QP: Cracked crystal balls and shifting goal posts

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While the prime minister and his deputy were both in town, neither were present for QP today, while most of the other leaders were. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, accusing the prime minister of doubling housing costs and the report on the rise in the used of alternative loan services, which charge higher interest rates, and in turn wanted lower spending. Diane Lebouthillier, surprisingly, got up to decry that the Conservatives only want to chop, chop, chop, particularly programmes that people need, claiming they are like a shark that claims to be a vegetarian. Poilievre raised the story of a senior who had to sell his house and could not afford to rent anywhere, and demanded the government cut spending. Lebouthillier went on a tear about cracked crystal balls, Conservative cuts, and that they couldn’t tell the future. Poilievre switched to English to worry that people we going to alternative lenders to get mortgages, which charge added interest, and demanded the government cut spending to bring down interest rates—which doesn’t logically follow. Sean Fraser for up to denounce the Conservatives’ housing plans as doing nothing. Poilievre claimed that the government hasn’t built any housing, and that they only want to cut taxes on luxury penthouses. Fraser trotted out that when Poilievre was minister, his $300 million programme only built 99 houses. Poilievre tried to speciously claim the National Housing Strategy increased housing prices before pivoting to complaints from restaurant owners. Rechie Valdez stood up to read a script about what help the government has offered small businesses.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and demanded the government extend the CEBA repayment period for another year including the non-repayable portion. Valdez read a script in French that they have offered more flexibility to these businesses. Therrien insisted that this wasn’t what they were asking for, and this time Sonya Martinez Ferrada recited that businesses appreciated that the government kept them in business during the pandemic.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and demanded a ceasefire in Gaza, to which Ahmed Hussen rose to read that the government continued to work with allies to call for humanitarian law to be respected and that they were the first to provide aid. Singh read his same demand in French, and Hussen repeated his same points, still in English.

Round two, and Melissa Lantsman read some slogans about deficits and housing (Fraser: It takes investment to build the housing you want), Adam Chambers complained about the deficit (Turnbull: The economy is doing better under us, and we are helping people where you would abandon them; Boissonnault: Why are your Alberta MPs so silent about the CPP?), and Gérard Deltell complained about the carbon price, while taking a swipe at the Bloc (Martinez Ferrada: Quebec has its own price).

Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe demanded a humanitarian truce in Gaza (Hussen: It is our collective duty to defend humanity, and that civilians need more help; We support humanitarian corridors so that aid can reach those who need it), and the rise in hateful rhetoric against both Jews and Muslims (Gould: There is no place for hate speech or violence in Canada).

Anna Roberts railed that seniors are being forced onto the streets (Fraser: Your party put forward a plan that doesn’t mention seniors at all), Dominique Vien took a swipe at the Bloc about the carbon price (Guilbeault: You were a member of the provincial government that created the carbon price, which you fought for at the time).

Jenny Kwan raised the Auditor General report on discrimination in immigration processing (Miller: We can’t ignore this problem and we thank the AG for her guidance), and Brian Masse demanded a ceasefire in Gaza (Hussen: We provided more humanitarian assistance sooner).

Round three saw questions on packaging changes on produce (MacAulay: We need to deal with climate change to tackle the price of food; Turnbull: Climate change costs more to inflation than carbon prices), carbon prices (Turnbull: If you cared about grocery prices, you would support our affordability legislation; Lebouthillier: It’s unbelievable to see a fellow Quebecker deny climate change; Fraser: If you want to address housing policy, talk to your colleagues about their plans to raise taxes; O’Regan: Your party ran on a carbon price), ending closed permits for temporary foreign workers (Boissonnault: The programme now is better than the one under Harper government), demanding the RBC plan to takeover HSBC be denied (Turnbull: The department stated that the minister will be informed by all regulatory review processes), a conspiracy theory related to SNC-Lavalin (O’Connell: There was no investigation; Virani: You know the difference between political operations and police operations), the sustainable development agency’s operations (Turnbull: When the minister heard of the allegations, he took action and hired outside investigators), renters being displaced by sales to developers (Fraser: We have doubled our investments to prevent homelessness), and delays on home retrofit rebates (Guilbeault: There were problems with implementation off the start but we have been addressing them).

Overall, the behaviour is starting to creep back up to where it was before, albeit somewhat quieter, which isn’t surprising. When Speaker Fergus warned MPs about “mocking titles,” one of the Conservatives stood up after QP to want to know just what mocking titles they were being warned against. Fergus said the “NDP-Liberal Cover-up Coalition” was one of them, at which point Conservative backbenchers started yelling that he was running defence for the Liberals, and inserting himself into the debate, or some such nonsense, which pretty much goes to show that they can only conceive of debate through childish taunts rather than just calmly eviscerating the government for their own failures in a sober manner, or to learn how to use self-deprecating humour as a means of livening the debate in a way that’s not childish or demeaning. That seems beyond the ability of any of our MPs currently, and that’s a very real problem for the state of our discourse.

Otherwise, the Conservatives have started rolling out yet another talking point amidst the existing ones and slogans, and this time it’s to accuse the government of not getting a single home built with the Housing Accelerator Programme. You know, the programme that only just has started signing agreements with municipalities in the last month and which may not have actually seen dollars actually flow yet. While there is plenty of legitimate criticism that it took way too long for the government to get to the application process of this programme, saying it hasn’t built anything overnight is ridiculous, and an example of how they are shifting the goal posts in bad faith. Yes, ’twas ever thus, but this is egregious.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Dominique Vien for a navy blazer over a collared white shirt and dark grey (p)leather slacks, and to Jake Stewart for a dark grey suit with a crisp white shirt and pocket square with a dark blue tie. Style citations go out to Martin Shields for a tan jacket over a cranberry shirt and black slacks with a red and yellow leaf-patterned tie, and to Pam Damoff for a light-coloured jacket with a tight floral pattern over a black top and slacks. Dishonourable mention goes out to Anna Roberts for a dark mustard jacket over a black top and slacks.