QP: Blaming the wrong things for the rate hike

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Another day of smoke blanketing the nation’s capital, and another day of all of the leaders being present in the Chamber for Question Period. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, decrying the Bank of Canada’s rate increase, blaming deficits for fuelling inflation (which is, of course, economically illiterate). Justin Trudeau says that he has heard from Canadians about their concerns over cost of living, and while the Bank of Canada does their work, the government is doing non-inflationary work to help Canadians like the grocery rebate and dental care. Poilievre misquoted the governor of the Bank of Canada about deficits—which he said nothing at all about—and Trudeau repeated that they are helping Canadians in a non-inflationary way. Poilievre switched to English to call the rate hike a “sucker punch,” and gave a series of misquotes before demanding to know how much average mortgage payments would go up over three years. Trudeau repeated his line about the Bank of Canada doing their job while the government does their, and that austerity is not the answer. Poilievre insisted that Canadians are feeling austerity in their households while the government was rolling in cash, worrying about household insolvencies. Trudeau insisted that Poilievre wants to do less for Canadians who need it, while the government supports people in targeted, non-inflationary ways. Poilievre quoted John Manley to denounce the government’s spending, to which Trudeau gave a paean about dental care, which the Conservatives voted against.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and worried that Erin O’Toole’s testimony contradicted things in David Johnston’s report, and because it was incomplete, Johnston needed to go. (Not sure the logic flows there). Trudeau noted that Blanchet had the opportunity to read the full, classified briefing, but he refuses to. Blanchet said that he refuses to see in secret what everyone should see (which is not how intelligence works), and demanded a public inquiry. Trudeau repeated that Blanchet was abandoning his responsibility to Canadians in refusing to see the classified information. 

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and in French, noted that it was Clean Air Day, with all of the smoke outside, and demanded the government immediately save the environment. Trudeau noted the irony of the day, and that it will likely get worse in years to come because the Conservatives are still debating on whether to act on climate change instead of how to act. Singh repeated the question in English, and this time, Trudeau patted himself on the back for the work the government has done.

Round two, and Larry Brock slandered David Johnston (Trudeau: Let me read the quote from Poilievre), Michael Chong demanded a public inquiry with some added sanctimony (Trudeau: Your leader is not taking this seriously by not taking the briefing so that he can make partisan attacks), Michael Cooper concern trolled about the contradiction with O’Toole’s testimony (Trudeau: The evidence is available to your leader if he chooses to see it; These are the conclusions of the top public servants who monitored the election), and Luc Berthold took the opportunity to slander Johnston in French (Trudeau: If you wanted to take this seriously, your leader would take the top-secret briefing; You are taking a page from the Trump playbook in discrediting the investigators.

Blanchet got back up to insist that the government is doing nothing to protect people from diaspora communities (Trudeau: We know they are the first targets, and they are at the heart of our decisions), and demanded that any commissioner be truly independent (Trudeau: You know full well that there are national security elements that cannot be made public).

Poilievre got back up to misquote more officials about deficits and inflation (Trudeau: This is the first time you have blamed provinces for inflationary spending), demanded a balanced budget (Trudeau: The Bank of Canada is bringing down inflation and it’s working while we support Canadians; You are true to your record of not letting facts get in the way of a good narrative; You are going to block measures to help Canadians).

Singh got back up, and blamed CEO greed for inflation (Trudeau: Inflation has global roots).

Round three saw Poilievre asked yet more misleading questions on inflation (Trudeau: We have the lowest deficit and best fiscal position in the G7, and you are blocking help to Canadians; We lifted 2.7 million out of poverty, and grew the economy; We all know Canadians are hurting but the difference is that we have targeted non-inflationary measures while you just want to cut; You keep repeating this because you refuse to go outside and admit that climate change is real; In 2020 and 2021 we ensured that Canadians made it through the pandemic; Your logic is that if we cut child care and dental care, that suddenly we would solve global inflation, and that is complete garbage). There were other questions on the Johnston report (Trudeau: I answered this already, so let me praise firefighters), the possible deportation nor Punjabi students who were defrauded (Trudeau: Our focus is on catching the fraudsters, and the victims can speak in their own cases), and cancelling Trans Mountain (Trudeau: It’s unfortunate we have to debate whether or not climate change is real).

Overall, it was a fairly dull day, with the same economically illiterate questions being volleyed, and Trudeau largely giving his usual back-patting, with the very occasional note about things like the global roots of inflation or that Canada balancing its budge would do nothing for the global situation. That he waited for the very end of QP to respond like that, in particular exasperation, was part of the problem in that he didn’t call Poilievre on his bullshit off the start, or to put his misquotes into context, or pointing out that Conservatives doing nothing about housing when they were in power is what helped fuel today’s crisis, or anything like that. There are so many more things that Trudeau or other Liberals could say to these constant questions, and they don’t. I would reiterate that I don’t get it, but I’m not one of the geniuses designing the Liberals’ communications strategy.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Melissa Lantsman for a navy blazer over a white collarless top and black slacks, and to Pierre Paul-Hus for a tailored navy suit over a crisp white shirt and fuchsia tie. Style citations go out to Darren Fisher for his hateful brown corduroy jacket over a medium blue shirt and blue jeans with no tie, and to Jennifer O’Connell for a grey top with a ruffled collar and cuffs with pink and blue florals across it over blue jeans.

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