QP: The “courage” to manufacture misleading clips

Posted on by

The prime minister was in town but elsewhere, while his deputy was present for a change. Most of the other leader were also absent, save the Leader of the Opposition. After the Speaker had to read a statement about decorum and calling one another liars, Pierre Poilievre led off, and stated—falsely—that the finance minister had said that the deficit was fuelling inflation, and raised the defeated policy motion at the Liberal convention on the weekend about balancing budgets. Chrystia Freeland said that what the party really said at the convention is that they’re the optimistic party, and the party that believes in Canada. Poilievre accused the prime minister of not having the courage to answer, when he’s not here, and praised the “courageous” Liberals who raised the policy proposal. Freeland said that Liberals were courageous for doing what needed to be done in the pandemic and raised the country’s Aaa credit rating. Poilievre insisted the prime minister stand up and be “courageous” in kicking out that Chinese diplomat who was involved in the Chong threats. Freeland insisted that it was beneath the dignity to say that nobody stands for threats against elected officials. Poilievre tried again, demanding to “bring home” security—because he has to get his new tag line in there—and demanded the diplomat be expelled. Marco Mendicino reminded him that the foreign minister summoned the ambassador last week and let it he know that interference will not be tolerated. Poilievre repeated the question in French, and got the same response from Mendicino.

Claude DeBellefeuille led for the Bloc, and raised the so-called “century initiative” to increase immigration by the end of the century, but didn’t have regard for Quebec or the status of French, and demanded to know if this is government policy. Sean Fraser said that they can bring in immigration and protect French, and noted the increased Francophone immigration last year. DeBellefeuille repeated her concerns, and Fraser said that the government makes policy, not Dominic Barton, before repeating his same points.

Peter Julian rose for the NDP, and demanded to know if any other MPs were being threatened like Michael Chong was. Marco Mendicino said that 49 parliamentarians had been briefed by CSIS. Alexandre Boulerice worried that big corporations want to introduce GMO foods into schools, and that voluntary compliance was not enough. Francis Drouin said that the government has been working with the organic food sector.

Round two, and Melissa Lantsman gave an angry denunciation of attempts to discredit Chong (Mendicino: We reached out directly and offered him a briefing and support, and you guys cut from national security), and demanded the diplomat in question be expelled (Oliphant: We will take all necessary steps), Larry Brock made the same demands with added bluster (Mendicino: The only falsehood being spread is the notion we don’t have any regard for Chong; Stop politicising this subject), and Luc Berthold gave the same lines in French (LeBlanc: We have put in place measures that didn’t exist under the previous government).

Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe thrice returned to the “century initiative” conspiracy (Fraser: Immigration is essential to our future and we can protect French).

Ryan Williams demanded the names Chinese diplomat be expelled (Oliphant: We are doing due diligence), Doug Shipley read his own script of the same (Fraser: We will always stand up for democracy at home and abroad).

Heather McPherson wanted the federal government to essentially take over disaster management in Alberta because of the wildfires (Blair: We just got an official request for assistance from the province, and we will do what we can), and Don Davies demanded the federal government hire and pay nurses (van Koeverden: We have measures in the budget to help provinces).

Round three saw questions on the Chong revelations (Mendicino: It never ceases to amaze me how absurd the Conservatives’ suggestions are; This is just hopped-up rhetoric; Oliphant: No one is misleading the House in this, and we are ensure that we follow the rule of law; LeBlanc: We are the only government that has taken foreign interference seriously), the Liberal policy resolution on media sources (Bittle: We can disagree on things in our party, and our government will always respect the independence of the press), demanding a public inquiry (LeBlanc: Wait for David Johnston’s report), banning assault weapons (Mendicino: We are protecting people with this ban; You are trying to stoke fear because you didn’t read the bill), the prime minister’s travel (Holland: Yes, he took a vacation with family over Christmas), inflation (Freeland: Stop talking down the economy), Jordan’s Principle obligations (Battiste: Let’s focus on our investments in Indigenous children), and electoral reform (LeBlanc: We are focused on things like affordability and climate change).

Overall, it was only slightly less of a clown show than it was last week, but we saw repeated instances of Poilievre doing the shtick where he is demanding Trudeau “have the courage” to stand up and answer him when Trudeau isn’t there, and nobody is allowed to point that out to him. That will then serve as fodder for a series of future shitposts where he says that Trudeau is too afraid to face him, because this is how they operate, and the Speaker won’t intervene because Poilievre is dancing around the rules, and apparently it doesn’t matter that they have turned QP into a mere clip-harvesting exercise, to the detriment of democracy. It’s so great. The fact that they had third and fourth-tier backbenchers asking their own poorly scripted questions on this ongoing topic of the Chong revelations means that they think there is traction in gathering more clips for their socials on it, never mind the fact that they lack the self-awareness to know that the poor reading of those scripts doesn’t make for compelling video.

As for the Bloc, they are also into conspiracy theory territory, and bordering on racist/white supremacist “Replacement Theory” talking points while trying to denounce the “century initiative,” which Dominic Barton was a part of. It’s really not great that this kind of rhetoric is being used in QP, but unfortunately, this is the state of politics in Quebec. It was good that Sean Fraser did point out that Dominic Barton is not setting the government’s immigration policies, but man, these questions are a problem.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Adam Chambers for a dark grey suit with a crisp white shirt and a pale pink tie, and to Stephanie Kusie for a navy short-sleeved dress with a keyhole neckline. Style citations go out to Pam Damoff for a belted, collared dress with pastel colour blocks, and to Fraser Tolmie for a sauce windowpane patterned suit over a medium blue shirt, with a brown tie and a dark blue pocket square.