QP: Lying by omission about inflation drivers

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In light of the ugly inflation numbers released this morning, Question Period promised to be a gong show, and lo and behold, as things got underway, Pierre Poilievre led off in French, railing about so-called “inflationary deficits” as being the cause of what raised inflation, which is false. Justin Trudeau noted that some of the spending were investments in Canadians while still being fiscally responsible. Poilievre accused them PM of “printing money” which is a lie, and claims hr warned him about inflationary deficits and that they put oil on the inflationary fire. Trudeau said that what he took from that is that Poilievre is saying he wouldn’t have given people the “grocery rebate” or cut child care fees while the government did so while being fiscally responsible. Poilievre switched to English to decry headline inflation and demanded a balanced budget. Trudeau insisted that they helped bring down inflation while helping Canadians with groceries and child care while being fiscally responsible. Poilievre insisted that the government was not compassionate by loading on debt, and gave some specious math about inflation. Trudeau said that Poilievre was talking down Canadians and the economy, before patting himself on the back for cutting GST on rental constructing and stabilising grocery China. Poilievre went on a mendacious tear about “newly-printed money,” and worried about a mortgage crisis. Trudeau relayed that he met a mother in Oakville whose mortgage payments rose as much as her child care costs went down, which was good for her, but the Conservatives have made it clear that they wouldn’t do anything about child care.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc and demanded that the government release $900 million in housing funds to Quebec, presumably without any strings. Trudeau noted the $4 billion housing accelerator fund and that they were working with the government of Quebec to ensure that it gets the most effect. Therrien claimed to be baffled by this, and Trudeau repeated his response. 

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he railed that the government was only trying to “stabilise” grocery prices and not bring them down—clearly demonstrating he has no idea what he’s talking about. Trudeau mouthed the pabulum about working with the CEOs. Singh then raised the allegation of the assassination by Indian agents, and wanted assurances of safety for those being threatened. Trudeau spoke about the rule of law and the being more to do, but didn’t really answer.

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan read some angry word salad about inflation (Freeland: Today the Conservatives have shown their true colours when Poilievre railed about the emergency supports during the pandemic), Adam Chambers recited some nonsense about deficits and inflation (Freeland: We have the lowest debt and deficit in the G7 and we are rolling up our sleeves on housing while you only offer austerity), and Gérard Deltell repeated the nonsense about deficits in French (Freeland: Your leader admitted he wouldn’t help Canadians in the pandemic).

Sébastien Lemire worried that any punitive taxes against grocery giants would be passed onto consumers (Champagne: What we did was unprecedented in calling the CEOs in), Yves Perron worried the government wasn’t doing enough to help farmers with inflation (Champagne: We made support for farmers and processors part of our demand to stabilise prices; MacAulay: We are working with farmers who need compensation).

Michelle Ferreri read some rank nonsense about inflation (Fraser: If we weren’t there for Canadians during their time of need, things would be disastrous; Your party voted against help for child care), Marilyn Gladu recited more mendacious talking points about “inflationary spending” (Fraser: The plan to get Canadians homes is to build more homes which includes expanding the workforce), and Philip Lawrence gave more of the same (Holland: Your only plan is to hurt those most vulnerable).

Leah Gazan demanded the federal government fund the search of the Winnipeg landfill (Anandasangaree: I met with the families and chiefs, and our approach must be victim-centred and we look forward to working with them), and Lori Idlout demanded a “red dress alert” system (Anandasangaree: We look forward to working together on addressing this).

Round three saw questions on the carbon price as though it was the driver of food price inflation—it’s not (MacAulay: Hurricane Fiona destroyed farms and we need to do something about climate change; Champagne: We will take no lessons from the Conservatives; Rodriguez: Not having a plan for climate change makes no sense, and neither does assault rifles or attacking women’s rights; van Koeverden: Preston Manning supports carbon pricing and our plan has rebates; Freeland: Quebec is Canada’s leader on climate action; Sudds: We are building a nation-wide system of child care which is helping put money back in the pockets of families; Holland: Your statement isn’t honest about the rebates or the costs of climate change; Wilkinson: Most families get more money back than they pay), legislation banning replacement workers (O’Regan: Legislation is on the way), potential cuts to Indigenous Services (Hajdu: We got to work on reconciliation, and we have increased services by 156 percent, and that funding will be protected), demanding a credible emissions cap (Wilkinson: We are ensuring decarbonisation while growing jobs).

Overall, it would up being a more sedate day than I had initially anticipated, but it was no less mendacious around the inflation numbers. The Conservatives consistently mischaracterised the causes, particularly as they spent the entire back third trying to blame it on carbon pricing and deliberately truncating a quote from Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem who stated that the increasing carbon price only raised inflation by 0.15 percent, and that omitting the party where he said 0.15 percent was absolutely a lie of omission. Poilievre also liked to claim that he foresaw inflation three years ago, because the crypto bros on YouTube have apparently given him such great insight into monetary policy, in spite of the fact that absolutely everything he says about it is wrong. But apparently facts don’t matter.

The government, true to form, did not actually refute any of the mendacity. They did not push back against a single false claim about the drivers of inflation, or the truncated quote from Macklem, or the fact that the main driver of food price inflation is climate change. None of that—instead, they tried out new attack lines about Poilievre preferring to let Canadians suffer during the pandemic, followed by a whole lot of patting themselves on the back for the so-called “grocery rebate,” child care and dental care. Because why care that there are facts on the record when you can let them leave them all on the record? I do not understand their thinking here at all.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Patty Hajdu for a black sweater over a white top and black slacks, under a long black jacket, and to Maninder Sidhu for a dark blue suit with a crisp white shirt and a dark grey tie. Style citations go out to Terry Sheehan for a light burgundy jacket with tan slacks, a light blue shirt and a red tie, and to Rosemarie Falk for a black dress with a tight brown and orange floral pattern. Dishonourable mention goes out to Anna Roberts for a dark yellow jacket over a black top and slacks.

2 thoughts on “QP: Lying by omission about inflation drivers”

    • I’ve been doing it for 15 years, and many of the MPs actually engage with it, so maybe you shouldn’t tell me how to do my job?

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