QP: Who has more connections to Loblaws lobbyists?

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The prime minster was present as is customary for a Wednesday, while his deputy was away. All of the other leaders were present as well for a second day in a row. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, citing rental increases as though that were a federal jurisdiction. Justin Trudeau cited a Conservative MP pointing out that the government has new announcements every day, which Trudeau agreed, that they were rolling out programmes to help Canadians and speed up home building. Poilievre insisted that the government just bloats bureaucracy but doesn’t build houses. Trudeau called him out for insulting mayors and using the homeless as props while offering nothing. Poilievre cited CMHC figures and population estimates for needing another five million units. Trudeau said that they were investing in municipalities to decrease red tape and accelerate building while increasing densification. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his first question, to which Trudeau repeated his same response. Poilievre trotted his line that people can’t live in programmes and announcements, to which Trudeau walked into the trap by pointing to an announcement he made about investments made years ago turned into houses today, and accused Poilievre of insulting mayors and people’s intelligence. 

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, pointed to the government delaying the expansion of MAiD and that if the Conservatives get in, they will lock it down when the delay expires. Trudeau said that they are upholding fundamental rights and freedoms, but this is a difficult issue that they will “continue to reflect” on. Blanchet wanted the government to adopt Quebec’s request for advance requests, to which Trudeau insisted this was an very difficult decision for them to make as a society.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, to demand the government support his bill on grocery prices. Trudeau noted that they have measures in the Fall Economic Statement that align with the NDP proposal, and trotted the accusations around Jenni Byrne. Singh switched to French to repeat the demand, and Trudeau repeated his same response. 

Round two, and Poilievre got back up to turn to the issue of auto theft, and demanded the government buy more container scanners for ports (Trudeau: Your attacks are not the solutions while we work with provinces and CBSA; Your government cut 1000 CBSA officers and were on track to cut 400 more, which we restored and hired another 800 on top of that), Poilievre prevaricated on CBSA staffing levels over the length of the Harper government (Trudeau: You talk about high-priced consultants, but your campaign manager is one for Loblaws), to which Poilievre pointed out Liberals staff who also worked for Loblaws (Trudeau: Byrne was in your caucus room this morning, giving false talking points about carbon prices and food prices), and Poilievre pointed to more Liberal staffers now lobbying for Loblaws (Trudeau: You are flailing to distract from Jenni Byrne).

Blanchet got up again and wanted the government to support a referendum in Quebec on “taking back” control over immigration (Trudeau: All federal government control immigration because they are responsible for borders, but we have a special agreement with Quebec because of their need to protect French), which Blanchet took as an endorsement of the plan (Trudeau: You are only looking for fights when we are working well with the province).

Poilievre tried to get back to the auto theft issue and repeated his demand for his “common sense” plans (Trudeau: The bills you mention kept mandatory minimums for auto theft on the books and raised the lengths), here’s what those bills said (Trudeau: People don’t go from playing video games to stealing an Escalade because the world isn’t that simple), insinuating bail isn’t tough enough (Trudeau: You have yet to mention organised crime, and you keep voting against measures to combat it), and raised extortion rates (Trudeau: We are taking action to counter it while you fall into the same far-right American trap that sounds good but doesn’t make anyone safer).

Bonita Zarrillo insisted the government was not being tough enough on Air Canada’s breaching the rights of those with disabilities (Trudeau: We will ensure that they meet their obligations), and Lori Idlout accused the government of underfunding the non-insured benefits programme to people in Nunavut (Trudeau: I was just in Iqaluit, and we are working with the territory).

Round three saw Poilievre worrying about the “middle class homeless” including serving members of the Armed Forces who are facing a rent increase in military housing (Trudeau: We are investing in military housing, which you voted against; You nickel-and-dimed serving members and veterans), made some sweeping generalisations about housing (Trudeau: Canada doesn’t need to be made great again because it’s already the best country in the world; We are investing in helping Canadians while you offer fear and cuts), linking carbon prices with food prices (Trudeau: You know there is no data to support this), well there’s no evidence the carbon price has lowered emissions (Trudeau: No evidence to support your contention about food prices), and back to rental prices (Trudeau: You only propose nonsensical solutions; What about Jenni Byrne?). It also saw questions on the supposed money they federal government “owes” to Quebec for asylum seekers (Trudeau: Quebec has done a great job, and we are working with the province to compensate them), people paying for mental health services out of pocket (Trudeau: We have agreements with provinces), and mortgage fraud (Trudeau: We extended the ban on foreign home buyers).

Overall, we had some fairly dynamic back-and-forth between Trudeau and Poilievre today, which is great to see, even if it started to devolve in places. One of those places was where Trudeau kept bringing up Jenni Byrne (again, somewhat disingenuously because she herself was not lobbying, and the subject matter her firm lobbied on was related to beer and wine sales), and Poilievre responded as he was always going to by posting out Liberals past and present who have also been or who currently lobby on behalf of Loblaws. This was inevitable, and why trying to make Byrne the issue was always dumb—Ottawa is a fairly small town in this regard, and this is just pointing out how incestuous the relationships between government and lobbying/government relations firms are with all parties, and everyone just winds up looking grubby out of it. Trudeau tried to spin this as Poilievre flailing, but so long as the Liberals don’t make any specific allegations around Byrne and her activities, they also look like they’re flailing and trying to find something that will stick.

Additionally, there were a couple of instances where Trudeau tried to say things like “We don’t need to Make Canada Great Again because it’s already the best country in the world,” but the that is going to be clipped in malicious ways where Trudeau says they don’t need to make Canada great, or some such bullshit. It’s a trap he doesn’t need to walk into, not to mention that MAGA in Canada tends to be under the “Save Canada” slogan on red ball caps. There is plenty about importing MAGA rhetoric and ideological points that can be made, but trying to go after any non-existent “Make Canada Great Again” slogans does start to look like they’re flailing.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Dominique Vien for a black collared top and black slacks, and to Anthony Housefather for a charcoal suit with a light pink shirt and dark pink tie. Style citations go out to Blaine Calkins for a maroon suit with a white shirt and pink tie, and to Anita Vandenbeld for a black smock top with huge pink roses. Dishonourable mention goes out to Caroline Desbiens for a black jacket and slacks over a dark yellow top.