation), consultations on air passenger protections (Alghabra: I did reach out and ask for your input and I have been consulting with stakeholders and advocates), the humanitarian crisis in remote First Nations (Hajdu: We need to do more to dismantle the colonial legacy).

Overall, it was another pretty mind-numbing day, between the posturing over who “forced” the government to back down about the Telford appearance (because who cares about parliamentary principles like ministerial responsibility?), or the return to complete and utter disinformation about carbon prices. The government capitulating on the Telford issue didn’t stop the bad faith attacks either, whether it was swipes about Johnston, or the claim that Beijing helped the Liberals win (which is bullshit), but bad faith is how these guys operate. Trudeau, of course, largely hewed to scripts today rather than answered extemporaneously, and there was still so much back-patting from the Liberals about the actions they’ve announced to date.

Of course, because this is the declining state of our Parliament, we got a lot of repetitive questions from a list of MPs asking the same thing over and over again, because it’s about harvesting video for their social media shitposts. The fact that Singh addressed a question to Poilievre today for theatrical purposes—because had a scripted remark about Liberals and Conservatives being the same—was absolutely risible. QP gets ever more debased every single day because of this constant dynamic, and it’s making for a very sorry spectacle for all involved.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Christine Normandin for a black half-sleeved top with a gold pattern over a black skirt, and to Jeremy Patzer for a dark blue suit over a white shirt and black tie. Style citations go out to Darrell Samson for a navy suit with a blue floral shirt and a black tie, and to Lisa Hepfner for a fluorescent yellow-orange jacket over a black top and slacks. Dishonourable mention goes out to Monique Pauzé for a dull yellow jacket over black tops and slacks.