QP: Inflation and opioids

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While the prime minister was away in South Korea, his deputy was present for the second day in a row, as were all other leaders. Pierre Poilievre led off, worrying that the deficit was fuelling inflation, and lo, it ticked up last month which was all this government’s fault. Chrystia Freeland noted that it is still coming down, it was 8 percent, it’s now 4.4 percent, and the Bank of Canada forecast it will be down to three percent by the end of the year. Poilievre continued to rail about inflation, noted increasing rent costs in Montreal, and demanded the deficit be slain. Freeland quoted that some good news economic points. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his first question, and this time, Freeland quoted the core inflation figures that were still falling. Poilievre insisted that the deficit was fuelling inflation (it’s not), and demanded it be defeated. Freeland first took a swipe at Poilievre’s cryptocurrency advice before repeating the core inflation measures. Poilievre insisted that the prime minister said his measure was CPI, which is up, and demanded she slay the deficit in order to bring housing prices down (again, not how this works). Freeland took some more swipes at Poilievre’s inability to understand finances, and repeated the core inflation measures falling.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and yet again railed about the “century initiative,” and its supposed plan to eliminate French and Quebec. Freeland said that they are committed to the Quebec Nation. Blanchet railed that the government couldn’t manage 500,000 new immigrants every year, but Freeland listed the investments in things that are priorities for Quebeckers.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and demanded the housing minister answer how much a single mother would have left if she earned an average salary and paid average rent in Toronto. Freeland patted herself on the back for the government’s measures to help people. Singh tried again for Vancouver, and Freeland repeated more back-patting on measures like childcare.

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan raced through some angry word salad (Freeland: Moving past the metaphorically-challenged Conservative rhetoric, you would see we are on one of the best positions in the world), Melissa Lantsman railed that “Liberal deficits cause Liberal inflation” (Freeland: The people who talk to people like they’re in kindergarten are the Conservatives, who talk like Canadians don’t understand the economy; Holland: Amidst global chaos, we have a finance minster getting people child care and kids dental care, and the Conservatives only want to cut), and Luc Berthold read a script about how people are struggling in Montreal (Freeland: Our government is looking out for their interests and investing in families; Rodriguez: When you say we’re spending too much, you won’t say what you’ll cut).

René Villemure worried that two other MPs were not informed they were also targeted by China (Mendicino: We share the concerns, which is why CSIS will offer briefings and the budget will create a coordinator to help fight foreign interference; LeBlanc: We gave instructions that are clear and precise so that when parliamentarians are threatened, the information is shared), and Marie-Hélène Gaudreau insisted waiting for David Johnston was a waste of time (LeBlanc: We have worked to fight interference since day one).

Rob Moore denounced the bail reform bill (Lametti: You are misguided, and these are targeted measures asked for by provinces and stakeholders), Raquel Dancho gave her own denunciation (Lametti: This can’t be solved by simple silly slogans), and Pierre Paul-Hus tried again in French (Lametti: Let me read a quote from the chiefs of police). 

Alexandre Boulerice appeared by video asked about a water crisis on a Quebec First Nation (Hajdu: We are engaged with the leader of that Nation), and Matthew Green also appeared by video to rail about the Stellantis blackmail (Freeland: We have invested more than anyone else in the auto sector, but we are going to ensure a fair deal).

Round three, and Poilievre got back up to decry the opioid crisis, getting increasingly apocalyptic and demanding “common sense” treatment (Bennett: We are pretty fed up with this attack on evidence-based policy that saves lives; People are dying from toxic drugs and people need to stay alive long enough to get to treatment, so safe supply keeps them alive; Freeland: Some things are beyond the pale, and our minister was a doctor while the leader of the opposition has been a career politician, and it’s shameful that the yelled “you are killing them”), with more MPs following up with the same (Bennett: We lived through ten years of the Conservatives removing harm reduction and have been building it back; Duclos: You should actually visit these sites). It also saw questions on biodiversity targets versus oil exploration (Guilbeault: We moved forward to host COP15, and we succeeded where everyone thought we would fail; Dabrusin: We have been increasing marine protected areas, and your leader defended drilling in sensitive areas when he was Quebec environment minister), WestJet labour issues (O’Regan: There are federal mediators at the bargaining table), public transit in Vancouver (LeBlanc: We share the concern, I am meeting with the mayors from the GVA, and it’s an ongoing conversation), private investors in the new VIA Rail corridor (Koutrakis: We will ensure funding).

Overall, it was a very strange but kind of gross day, particularly by the end. The first third, the Conservatives focused on the inflation numbers, which did tick up by a tenth of a percent in the headline number, but the core measures that the Bank of Canada relies on continued to tick downward, which Freeland pointed to. Of course, her explanations don’t fit Poilievre’s narrative, nor did the actual text of the CPI report put out by Statistics Canada this morning, but he won’t let facts get in the way. There was also a strange fixation on Montreal in several of the Conservatives’ questions, and I have to wonder if this isn’t related to the upcoming by-elections, and that they somehow hope to capture Marc Garneau’s former riding—one of the safest Liberal seats in the country. 

Where things took a turn was in the back third, where Poilievre got back up to start a debate, if you can call it that, on the opioid crisis. While this actually had the makings of an actual policy back-and-forth between Poilievre and Carolyn Bennett, it was nevertheless marred by attempts to turn lives into slogans, and some accusations from Poilievre that the government was killing people, which is beyond the pale. Making it worse was when Poilievre sat down and his backbench started their own versions of those same questions, they were stilted deliveries from overwrought scripts, and the fake outrage and concern just cheapened any value or substance in the exchange that Poilievre and Bennett had. They don’t do themselves any favours, but they keep doing it regardless. Also not helping was when these exchanges turned into competitive standing ovations, which we’ve gotten away from in the past few years but relapsed today.

I would also note that today, the Speaker was trying to be a little more active in trying to keep the dull roar to a minimum, and was particularly active during the back-and-forth over the opioid questions, when there were some fairly terrible outbursts. But this is also Anthony Rota, so it was only ever gentle chiding and never actually drawing attention to the offenders or using any actual powers to enforce any decorum.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Marco Mendicino for a dark grey suit with a white shirt and a pink tie, and to Brenda Shanahan for a fuchsia jacket over a black top and slacks. Style citations go out to Anna Roberts for a jacket with a tight grey grid pattern that had a black and white pebble pattern at the cuffs and along the bottom trim over a white top and black slacks, and to Alain Therrien for a dark blue jacket over a white shirt, black tie, and blue jeans. Dishonourable mention goes out to Marie-Hélène Gaudreau for a bright yellow jacket over a white floral top and black slacks.

One thought on “QP: Inflation and opioids”

  1. Today’s show by the conservatives in “support of their foolish leader” proves the notion that an authoritarian is aided not by informed supporters who show meritocratic values but by a plethora of ignorant “stupids” who can’t think on their own. Exactly what dictators put in place. I can’t really find one individual ion Polievre’s front bench of ministerial capability. Woe would Canada be if this crew were elected to power.

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