It was a surprise that the prime minister was present when he wasn’t initially planning to be, though most of the other leaders weren’t. Pierre Poilievre led in French, demanding to know if the debt-to-GDP ratio would fall in the coming budget. Justin Trudeau responded that he knew everyone was on tenterhooks waiting to hear what is in the budget, but reiterated what their priorities are. Poilievre changed to English, listed the number of violent deaths in the past few days and demanded the prime ministers reverse the policies that made this happen. Trudeau said that while they are concerned, they have invested in public safety while the Conservatives cut funding to them. Poilievre insisted that in Vancouver, 40 repeat offenders were arrested 6000 times in a year, and demanded the prime minster “replace bail with jail.” (That is contrary to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms). Trudeau said that if the Conservatives were concerned, they would support their gun control bill. Poilievre insisted that the government was letting violent criminals go free, and Trudeau accused the Conservatives of distracting away from their opposition to gun control bill. Poilievre made a number of specious correlations, pretended there was causation, called it “evidence,” and Trudeau said that the Conservatives loosened gun control which caused the spike in violent crime. (Erm, not sure that’s true either).

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, raised the allegations against Han Dong, and accused the government of being asleep at the switch. Trudeau cautioned Therrien of being sure of his facts so that he doesn’t mislead the House, and stated that the government took actions where necessary. Therrien wondered if Trudeau was naïve or incompetent and demanded an immediate public inquiry. Trudeau said this was just the Bloc trying to score points rather than getting to the bottom of things, which is why we should count on David Johnston.

Heather McPherson rose for the NDP, and noted that Ukrainians in Canada on visitor visas can access training programmes, to which Trudeau noted that he did sit down with union leaders, gave some bland statements about supporting Ukrainians while growing the economy. Lisa Marie Barron worried about seniors who can’t make ends meet, and that single seniors pay more in taxes than their coupled counterparts, and Trudeau insisted that they did increased the GIS for single seniors, which the NDP voted against.

Round two, and Poilievre got back up to pointed out he asked about stabbing deaths while Trudeau responded about guns (Lametti: I am working with my provincial counterparts to deal with bail reform), Melissa Lantsman claimed taxes have never been higher and demanded no deficits or new taxes in the budget (Boissonnault: You will get to hear everything in the budget in less than two hours; Gould: There are 2.7 million fewer people in poverty now than when your party was in charge), and Pierre Paul-Hus asked about the budget leak around cutting back on outsourcing (Boissonnault: No matter what is in the budget, you’ll vote against it).

Poilievre says Trudeau doesn’t have the guts to answer his question (as Trudeau gets up to leave the Chamber). #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) March 28, 2023

Monique Pauzé demanded the Trans Mountain expansion be scrapped (Boissonnault: We have taken all measures to stabilise the project and ensure we get fair market value while heading toward Net Zero), and Kristina Michaud complained about oil company profits while still getting public funds (Duguid: We will eliminate all fossil fuel subsidies by the end of the year).

John Barlow demanded that carbon price increase be cancelled (Bibeau: We are working with producers to ensure a transition to sustainable agriculture), Mark Strahl demanded the same again (Gould: We understand these are challenging times, which is why we have put important measures in place; Fraser: We cut taxes to the middle class, and supported families in the pandemic, and you voted against all of it).

Bonita Zarrillo worried about cuts to public transport and demanded permanent operational funding in the budget (LeBlanc: We believe transit is important, and have made record investments), and Brian Masse demanded that nuclear waste not be buried near the Great Lakes (Dabrusin: All radioactive waste is being safely stored, and the regulator is arm’s length from government).

Round three saw questions on the excise tax on alcohol increase in the budget (Boissonnault: We removed it from low-alcohol beer, and the escalator is less than one cent per can of beer; Gould: We reduced poverty for 2.7 people; St-Onge: We have always been there for small businesses), the costs to maintain the Governor General (Rodriguez: You’re just trying to pick a fight), consultant fees (Fortier: We need to deliver on our agenda to help Canadians; Holland: Let’s be cautious about how we describe contractors because sometimes we need to expand capacity temporarily), violent crime (Damoff: We need to also invest in things like mental health and addressing root causes of crime; Lametti: We are working with provinces on bail reform), the Department of Defence hiding documents (Anand: We have a roadmap for all of the recommendations of the Arbour Report), delays for travel documents for refugees (Fraser: We have made investments to add staff and technology to speed processing times).

Dear Julie Vignola,
If you think the Governor General is expensive, just wait until you find out how much elected presidents cost. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) March 28, 2023

“Replace bail with jail” is not only a dumb slogan, it’s very unconstitutional. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) March 28, 2023

Overall, we got more of the expected budget day questions of making demands and being told to wait two hours for the budget to be unveiled, but amidst this, the Conservatives decided to launch another boneheaded talking point about “replace bail with jail.” Wow. This is essentially telling the government to do away with the presumption of innocence because there are a few problematic actors whom, frankly, more responsibility should be resting on provincial governments for under-resourcing their court systems on top of under-resourcing social services, mental health supports and providing public housing, and to police for not enforcing bail conditions on some of these offenders effectively enough. The Criminal Code where it concerns bail conditions is not the problem here, and the federal government hasn’t made bail easier—they have in fact made it harder in many cases, while changes they made to legislation were largely in service of codifying Supreme Court of Canada decisions. Poilievre is creating a moral panic here, and some of his MPs, who are lawyers and who know this stuff, are just following along. That’s not great.

And the government, and Trudeau in particular, have not exactly done themselves any favours on this. When the question is about stabbings, Trudeau replies about gun control, and blames the Conservatives for increasing gun crime. Which…doesn’t track, and is just as specious as the correlations that Poilievre was making. This shouldn’t be that difficult. There are answers to be given, if he really cared to, and wasn’t so concerned with scoring points or back-patting, but why would Question Period ever be used to deliver actual answers?

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Dominique Vien for a black lapel-less jacket over a black dress, and to Sean Fraser for a tailored dark grey suit over a light purple shirt and dark purple tie. Style citations go out to Luc Desilets for a powder blue jacket and tie over a dark blue shirt and black slacks, and to Helena Jaczek for a black dress with white and pink florals under a dark pink jacket. Dishonourable mention goes out to Paul Chiang for a black suit with a bright yellow shirt and brown tie.