QP: Countdown to whether a public inquiry will happen before summer

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The prime minister was away in Halifax, while his deputy was present today, though most of the other leaders weren’t.

Things got off to a late start, but when they did, Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he worried about increasing payments for housing and mortgages, and got onto his bullshit about deficits causing inflation (they’re not). Chrystia Freeland asserted that they found the right balance between fiscal responsibility and compassion, and listed measures like child care and dental care while ensuring the lowest deficit in the G7. Poilievre insisted the government raised taxes on food (false) and decried the clean fuel standard as a second carbon price (it’s not), to which Steven Guilbeault raised the fires and floods we are facing but the Conservatives have no climate plan. Poilievre switched to English to ridicule the notion that carbon prices will stop forest fires (absolutely nobody has said this), and Guilbeault tried to ridicule the Conservatives’ plan for technology and that the minister of national resources does more for climate change before his first coffee any day than the Conservatives did in ten years. Poilievre quoted the Liberal premier of Newfoundland and Labrador on carbon prices, and this time Gudie Hutchings stood up to praise the government for making rural economic development a full department. Poilievre cited the false figures around the clean fuel standard and demanded it be axed, and this time Guilbeault said that they listed to the Atlantic premiers and delayed implementation of that standard by two years, two years ago, and that time is now up.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and demanded a public inquiry before Friday. Marco Mendicino said that Dominic LeBlanc was on the case. Therrien demanded the inquiry be announced immediately, and Mendicino reiterate that LeBlanc was engaging with them.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, and he decried that the government did nothing about forest fires by not spending enough on climate action. Steven Guilbeault went on a tangent about the pandemic, and that they managed to do more in spite of it. Taylor Bachrach repeated the accusation in English, and Guilbeault recited praise for the national adaptation strategy.

Round two, and Dominique Vien recited the lie about Bill C-83 (Mendicino: I stood up for victims), Kerry-Lynne Findlay demanded Mendicino’s resignation (Mendicino: I took corrective steps in my office), Stephen Ellis raised the story about McKinsey’s plan to “supercharge” sales of OxyContin (Jaczek: We are focused on saving lives, and we are working to improve our procurement integrity regime), Dane Lloyd noted the dubious story that the RCMP may be investing the old SNC-Lavalin allegations (Holland: No), Gérard Deltell tried again in French (Holland: I already said no).

René Villemure took a swipe about the Bernardo transfer and the CSIS briefings on foreign interference and demanded a public inquiry (Mendicino: We have implemented new powers and new measures), and Claude DeBellefeuille decried the lack of ministerial responsibility (Mendicino: I took action).

Pat Kelly worried about mortgage defaults that he specious blamed on deficits (Freeland: The IMF actually commended our actions and we are in the best position of our peers; Our Aaa credit rating has been reaffirmed, while your only plan is austerity), and Terry Dowdall also read some utter nonsense about the deficit (Duclos: We are waiting for your leader to respond to our letter about dental care).

Charlie Angus worried about the humanitarian crisis in Attawapiskat (Hajdu: I met with the leaders and we talked about the roadmap to move forward), and Lori Idlout asked about Indigenous policing funds (Mendicino: We are working closely with these communities to ensure we can get funding flowing).

Round three saw questions on the deficit (Freeland: Both the IMF and OECD have forecast that we will have the strongest growth in the G7 this year and next; Hussen: At what point will you have a real housing policy and stop gatekeeping), the clean fuel standard (Freeland: We won’t be taking any lessons because we implemented the Canada Child Benefit, which is indexed to inflation), McKinsey and opioids (Bennett: Since 2018, we have been working with BC on lawsuits against pharmaceuticals including a specific class action against McKinsey), wildfires in Quebec (Lauzon: We stand with all those affected), carbon prices (Saks: We lifted over 450,000 children out of poverty; Drouin: On-farm fuels are exempted; Not acting on climate change hurts farmers; Guilbeault: In a recent survey, 83 percent of Canadians agree that climate change caused the forest fires and that we need to do something; Emissions have gone down and it’s not a magic wand; Holland: If you want your kids to watch a ballgame, then we’d better make sure they have a planet that is there for them), outsourcing assistance to veterans (MacAulay: It is my responsibility to ensure that veterans get the help when they need it where they need it), and over representation of Indigenous women in prisons (Mendicino: We have put in place new measures).

Overall, it wasn’t a terribly raucous day, all things considered, and in contrast to the past week or so, it was pretty scattershot, with plenty of disingenuous talking points to go around, not just focusing on a single topic or two. And there was still plenty of bullshit to go around—Bill C-83, the clean fuel standard, deficits and inflation—all of it wrong, but they touched on all of it, just because. And of course, the government responded in kind with a bunch of pack-patting and pabulum talking points that were largely divorced from whatever the Conservatives brought up, so it just dragged it all down for everyone involved. They all need to go home. Summer break cannot come soon enough. 

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Julie Dzerowicz for a white jacket over a white top and dark grey slacks, and to Peter Fragiskatos for his dark grey three-piece suit with a lavender shirt and purple tie. Style citations go out to René Villemure for a dark blue suit with a slight orange windowpane pattern, over a light blue shirt, orange tie, tan slacks, and a pink pocket square, and to Helena Jaczek for a black dress with blue and white florals under a black sweater.