QP: The Empty Chair gambit makes a return

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Even though the prime minister was in town and in his office, he was not in QP today, and neither was his deputy, and other leaders were absent as well. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he complained that Quebeckers would be paying for the fictional “second carbon tax,” and claimed it was to fund the scandal at the clean energy agency. Diane Lebouthillier stood up to ask what plan the Conservatives had for the environment, and then answered that it was nothing. Poilievre tried to be cute about Trudeau not being present, claimed there was “carbon tax chaos” and demanded he cut the carbon price. Fergus gently warned Poilievre not to do indirectly what he can’t do directly, after which Randy Boissonnault asked if the Conservatives would pressure western premiers to sign up to the heat pump programme. Poilievre got on the empty chair tactic and demanded the prime minister answer, and this time Jonathan Wilkinson said that Poilievre was too busy patting himself on his own back to do his homework, and explained about heating oil being a driver of energy poverty which is why they were phasing it out. Poilievre carried on with the empty chair gambit, and this time Boissonnault launched into an attack on the Conservatives not standing up to Danielle Smith for her attack on CPP. Poilievre again railed at the absent prime minister not answering, and demanded support for a motion about removing the carbon price on all heating. Wilkinson pointed out that the government was doing public policy rather than slogans.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and demanded that the government consult with Quebec before announcing their immigration targets later in the day. Mark Miller said that they have been consulting, and that the spoke with the minister, and even if they don’t agree, they were still consulted. Therrien railed that they had not consulted on the “federal targets,” and Miller launched into an explanation about the immigration funding that they provide to the province.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and railed about the carbon price “pause,” and demanded the government tax the profits of oil companies to provide relief to all Canadians. Wilkinson suggested that Singh do his homework, disputed that there was an onerous process for the heat pump programme while they fight climate change. Singh repeated the question in French but with an added mention of “the era of Duplessis” for local Quebec flavour, and Wilkinson repeated his answer.

Round two, and Poilievre got back up to ask the absent prime minster about comments a Liberal MP made about converting to heating oil if they wanted a break on the carbon price (Boissonnault: People can get a rebate on heat pumps to get off of natural gas if they want), raised a nonsense quote about converting grain drying to heating oil—at four times the cost? (Wilkinson: The exemption is for three years with the expectation that they convert to heat pumps in that time), then pivoted to the scandal at the green tech fund (Bendayan: The minister welcomes the Auditor General’s investigation and he will be at committee next week), Poilievre then name-checked Mark Carney as the “next Liberal leader” before accusing the PM of hiding—and this time Fergus again reminded him about his statement on decorum (van Koeverden: If you don’t have a plan for the environment, you don’t have a plan for the economy, and all you want to do is cut), Poilievre took more swipes at the prime minster “forcing another random Liberal to read PMO talking points” (Wilkinson: It’s appalling that you have no policy or a belief in the reality of climate change; Most people get more money back than they pay because we have a plan for affordability).

Christine Normandin returned to the party’s motion on “successful immigration” and raised a report on newcomers who leave within two years (Miller: We have seen an unprecedented number of people who want to come to Canada because it’s a great country; You clearly weren’t listening to my speech yesterday, and the agreement between Canada and Quebec has existed along for the Bloc).

Poilievre got back up to take more gratuitous swipes at Trudeau and accused him of hiding under his desk (Wilkinson: You just pat yourself on the back while we put in good public policy: Gould: You attacked the voting rights of Canadians), and demanded the government pause all carbon prices on all home heat until the next election (Holland: You are trying to destroy the action taken on climate change), and tried to needle the NDP about this (Wilkinson: Once again, heating oil drives energy poverty so we have a plan to address that particular issue that will have long-term effects).

Singh got back up to raise the Palestinian refugee camp that was bombed by the IDF and to demand the government call for a ceasefire (Oliphant: We are all looking at this crisis, and are continuing to negotiate to have the hostages released, and humanitarian aid into the area while getting Canadians out), and Singh worried in French that Canadian soldiers were in the country and demanded assurances they not take place in the war (Lalonde: We are not providing military assistance but doing contingency planning at the embassy).

Round three questions on the clean tech fund under investigation (Bendayan: We lifted Canadians out of poverty!; We welcome the Auditor General’s investigation), extending the CERB repayment deadlines (Valdez: We extended the deadline and added flexibility, and hey, childcare; Bibeau: Scaring SMEs is not a solution and we provided more help than anyone else in the pandemic), back to carbon prices (van Koeverden: There is no federal carbon price in Quebec; You run on carbon pricing in the last election; O’Regan: Your rally didn’t draw as many people as the line-up at the dump on a Saturday; Two Liberals did more for Alberta than 30 Conservatives did in decades; Wilkinson: Heat pump programmes exist in Saskatchewan as well; Lebouthillier: You said you were satisfied with the carbon price system when you were in the Quebec government), a public inquiry into the COVID response (Holland: We had one of the best responses in the world and we will be conducting a review but we will also apply other reviews that have been conducted), and demanding more help for Toronto (Fragiskatos: You failed to mention the $290 million we gave to Toronto). 

Overall, it was another day of puerile behaviour that was shocking at times. Somewhat ironically, it was “take your child to work day” in Ontario, and while the galleries were full of staffers add journalists who brought their children to work, MPs decided to behave like children in order to fit in, it seems. The lowest point was when Speaker Fergus was standing to try and calm the room and Poilievre refused to sit down as you are supposed to when the Speaker is standing. More and more MPs started to object that he wasn’t sitting, until they started all standing to protest it and finally Fergus told Poilievre to sit down until he is recognised. This is not accidental—Poilievre has been actively flouting Fergus’ authority and has been trying to publicly undermine it because that’s part of the current conservative agenda of undermining the referees of institutions. This was just one more example of this kind of behaviour.

Additionally, Poilievre spent the first two rounds trying to call out Trudeau for not being there without actually saying it (mostly), where the Speaker gently chided him for it a couple of times without actually calling him out for it and ensuring that he faced any consequences for this continued breach of the rules. So that meant that Poilievre played up the empty chair gambit, which is all about feeding clips for a series of future shitposts, because that’s why MPs behave the way they do during QP. Jonathan Wilkinson did get better with his responses today around the heating oil issue, which are things that the government should have been saying since the day the announcement happened, but they have a tendency to be slow learners.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Dominique Vien for a slightly shiny dark grey jacket with a black chainmail-esque pattern over a black top and (p)leather slacks, and to Mark Miller for a dark grey suit with a light blue shirt and bright pink tie. Style citations go out to Darren Fisher for a powder blue jacket over a white shirt with no tie, and to Helena Jaczek for a black top with bright pink floral under a dark pink jacket.