QP: Poilievre won’t be gagged, but he will spread vile smears

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On a scorching day in the Nation’s Capital, the prime minister and all other leaders were present, for what was about to come. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he asked how many Chinese-operated police stations were in Canada. Justin Trudeau expounded on how unacceptable it was that this interference was taking place, but the RCMP were investigating. Poilievre reiterated in asking how many. Trudeau repeated that the RCMP were on the case. Poilievre went on about how he admitted they existed and asked again how many. Trudeau reiterated that the RCMP are dealing with them, and said that if he wanted to know more about foreign interference he should take the CSIS briefing. Poilievre switched to English to decry that taxpayer dollars went to work of these organisations hosting the stations, and demanded to know how many more there were. Trudeau repeated that the RCMP were looking into it, and that Poilievre could take the briefing if he wanted to know details. Poilievre demanded the prime minister brief all Canadians right now on how many there were on our soil. Trudeau reiterated that if Poilievre took foreign interference seriously, he would get the facts from the briefing, and that he knows full well the RCMP is conducting their investigations.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and declared the death of democracy in Canada because the prime minster won’t call a public inquiry. Trudeau noted that Blanche has also chosen not to get a briefing in order to get the facts, preferring partisan facts instead. Blanchet insisted that this secrecy was hiding close connections between the government and China, and Trudeau noted that Blanchet complains about secret information when he has the opportunity to see it.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he cited a former CSIS investigator who testified at committee calling for a public inquiry. Trudeau noted that the current leadership have said that a public inquiry is not the best way because all of the secret information needs to remain behind closed doors, before praising David Johnston. Singh switched to French to raise that Johnston’s counsel is a Liberal donor and again demanded a public inquiry. Trudeau listed the actions they have taken to combat foreign interference.

Round two, and Poilievre got back up to know how many Chinese agents have been arrested for running those “police stations” (Trudeau: Politicians don’t direct police operations), and wondered why Americans could arrest agents in their own country but not us (Trudeau: We are in the process of creating a foreign agent registry, but you refuse briefings), Poilievre insisted that he wouldn’t be gagged or silenced (Trudeau: You are hiding behind a veil of ignorance), and he tried to bring in Trudeau Foundation links as though it were a conspiracy (Trudeau: You don’t want facts to get in the way of a partisan argument).

Blachet demanded documents from the 1995 referendum as a sideways accusation about China (Trudeau: You start talking about the referendum and end up talking about money and the ethnic vote), and he took umbrage to this (Trudeau: You refused a briefing in order to pick partisan fights).

Poilievre got back up again, and he worried about the cost of food as a way of complaining about the misleading reading of the clean fuel standard (Trudeau: You refuse to take the cost of climate change seriously as the cost of it gets larger; inaction on climate change is costing Canadians incredible amounts, whether in wildfires or floods; You are in love with the sound of your own voice).

Singh got back up to worry about the state of a school on a particular First Nation (Trudeau: We have built hundreds of schools but there is more to do in partnership with nations), and Niki Ashton asked about a priest arrest for abuse on a First Nation this year (Trudeau: We have reached out to the community and are offering supports and are serious about accountability).

Round three saw questions on the carbon price and clean fuel standard (Trudeau: You keep talking down our economy while ratings agencies give us an Aaa rating), some complete nonsense about inflation (Trudeau: You only want to cut rather than invest in Canadians), a public inquiry (Trudeau: You refuse the briefings, which is not a responsible approach), opioids (Trudeau: We are working with partners on the ground), and concern about hate directed to MPs (Trudeau: We are looking into measures to increase the safety of ministers and parliamentarians).

Overall, it was a very punchy series of exchanges, and things were getting particularly personal between Poilievre and Trudeau, right to the point of Poilievre referencing a vile smear about Trudeau that should be beyond the pale, but it went unchallenged. Nevertheless, the fact that Poilievre raised this and put it on the record is a sign of just how low he is willing to go, and that there is no depths he won’t sink to as a bad faith actor, and that is absolutely terrifying as to the state of democracy. And I fear that this is just going to keep getting nastier as we are still (allegedly) a couple of years away from an election.

I also cannot get past the completely brain-dead fight about inflation that Poilievre was picking, where he has absolutely no credible facts at his disposal about why the western world had a spike in inflation, with all of his talking points coming from the wisdom of crypto bros on YouTube. And for his part, Trudeau could have actually given the actual explanation as to why we had rampant inflation, not the least reason being that climate change cause droughts in food-producing regions which pushed up prices. But Trudeau refuses to actually talk about the facts either, because he would rather pat himself on the back for his assistance programmes for Canadians, through the pandemic and beyond, which just lets Poilievre’s bullshit assertions remain unchallenged yet again. Pretty much the entire third round was unwatchable because of these stupid exchanges, and we are all worse off for it.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Maninder Sidhu for a dark blue suit with a white shirt and a bright pink tie, and to Arielle Kayabaga for a well-cut pale pink jacket over a black top and slacks. Style citations go out to Kamal Khera for a ruffled top with faded florals, and to Damien Kurek for a black suit over a red plaid shirt with a navy spotted tie.

One thought on “QP: Poilievre won’t be gagged, but he will spread vile smears”

  1. Poilievre is a charlatan. He is a liar. He is a character assassin. As much as Canadians may be “tired” of Trudeau the alternative of Poilievre as PM will cause Canada irreparable harm in the possible four years of mean, uniformed
    and destructive action by this far right poser. PP says Canada is broken. Election of this idiot would see the destruction of our country. As a Canadian citizen I refuse to let an authoritarian tell me my course of action. PP is an autocrat with a bunch of sycophants that applaud his every statement. Typically Autocracies are not meritocracies. They fail because they rely on the words and actions of one person. This will never fly in Canada. PP would have Canadians believe that he has all the answers when in fact he has not once given us a clear policy and direction for Canada going forward. Poilievre is an abject failure and must never be given the reins of power in our land.

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