QP: Not reading the Johnston Report

Posted on by

While the prime minister was elsewhere in the building entertaining the president of Iceland, most of the other leaders were present today, as was the prime minister’s deputy. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and accused the government of using China to help them win two elections, and demanded they fire David Johnston and call a public inquiry. Dominic LeBlanc responded by pointing out that Poilievre refused a briefing in order to make outrageous comments rather than be serious. Poilievre insisted that he refused to be “silenced,” and repeated his demand. Marco Mendicino repeated the point that Poilievre refused briefings for partisan reasons. Poilievre moved onto the Chinese “police stations” in Montreal that got government funds, and were still active. Mendicino carried on with the retorts that Poilievre was closing his own eyes. Poilievre repeated the question in French, and Mendicino gave his same response. Poilievre then said that he can ask question of any member of the government, and tried to ask Jagmeet Singh demand a public inquiry or end his “coalition.” Mark Holland gave a sanctimonious speech about the Conservatives attacking Johnston, who Harper appointed as GG, for the sake of partisan games.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he called Johnston’s inquiry a farce, and demanded a public inquiry. LeBlanc got back up to tell them that they should let NSICOP do their work rather than casting aspersions prematurely. Therrien repeated his demand for an inquiry, and LeBlanc urged him to speak to his leader and take the briefing on the evidence, along with NSICOP.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he worried about the failing negotiations with Stellantis over their blackmail. Chrystia Freeland assured him they will ensure the deal goes forward and that the jobs stay in Canada, but also that Ontario pay its fair share. Singh switched to French to worry about rising rents in Montreal. Soraya Martinez Ferrada reminded him that they sent $5 billion to Quebec for housing.

Round two, and Kyle Seeback tried to be clever about Johnston’s relationship with the prime minister (Holland: Here is a quote about Johnston from Stephen Harper, and your remarks are despicable), Michael Barrett spun a conspiracy theory about Johnston’s report (Mendicino: You can continue to malign Johnston, whose report speaks for himself in its quality), and Luc Berthold took his own kicks in French (LeBlanc: We have taken foreign interference seriously since we formed government while your party did not).

Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe and Claude DeBellefeuille took their own turns to demand a public inquiry (Joly: We expelled that diplomat and we support the Uyghur community; Mendicino: Diaspora communities are at the heart of our actions.)

Shannon Stubbs concern trolled over the false figures around the clean fuel standard (Duguid: You are focused on crypto and conspiracy theories while we are focused on affordability), Pierre Paul-Hus misquoted the bad PBO report on that fuel standard (Wilkinson: We have taken multiple measures to ensure future affordability while we fight climate change; Gould: What will you tell single mothers when their children don’t have clean air to breathe?).

Bonita Zarrillo worried about increasing rent in Halifax (Martinez Ferrada: We are limiting speculation investment), and Jenny Kwan worried about Punjabi students who were the victims of fraud (Lalonde: Our focus is on identifying the culprits while victims can prevent evidence to support their case).

Round three saw questions on the misleading characterisation of the clean fuel standard (Duguid: There is a cost to climate change, and it has been $900 billion; St-Onge: It is irresponsible that the Conservatives want to reduce climate measures as we have so many forest fires raging; Hutchings: Let me remind you of the devastation of Hurricane Fiona; Wilkinson: We are focusing on affordability; Gould: We haven’t heard a single word from the Conservatives on the wildfires raging; Bibeau: Farmers are the first people impacted by climate change, and we are encouraging biofuels which will assist farmers), demanding a public inquiry (LeBlanc: All of our allies take steps to keep national security information secret, even if you don’t like it, and your leader has access to that information), government giving charities funding when they are hosting illegal “police stations” (Mendicino: We all have a responsibility to take this issue seriously but the Conservatives have not), bail reform (Lametti: Bill C-75 codified Supreme Court decisions and did not change the laws of bail), co-developing a marine safety centre with a local First Nation (Murray: I will look into the situation and get back to you), and the wildfire situation (Blair: There are currently 179 wildfires, 68 of which are out of control, and this season began weeks ahead of when it was anticipated).

Overall, we could see exactly why Pierre Poilievre refuses to accept the briefing on the foreign interference documents, because he right off the top insisted that China helped the government win two elections in a row, which is blatantly false, but he wants to continue to say blatantly false things, which he knows he codlin’t do if the read the documents. It’s not “silencing him,” as he claims—it’s ensuring that he does the actual work of hold the government to account for things like reforming the culture of intelligence consumption in the senior ranks, which he has no interest in doing. And for all of the conspiracy theories and sanctimony around David Johnston, we cannot escape the fact that on a matter of national security, the leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition is more concerned with partisanship and getting clicks than he is in being a grown-up. 

I will also note that the government completely dropped the ball over the questions about the clean fuel standard, which the Conservatives like to misleadingly call “carbon tax two.” They spouted complete disinformation (assisted by that really terribly PBO report that presented one particular scenario and one particular side of the ledger) and it went completely unchallenged on the facts or the merits. Yes, we got some pabulum about the government being focused on affordability, and the need to flight climate change, and we had one particularly telling exchange where Conservative MP Clifford Small called the reminder of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Fiona as a “stupid guilt trip,” rather than the consequence of climate change. (Choices!) But did the government once put any actual facts on the table about the clean fuel standard? Of course not. And once again, disinformation goes unchallenged. We really have learned absolutely no lessons from what happened in the US, haven’t we? Cripes.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Arif Virani for a navy suit with a pink shirt and pocket square with a blue striped tie, and to Jenna Sudds for a fuchsia jacket over a black top and slacks. Style citations go out to Mona Fortier for a black wrap dress with bright orange and light blue florals, and to Jagmeet Singh for an unflattering double-breasted dark grey suit that was entirely boxy, over a light grey shirt and black tie, with a forest green turban. Dishonourable mention goes out to Marie-Hélène Gaudreau for a bright yellow jacket over a black dress with florals, and to Darrell Samson for a black suit and tie over a pale yellow shirt.