QP: The “sneaky” fuel standard the Conservatives also promised

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The prime minister was still in South Korea, but his deputy was once again present for the debate. (It’s been a while since we’ve had three in a row), and all of the other leaders were present as well. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and spouts some nonsense about deficits before insisting that Chrystia Freeland was incompetent for not answering at committee the size of debt payments. Freeland insisted that the person who won’t answer questions is Poilievre and what he plans to cut (which is not her job to ask questions). Following an incident of a shouter in the Gallery bellowing out a manifesto as he was removed, Poilievre tried again in English, and Freeland this time straight up asserted that Poilievre plans to cut. Poilievre said he would cut the carbon price, and worried about a “sneaky” second carbon price known as the fuel standard. Freeland said that she was glad to hear the Conservatives talking about climate, because building a clean economy was where jobs are. Poilievre repeated the question, and Freeland said that he doesn’t understand that the need to plan for the green future, and regaled a meeting with an electrician who was excited about electrification. Poilievre tried to riff that this electrician would have to pay more because of the “taxes” of the government, and demanded again how much this second tax (which is not a tax) would cost. Freeland noted this electrician’s wife is an emergency room nurse who is benefitting from this government’s investments, because of course she is.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and raised an issue around contamination on Indigenous land in Quebec, and Freeland noted that Patty Hajdu responded yesterday that she is working with the local Indigenous leaders. Blanchet said that these people were living in fear, and Freeland agreed it was a serious situation that the government was engaged on.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and worried about skyrocketing rental prices, and Freeland praised the child care investments benefitting the single mother raised in the question. Singh switched to French to worry about rising grocery prices, and demanded the government fight it by taxing excessive profits. Freeland agreed that the wealthiest pay their fair share, which is why they raised their taxes and set up the grocery rebate.

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan raised that theoretical electrician before launching into his usual angry work salad (Freeland: He is a real person and he’s glad we are investing in the green economy and hooray our Aaa credit rating; Guilbeault: You ran on a carbon price in the last election), Adam Chambers railed about deficits and inflation (Freeland: Instead of believing partisan hacks reading their talking points, you should listen to the PBO; Holland: You had the worst growth rate when you were in power and we lifted two million people out of poverty), and Gérard Deltell demanded the debt service costs she didn’t say at committee (Freeland: Kevin Page says our budget has a credible fiscal strategy; Duclos: I find it cruel for you to blame the less fortunate for worldwide inflation).

René Villemure worried about the directive to CSIS about informing MPs about threats against them wasn’t clear (Damoff: An attack against one of is an attack against all), and Marie-Hélène Gaudreau demanded a public inquiry while mocking the directive (LeBlanc: You know full well this directive is part of our efforts to counter foreign interference).

Shannon Stubbs railed breathlessly about the carbon price (Guilbeault: We are seeing record forest fires and it’s mid-May, and our plan to fight climate change has reduced emissions; You had the same fuel standard in your platform), and John Barlow railed more hyperbole about the clean fuel standard (Freeland: You know that Albertans are getting more than $1000 in rebates, and I met a woman there who praised us).

Leah Gazan appeared by video to worry about Indigenous woman and Two-Spirit at risk of homelessness (Hussen: We have doubled the funding to over 5000 projects), and Taylor Bachrach worried about WestJet pilots striking (Sheehan: The minister is on the ground in Toronto while federal mediators are at the table).

Round three saw questions on the clean fuel standard as a new carbon price (Guilbeault: Here are agricultural producers committed to net zero; Blair: Let me talk for a few minutes about the forest fires in Alberta; Holland: Conservatives don’t see the link between climate and the economy; Bibeau: The first people who deal with climate change are farmers who deal with droughts or floods, so we have programmes to manage risk), raising rates for graduate and post-graduates researchers (Fillmore: We have increased funds to granting councils), the Governor General’s clothing allowance (Rodriguez: We expect people to be prudent with public spending), bail reform (Lametti: This bill has the support of the chiefs of police; Rodriguez: The only way to keep assault rifles from our communities is to vote Liberal), the housing crisis (Hussen: It’s hard to take them seriously when they didn’t even have the word affordable in your last platform plan, and your current plan has no plan for women, seniors, accessibility, etc.), carbon prices on farmers (Guilbeault: Quebec has a cap and trade system; Bibeau: We are investing in farmers to adopt better practices and new technologies), more funding to combat hate for LGBTQ+ people (Sudds: Our Action Plan supports these communities), and Chinese “police stations” (Damoff: All threats from foreign actors are taken seriously, and these stations are being investigated by the RCMP).

Overall, it was a strange and raucous day, where we had a shouter in the Gallery who was trying to read a manifesto about climate change, which was followed by some acrimony between Poilievre and Freeland. If we had a competent Speaker, he would have pointed out that her role is not to ask questions of the opposition, and probably would have objected to her referring to a Conservative as a “partisan hack,” and should have thrown Blake Richards out for talking back to him. Because that’s the kind of day it was. Meanwhile, the whole back and forth over “Jeff” the electrician and his nurse wife, whom Freeland insisted was a real person, was just more of this rather inane attempt to project political policies on “real people,” most of whom wind up being fictitious, like the infamous Briane.

I have also noted that one of Poilievre’s latest applause lines (among the dozens that have accumulated to date) is that he promises “common sense policies” for “common people.” This is, of course, more populist noise that is trying to create some kind of bullshit differentiation between the “corrupt elites” and the “purity” of the common people, which is always nonsense, and is the first step on a road to darker things. Of course, this is just being added to the ongoing mix of talking points and applause lines, so that Conservative questions are no longer actual questions or statements, they’re just Talking Points MadLibs, and it’s ridiculous to witness.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Peter Fragiskatos for a tailored dark grey suit with a white shirt and pocket square and a light purple tie, and to Chrystia Freeland for a dress-length black jacket with asymmetric buttons. Style citations go out to Martin Shields for a black suit with a blue floral shirt and a dull red tie, and to Sylvie Bérubé for a black floral jacket with three quarter sleeves over a lilac top.