QP: Crowing about dental care

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While the prime minister was in town, he was not in QP today, though his deputy was present. None of the other leaders, aside from Pierre Poilievre, were either. Poilievre led off in French, and he spoke about the doubled cost of housing, and that rent has gone up in Montreal by 14 percent—which is strictly a provincial issue—and demanded the government follow his “common sense” plan. Karina Gould responded in English, quipping that it was nice to see Poilievre show up for work today rather than going to another fundraiser, and called last week’s vote-a-thon a right-wing Republican tactic. Poilievre then raised the report that food prices could increase by $700 next year for an average family, and blamed it on the Bloc for supporting the carbon price (because that makes sense). Diane Lebouthillier listed things that the Conservatives voted against last week, and asked if hurting vulnerable Canadians makes him feel stronger. Poilievre switched to English to declare that they were proud to vote against more “wasteful, inflationary spending,” and then repeated his worry about food bank use and said report on food price increases next year. Chrystia Freeland got up to decry that the Conservatives voted against Operation Unifier on Friday, which was unbelievable. Poilievre insisted this was “spreading fear and falsehoods about matters in other countries” to distract from their record, and this time, Sean Fraser listed more measures that they voted against on Friday. Poilievre doubled down on his insistence this was a distraction from the government doubling housing prices. Karina Gould pointed out that they voted against the new suicide prevention hotline, to much shouting on both sides.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he accused the government of incompetence and accused them of picking fights with Quebec around dental care. Mark Holland says this isn’t a matter of jurisdiction but a matter of healthcare (erm…), and said that this as a matter of health and prevention. Therrien said that Quebec already has a system that could have been improved with more money, and wondered why they created a system that was incompatible with Quebec’s. (Blame the NDP, guys!) Holland said this was about filling in the cracks and expects his same points.

Don Davies got up for the NDP to thunder about taking praise for the dental care programme, and Mark Holland gave some enthusiastic praise for it. Alexandre Boulerice read the French version of taking praised and Holland repeated his boasts in French.

Round two, and Andrew Scheer to decry that the prime minister had created unprecedented division in the country and demanded the carbon price be lifted (Hajdu: You had a chance to stand up for First Nations and you voted against them; Wilkinson: You are misleading Canadians and axing the price would benefit those making over $250,000), Bob Zimmer raised the premier of the NWT asking for a carbon price exemption (Sajjan: Hey, remember all those wildfires this summer?; Vandal: Climate change is having an outsized effect on the North), and Luc Berthold repeated the same question in French (Rodriguez: If I were a Quebec Conservative, I would be ashamed to stand up given what you voted against, insulting Quebeckers; Lebouthillier: You are trying to distract from the shameful votes last week).

Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe demanded $460 million for Quebec for asylum seekers—who are only federal jurisdiction once their claims are approved (Miller: I had a good conversation with my counterpart, and there re places we disagree like family reunification), and Rhéal Fortin raised the vote in the Quebec National Assembly do abolish the Lieutenant Governor—and good luck rewriting the constitution to do that (Rodriguez: We care more about real issues than opening the constitution). 

Gary Vidal read today’s script on the NWT premier (Wilkinson: We were on track to see twelve percent emissions increases by 2030 under Harper, but we have changed that and are on track to meet our targets; MacAulay: You voted against the Supply Management boards), and Arnold Viersen read an incoherent script about turnkey prices and the carbon price (MacAulay: I hope that Turkey farmer know you voted against his interests).

Jenny Kwan demanded immediate housing construction (Fraser: There are programmes that exist today that are rolling money out the door right now), and a Canadian family stranded in Gaza (Joly: We are working actively to find an approach to get Canadians out of Gaza).

Round three saw more scripts about the carbon price (Sudds: You held hostage the investments we are making in Canadians; van Koeverden: You guys are always trying to cancel climate action; Virani: Your vote-a-thon cost taxpayers about $2 million; Hajdu: If you cared about First Nations, you wouldn’t have voted against their programmes; Wilkinson: You ran on carbon prices). There were also questions on the oil and gas emissions cap (van Koeverden: We are the first country to do this because we show leadership), Canada slipping in climate rankings (Rodriguez and Champagne: You voted against programmes for Quebec), STDC (Champagne: We took action as soon as we heard the allegations), the marriage-after-60 clause for veterans (Petitpas Taylor: Some pabulum about veterans’ families), and the disability benefit’s application process (Khera: Getting this right is our top priority).

Overall, everyone was a little punchy today, but that’s par for the course for this time of year, when MPs are on the verge of being feral because they’re overtired, cranky, and want to be home. Poilievre was also less on the defensive about the voting record, then simply dismissive of it, and then they went back to their usual scripts, where today’s twist was the call by the new Northwest Territories premier to grant another carbon price exemption, but really, it was more of the same over and over again. Because—say it with me—it’s all about gathering clips.

Meanwhile, the NDP were in a particularly boastful mood about the dental care announcement, and true to form, are trying to take all of the credit for doing none of the work. I would also note that the Bloc’s question about getting rid of the post of Lieutenant Governor in Quebec (which, again, good luck rewriting the constitution to make that happen) was made on Statute of Westminster Day, which is about when the Crown of Canada was created, after the UK Crown was divided amongst all of the realms. And because this government doesn’t seem to care much about history, or civics, or the Crown, nothing was mentioned. Of course.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Eric Melillo for a tailored dark grey suit with a matching tie and black shirt, and to Anita Anand for a fuchsia jacket with gold patterning over a white collared top and black slacks. Style citations go out to Julie Dabrusin for a black drop with yellow and green florals with dark grey slacks, and to Mario Simard fora black suit and tie over a burnt orange shirt.