QP: Calling out Poilievre’s chief advisor

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The prime minister and his deputy were both in Toronto and surroundings, while most of the other leaders were also absent. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and worried about the number of Mexicans claiming asylum with a low acceptance rate, and demanded the government do something about it. Marc Miller said that there were diplomatic discussions happening, and he wouldn’t pre-empt those with a statement in the House. Poilievre then pivoted to auto thefts, and blamed the federal government for the rise. Dominic LeBlanc said that while Poilievre likes to invent blame, they are working with provincial partners and there is a summit next week on the subject. Poilievre repeated the accusation in English, and LeBlanc repeated that they did strengthen bail conditions to close the “loophole” he was concerned about. Poilievre again insisted that this was all about “catch-and-release” bail, and this time, Arif Virani said that the Conservatives are voting against measures to combat organised crime. Poilievre then went on a misleading tear about the Bank of Canada, and Anita Anand gave a canned line about the lowest debt in the G7 and the programmes they rolled out to help Canadians.

Christine Normdin led for the Bloc, and she cited a CMHC report about housing in Quebec because the population is growing too fast, and blamed the government for letting in too many immigrants. Marc Miller found it curious that they say they didn’t want to blame immigrants but still were anyway. Normandin repeated her same question, and Miller said that they can’t treat asylum seekers like cattle and just ship them around at whim.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, and he blamed the government for high grocery prices because he alleges they are too close to grocery giants. Sean Fraser listed measures the government has taken to increase competition in the marketplace. Don Davies asked about the Manulife deal with Loblaws, which is not federal jurisdiction. Mark Holland patted himself on the back for helping to achieve savings with prescriptions through things like bulk purchasing.

Round two, and Andrew Scheer read some misleading slogans about the carbon price (Fraser: Your leader’s chief advisor, Jenni Byrne, is a lobbyist for Loblaws and your leader should do one of his favourite things and look in the mirror), John Barlow demanded the carbon price be axed (Guilbeault: Climate change affects farmers, and we are helping farmers; Wilkinson: The carbon levy is a thoughtful policy that puts more money back in the pockets of most families), and Luc Berthold read the same talking points in French, with additionally needling the Bloc along the way as though the federal price applies in Quebec when it does not (Guilbeault: We are there to support the agricultural sector with the energy transition).

Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe demanded retroactive payments to Quebec for assisting asylum seekers with another tortured analogy (Marc Miller: We are negotiating with the government of Quebec, not the Bloc; Rodriguez: The minister is working with the province while the Bloc just wants disputes).

Richard Lehoux blamed the carbon price for food prices (Guilbeault: Farmers are hit hardest by climate change—look at the drought on the prairies; Rodriguez: You are out of touch because the price is not in Quebec, and where were you during floods and forest fires?), and Cheryl Gallant demanded the carbon price be axed (Wilkinson: The most vulnerable are better off with the rebates).

Bonita Zarrillo worried about rent—which is provincial jurisdiction (Fraser: We have made it easier to build faster), and Blake Desjarlais blamed the prime minister for something Danielle Smith did about housing (Fraser: Here is a list of things we have done to help the most vulnerable get housing).

Round three saw yet more misleading associations between food prices and the carbon levy (MacAulay: Climate change hurts farms, and we have a plan; O’Regan: You want to take the climate rebates away from seniors who need them; Wilkinson: You want to take money away from the vulnerable to benefit the wealthy; Guilbeault: The federal price does not apply in Quebec). It also saw questions on proposed cuts at CBC (St-Onge: The CEO said clearly that these cuts had to do with their current financial situation, and we are looking at how to better fund them in a sustainable manner), alleged conflicts of interest at SDTC (Sheehan: We have been doing due diligence with investigations), contracting practices (Souza: We have been implementing the recommendations of the ombudsman), soldiers not getting proper housing (Blair: You are badly misinformed, and the reporting was false), lack of abortion clinics in New Brunswick (Holland: We did claw back transfers from the province because of this, and I have reached out to the province), and UNRWA funding (Hussen: These allegations are disturbing, and we are encouraged by the investigation, and we have increasing support to other trusted partners in the meantime).

Overall, it was a quieter day than the past couple of days, which was in part because most of the leaders were away, but also the excitement of the first week back is starting to wear off. It was curious that Poilievre only mentioned the Mexican asylum seekers in French and not in English, and that he went on a bizarre tear in English about the Bank of Canada, which the government didn’t bother to try and refute or dispute, but simply deployed canned lines. Come on, guys. Someone could have at very minimum pointed out that money was not “printed” during the economic crisis associated with the pandemic, that he’s lying about what quantitative easing is, and that he has no clue about what he’s talking about because he gets his monetary policy ideas from crypto bros on YouTube, but no, of course they didn’t, and that’s not good.

Otherwise, the Conservatives were more focused today on the carbon price, being as it was the subject of their Supply Day motion (once again) today. I did note that Steven Guilbeault responded to several of the questions by listing how many millions of dollars was sent to farmers in Conservatives ridings for the energy transition, which does bely the notion that this government is trying to somehow disadvantage farmers. Then again, most of those questions were also premised on falsehoods, such as the objectively false notion that the carbon levy is responsible for high food prices (when it is in fact climate change that has affected harvests doing most of the damage). 

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Anju Dhillon for a long-sleeved black top with a leather centre pattern and a black skirt, and to James Bezan for a dark grey suit with a crisp white shirt, a yellow tie with grey and blue diamond pattern and a yellow pocket square. Style citations go out to Clifford Small for a dark grey jacket for a loud grid pattern over a purple shirt, seal-skin bow-tie and black slacks, and to Pam Damoff for a light purple jacket over a black top with blue and yellow-toned florals and maroon (p)leather slacks. Dishonourable mention goes out to Jonathan Wilkinson for a black suit and white shirt with a dark yellow tie, and to Darrell Samson for a black suit with a faded yellow shirt and bow-tie.