QP: The worst kind of reading of scripts

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The prime minister and all other leaders were present today, and if anything, it promised to be a sour note all around. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he cited a “devastating” report about food bank use, blaming carbon prices. Justin Trudeau took the opportunity to mark the passing for Senator Ian Shugart, the former Clerk of the Privy Council. Poilievre said that Shuguart was his deputy minister and was a great public servant. He then returned to French to quote from the same report on food bank use. Trudeau cited the assistance they have delivered to Canadians, such as the Canada Child Benefit, child care and dental care, while the Conservatives would only those supports. Poilievre switched to English to reiterate his first question about the carbon price. Trudeau praised his government’s record in reducing poverty and reiterated the threat that the Conservatives would only cut supports. Poilievre cited a Nova Scotia quoted in the report and again blamed the carbon price, and Trudeau noted that Poilievre was part of a government that raised the age of retirement, and that it was about time he finally defended the CPP. Poilievre again quoted from the report on housing pressures and demanded more homes. Trudeau said that Poilievre has put forward no plan on housing and he lacks credibility on the file, while the housing minster was currently in BC signing new agreements. 

Yves-François Blanchet led off for the Bloc, and wanted the prime minster to acknowledge that Quebec would be financially viable on their own. Trudeau dismissed this as trying to reopen old fights that have long been settled, and listed off investments the federal government has made in the province. Blanchet again tried to get Trudeau to “admit” the province’s fiscal viability, and Trudeau again talked around the issue about growing the economy in the province together. 

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and blamed food prices on greedy CEOs, and Trudeau listed more programmes they have rolled out to help Canadians. Singh repeated the question in French, to which Trudeau listed off those programmes en français. 

Round two, and Poilievre got back up to needle Singh for supporting Trudeau’s government (Trudeau: The Conservatives think you can cut your way to prosperity while we are there for Canadians), he selectively quote Tiff Macklem on government spending in a wholly misleading way (Trudeau: We need to support the construction of more housing; Infltion is steadily coming down; You are only planning to cut supports and hoping Canadians will somehow do better that way), and gave the slogan about building homes instead of bureaucracy (Trudeau: We are clearing the way of more construction, and the announcement I was at last week was a building we funded two years ago that is opening its doors today), and made outlandish claims of when he was “housing” minister (Trudeau: You spent $300 million and only built 99 houses).

Blanchet got back up, and tried to get back to that fiscal sovereignty talking point (Trudeau: I work with the province about growing their economy not reigniting old sovereignty fights).

Poilievre got back up and again misquoted Macklem (Trudeau: There is a stark disagreement on how to help Canadians—they want to cut while we invest in their future; We have the best fiscal position in the G7 and inflation is coming down so we don’t need Conservative cuts; We are signing more agreements to stimulate better housing).

Singh got back up to blame the federal government for people living in apartment lobbies in Saskatchewan (Trudeau: We are working closely with municipalities), and Blake Desjarlais demanded the government call for a ceasefire in Gaza (Trudeau, with script: We condemn Hamas, we support Isreal’s right to defend itself in accordance with international law, and we are calling for humanitarian pauses to get aid to civilians).

Round three saw Poilievre ask questions on SNC-Lavalin (Trudeau: A script about the CBSA story; When you bring up matters settled four year ago, it means you have no plans), the CBSA investigation on ArriveCan (Trudeau: Same script as before about before reading about Poilievre’s “hidden agenda driven by ideology”; going on about vaccinations and tinfoil hats), demanding the government ban the IRGC in Canada (Trudeau: You didn’t move on this when you were in government because you know there is a rigorous process to make declarations while we used immigration provision to ban its members from Canada; If I started correcting him on the facts we’d be here all day; We have taken actions to hold Iran to account; The Americans have a different process for banning groups). As well, Blanchet got up again and demanded the CEBA repayment deadline get extended again (Trudeau: We made more flexibility for those making repayments; eight out of ten dollars of assistance during the pandemic came from the federal government), and questions on climate action from First Nations (Trudeau: Indigenous leadership has been indispensable in our fight against climate change), and another call for a ceasefire in Gaza (Trudeau: Same script as before).

Overall, it was largely the Trudeau and Poilievre show, but it wasn’t a terribly good one. The exchanges were flat, and Trudeau was off his game, to the point where he was reading scripts for questions that weren’t asked (yet) and in one case, actually reading off a script about Poilievre’s “hidden agenda driven by ideology,” which was beyond amateurish. I wish I could explain it—maybe they’re both exhausted, maybe they’re distracted by events, but this was really pretty pathetic. Blanchet was little better, spending four questions trying to get some kind of reaction to this report that Quebec would be fiscally viable as an independent country, or Jagmeet Singh on his usual schtick about grocery CEOs, which we have data to show are not the real cause of food price inflation. If anything, it was a bit of a “greatest hits episode,” as if any of these hits are great. Each of the leaders took nearly all of the spots, with only Singh surrendering his last couple to other MPs.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Julie Dzerowicz for a cranberry jacket over a white top and black slacks, and to Peter Fragiskatos for a tailored dark grey three-piece suit with a crisp white shirt and matching pocket square and a navy tie. Style citations go out to Denis Trudel for a dark grey jacket over an electric blue striped shirt and a light grey tie, and to Marie-Claude Bibeau for a light grey jacket with a windowpane pattern over a cream-coloured turtleneck.