QP: A non-partisan private screening?

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The prime minister was present today, while his deputy was not. Most of the other leaders, but not all, were present as well. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he immediately praised his “documentary” and crowed that four million people have watched it on Twitter, before wondering if the prime minister would watch it. Justin Trudeau noted that Poilievre has asked the federal government to withdraw from the housing sector, and said that they would’t repeat the same mistakes Poilievre made when he was “housing” minister and denounced Poilievre’s proposals, saying that Poilievre was focusing more on his own popularity than housing people. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his back-patting on his “documentary,” and Trudeau declared that Canadians need the government’s “bold action,” and declared that the federal government has an important leadership role to play and listed some actions. Poilievre mocked Trudeau releasing his own video in a development, then claimed to “set partisanship aside” to offer a private screening of his “documentary.” Trudeau noted the things that Poilievre was promising that wouldn’t actually get more houses built, and that they were more focused on houses than clicks. Poilievre recited a series of slogans, before Trudeau noted that Poilievre was satisfied with his ability to deliver misinformation and disinformation online, which he was very good at. Poilievre called Trudeau the “king of self-aggrandisement,” and praised his “documentary” again. Trudeau noted that he didn’t think he’d be hearing an infomercial instead of QP, and recited lines about how the government was working with cities to take concrete measures to get houses built while Poilievre is busy talking to himself online.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and worried both the dire state of the media, particularly with the recent CBC/Radio-Canada cuts. Trudeau insisted that they have been there for the media for years, and praised their Google deal. Blanchet insisted that the Google deal was not enough, and that was particularly concerned about cuts to French services at CBC while executives would still get bonuses. Trudeau read a script about cancelling the Harper cuts to CBC, and praise for the Online News Act, taking a swipe at Poilievre in the process.

Jenny Kwan rose for the NDP, and demanded immediate action on housing. Trudeau said that they were reaching out to municipalities and provinces to deliver, and that they all needed to roll up their sleeves to solve this process. Alistair MacGregor went on a rant about corporate greed driving people to food banks, to which Trudeau read a script about competition legislation to crack down on predatory pricing and ensuring more competition in the sector to lower prices.

Round two, and Tracy Gray worried about food bank use and blamed deficit spending (Sudds: We will invest in strengthening social security programmes; van Koeverden: You ran on a carbon price and here is an article that shows 92 percent of households are better off with our plan), Leslyn Lewis read some slogans (van Koeverden: This economists shows that eliminating the carbon price would make most households worse off), and Gérard Deltell recited the talking points linking the Bloc to the government’s carbon price (Sudds: We are here to support Canadians through targeted social programmes and income supplements; Rodriguez: It’s so great you’re speaking French in spite of tyranny in your party).

Mario Simard worried about the number of meetings the government has taken with fossil fuel lobbyists (Wilkinson: This is an odd question, because we meet with stakeholders with all parts of the economy in order to produce good public policy; We have the strongest and most detailed plan to fight climate change in the whole world), and Monique Pauzé asked her own version of the same question (Wilkinson: Yesterday we release our regulations to reduce methane emissions by 75 percent, and we are the first country to do that).

Jeremy Patzer demanded the end of the carbon price (MacAulay: Why do you not have a plan for the environment?; Farmers have had to deal with fires, floods, and hurricanes), Rosemarie Falk read her own anti-carbon price slogans (Sudds: We have programmes to support organisation helping with food insecurity); and Ben Lobb worried about the carbon prices charged to pork farmers (MacAulay: Farmers are concerned about the environment).

Alexandre Boulerice read his own script about meetings with fossil fuel lobbyists (Wilkinson: I have already said we meet with everyone in the economy), and Laurel Collins wanted a youth climate corps like president Biden’s (van Koeverden: I’d like to talk more about this idea).

Round three saw questions on the Stellantis worker moral panic (Turnbull: You are so committed to your doomsday narrative; There are hundreds of Windsorites going to the US to set up plants like is happening here; Boissonnault: This is illuminating about how little you know about direct foreign investment; Some agreements need to remain confidential for trade secrets), the CBC/Radio-Canada cuts (St-Onge: We restored previously cut funding and supported then through the pandemic; We respect their independence and would encourage management to be more transparent about these decisions), student housing (Fraser: Your policies would do more harm than good; How many views on that “documentary” are just Poilievre going home and watching it over and over again?; We signed an agreement with Moncton to change the way how they build new buildings; We need to invest in housing, not make cuts like you want; closed Coast Guard communications sectors (Kelloway: The Coast Guard is working to modernise their equipment), the volunteer firefighter tax credit (Sajjan: We have been talking with firefighters).

Overall, it wasn’t much different from yesterday, where the entire leaders’ round was essentially just a remix of yesterday’s, with Trudeau giving the responses instead, and not necessarily as compellingly as Fraser was yesterday (because, again, Fraser was put int the housing file because he is one of the few Liberals who is capable of actually sparring with Poilievre). But otherwise, it was really just more of the same clip-gathering and reciting slogans to be responded with feel-good pabulum. The Christmas break can’t come soon enough…

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Tracy Gray for a TNG-inspired red dress with black piping and side panels under a black jacket, and to Eric Melillo for a tailored eggplant suit over a crisp white shirt and a pale yellow tie. Style citations go out to Fayçal El-Khoury for a blue and brown windowpane jacket over a white shirt and maroon paisley tie, and to Valerie Bradford for an oversized hot pink jacket over a grey striped top and black slacks. Dishonourable mention goes out to Ron Liepert for a black suit and tie with a pale yellow shirt.