QP: Hyperventilating about Stellantis

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While the prime minister was present, his deputy was in the lock-up, meeting with reporters about the Fall Economic Statement in advance of its release at 4 PM. All of the other leaders were present, ready to demand to know what was in the update before its release. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, returns to the Scotiabank report he raised yesterday, and blamed the federal government for driving inflation, before demanding a balanced budget in the fiscal update. Justin Trudeau responded that the solution to this difficult period is not austerity, but strategic investments in helping families. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his same question, and lo, got very much the same response from Trudeau. Poilievre blamed the federal government for fast-rising rents, and demanded that the government cap the carbon price until the next election. Trudeau said the solution to rising rents is to build more units, which the government is doing, before mocking Poilievre’s assertion that the government is doing “damage” to Canada through child benefits, child care, or dental care. Poilievre then pivoted to the Stellantis plant and the overblown concern that it would use temporary foreign workers.  Trudeau noted that Poilievre would use any misinformation to denounce plans he doesn’t like, but he didn’t actually debunk the assertion. Poilievre said that no, it was Trudeau who spreading misinformation, and repeated his same overblown and false assertions. Trudeau said it was flat-out false and fear-mongering, but again, didn’t actually explain what the truth was, because of course not.

Yves-François Blanchet lead for the Bloc, and he demanded that the government include an increase in old-age security and an extension to CERB repayments in the economic update. Trudeau noted that they have been increasing payments for seniors, and that they supported those small businesses in COVID, but Blanchet would have to wait a couple of hours. Blanchet wondered if he should send his questions in advance so that he could get a real answer, before he repeated his same demand. Trudeau said he would be happy to send Blanchet a schedule that shows the update is released at 4 PM.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he too raised the spectre of temporary foreign workers at the Stellantis plant, to which Trudeau said that while nobody was surprised that Poilievre would fall prey to disinformation but it was disappointing that Singh did too—but again, didn’t explain the truth. Singh switched to French to demand a competition changes to target grocery giants. Trudeau patted himself on the back for their plan to summon grocery CEOs, and said that there would be competition measures in the economic update.

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan angrily read some slogans (Wilkinson: You are ignoring facts and most families get more back from the carbon price than they pay; Gould: Ontarian believe how bad the “common sense” conservatives in this province lead to deaths as Walkerton), Dan Albas read an overwrought script about deficits (Bendayan: This morning Statistics Canada said that inflation dropped to 3.1 percent, and the report indicates that it is provincial spending that is the problem), and Luc Berthold read his own script on a balanced budget in French (Bendayan: The update gets tabled at 4 PM; Rodriguez: You only want to cut and take is back to the Stone Age).

Rhéal Fortin accused the government of losing control of the border to Mexican cartels (LeBlanc: Let’s avoid exaggeration, and we are working with law enforcement and border services and our American partners), and Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe asked the same (LeBlanc: Same answer).

Rachael Harder spun a dystopian fantasy about what the Scotiabank report said (Fraser: StatsCan indicated that housing construction is up eight percent), and Matt Jeneroux read his own script on the Scotiabank report (Fraser: Speaking of photo ops, your leader violated election law doing photo ops as minister; Gould: You hate Statistics Canada because they show when you’re making bad decisions).

Blake Desjarlais railed about the problems with the new public service benefits programme (Anand: I have been in close touch with the supplier and have ensured that they will bring down wait times and opening more call centres by December 31st), and Charlie Angus mocked the government around the fiscal update and demanded the CEBA repayment period be extended (Valdez: We did extend it and offered more flexibility, plus we lowered their taxes).

Round three saw questions on the carbon price (Wilkinson: The Conservatives pretend to have principles, and if you don’t like those, they have other principles; Guilbeault: The Harper government didn’t meet any of their targets, but our target is for 2030 and we are on track; You used to stand up for carbon price and the environment but now you’ve flip-flopped), the deficit vs inflation (Bendayan: You should read that report again, because it doesn’t say what you think it does), demanding a media bailout (St-Onge: We have been there for media, setting up programmes like tax credits and giving the CRTC all of the tools they need to level the playing field), the resignation at SDTC (Champagne: We launched an investigation the moment we heard the allegations), the ArriveCan contracts (LeBlanc: We ensure that the contracting officers follow the rules), the Stellantis plant allegations (Champagne: You have done nothing for Windsor or the auto sector), renewing the home retrofit programme’s funding (Wilkinson: We will look at the results and how to supplement the programme), and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza (Joly: We need to make sure that all civilians are protected and that humanitarian aid can be sent, and there are negotiations happening).

Overall, there were no real surprises in what happened, particularly around the usual “tell us what’s in the update”/“wait for 4 PM” exchanges that happen every time there’s a budget or fiscal update. The one thing that was supremely annoying, however, were the questions on the Stellantis plant and the panic about possible temporary foreign workers. If anyone had bothered to read the Toronto Star last night, they would have seen that these workers are simply coming in to install proprietary technology, and then they’ll go back home—but that still classifies them as temporary foreign workers. And while the government simply pointed out that this was “misinformation,” they didn’t actually correct the record as to what was actually happening, only insisting that the permanent jobs and construction would go to Canadians. Trudeau could have shut this down off the top, and let the Conservatives look foolish as they carried on with their same scripted outrage, but no, he didn’t explain because they never explain. (Remember, “When you’re explaining, you’re losing.”) So they let this hysterical nonsense linger, like they always do.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Matt Jeneroux for a tailored navy suit with a crisp white shirt and a blue-purple tie, and to Anna Gainey for a light grey half-sleeved dress. Style citations go out to Andréanne Larouche for a long-sleeved brown tartan top over tan slacks, and to Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe for a navy corduroy jacket over a white shirt, light blue tie, and faded blue jeans.