QP: Return of the carbon price mendacity

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While the prime minister was away at an EV battery plan announcement in Quebec, his deputy off in Toronto, and other leaders were also absent. Chris d’Entrement was again in the big chair for the day, even though one would think they would rotate Alexandra Mendès in there as well. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, accused the prime minister of looking like “a clown” around the world, called Rota a “Liberal Speaker,” railed that it took him five days to say anything, and then repeated it in English in the same question. Karina Gould said that everyone agreed it was the Speaker who was responsible and he resigned. Poilievre then accused the prime minister of creating “the middle-class hungry” and demanded they cut the carbon price. Anita Anand stood up to wonder if the Conservatives would support their bill on cutting the GST on rentals and increasing competition. Poilievre then called out Atlantic Liberal MPs who say that they have concerns about the carbon price while at home but not while in Ottawa. Randy Boissonnault accused the Conservatives of looking to cut programmes and let the planet burn. Poilievre rambled about the supposed “NDP coalition” before demanding they vote for their Supply Day motion to cut the carbon price. Boissonnault repeated his same response about the Conservatives only looking to slash and burn. Poilievre then returned to French to call out the Bloc leader for voting to increase the carbon price (which is not entirely true). Pascale St-Onge insisted that what doesn’t make sense is a party that doesn’t have a climate plan.

Yves-François Blanchet got up and wondered why the Conservatives wouldn’t axe subsidies, before wondering why the prime minister still hasn’t called president Zelenskyy or Jewish leaders. Gould said that calls were made, and that the prime minister apologised to everyone harmed. Blanchet insisted that the headlines would have been different if the prime minister had apologised immediately (which would have given Rota cover), and Gould repeated that calls were made and apologies were made through diplomatic channels from the beginning.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, and he demanded that the government end all new fossil fuel projects and move the net-zero date up to 2045. St-Onge insisted that they have brought emissions down since 2018, and that they would do more. Boulerice the worried the chaos caused by changing insurers for civil servants, and Anita Anand insisted that they were working with the leadership and Canada Life to ensure the situation was rectified.

Round two, and Michael Chong railed that the prime minster should not have apologised on behalf of the House and not the government or himself (Gould: We were all embarrassed by the Speaker’s actions), Luc Berthold decried the five day delay before the apology (Gould: The Speaker did this of his own accord, he apologised and stepped down), and blamed the carbon price for sending people to food banks and blamed the Bloc (Bendayan: There are 35 Liberal Québec MPs who are praising our government investing in the clean economy in Quebec), and Jasraj Hallan raced though a script of angry talking point word salad (Fraser: You have. History of voting against measures that will build more homes, and your party’s plan will build fewer homes).

Kristina Michaud lambasted the government for still ensuring oil production is increasing (Serré: We have protected more coast line than the previous government!), Monique Pauzé quoted Catherine McKenna’s disappointment in the government (van Koeverden: Setting an  emissions cap is part of our plan, and oil companies have shown they can create new competitive methods of production; Serré: Off-shore developers need to have a plan for emissions, and no projects are proposed in protected marine areas).

Stephen Ellis blamed the carbon price for poverty in Nova Scotia (Fraser: You talk poverty when you took a luxury junket, and you want to keep polluting when our province has been hit by hurricanes), and John Barlow gave a mendacious rant about carbon prices making people go to food banks (van Koeverden: It is disgraceful that you use peoples financial pain to justify inaction on climate change).

Lindsay Mathyssen called out Chrystia Freeland for pricing a Toronto developer who has jacked up rents in their existing buildings (Fraser: We did start investing in low-income housing since we formed government in 2015), and Blake Desjarlais worried about Danielle Smith trying to leave CPP (Boissonnault: We will protect pensions).

Round three saw questions on the deficit (Bendayan: The ratings agencies have re-affirmed our Aaa rating; people rely on our programmes that Conservatives want to cut; Fraser: If you want to put a roof over people’s heads, why are you supporting a plan that will build fewer homes?; Serré: Let me read a script about a couple in my riding who took advantage of a greener homes programme), transferring housing money to Quebec with no strings (Fraser: We are working with the province; Martinez Ferrada: We work well with Quebec), needling the Bloc about the carbon price (Bibeau: Quebec has a carbon market not a carbon price; Lebouthillier: Your version of “common sense” is just chop, chop, chop), suing Big Pharma for the opioid crisis (Saks: We have been working with BC on litigation against Big Pharma), opioid deaths of minors (Saks: Harm reduction is healthcare), a parole decision (O’Connell: We shouldn’t use heinous crimes for partisan gain), imposing a windfall tax on oil and gas companies (van Koeverden: We have eliminated inefficient subsidies, and we have a clean economy plan), and California suing oil and gas companies for false information and if the government would do the same (van Koeverden: We will look into this).

Overall, things got back to something slightly more “normal,” if you can consider any of this normal, with only a couple of mentions of former Speaker Rota’s fatal blunder, and instead the Conservatives got back to their usual mendacity about carbon prices, because that was the subject of their Supply Day motion being debated throughout the day, and as usual, the government did next to nothing to combat any of the disinformation that was being spouted, because they continue to convince themselves that back-patting and happy-clappy pabulum will do the trick. Quebec Conservatives also got back onto their bullshit of trying to call out the Bloc at every opportunity, and at one point a Bloc MP stood up to answer as though they were in government, because that’s the kind of childish behaviour that this place is yet again reduced to.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Dominique Vien for a dark grey jacket over a white buttoned top with a banded collar, and black slacks; and to Adam Chambers for a fitted navy suit with a crisp white shirt and a lighter blue tie. Style citations go out to Alexandre Boulerice for a maroon jacket with a light grey shirt, bright blue tie and blue jeans; and to Lisa Hepfner for a grey wrap dress with dull florals. Dishonourable mention goes out to Denis Trudel for a grey suit with a grey and yellow loudly-patterned shirt with a white stripe down the button-line, and a black tie.