QP: Protesters and stunts for clips

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The prime minister was present today, while his deputy was not, and all of the other leaders were present, and ready to take full advantage of proto-PMQ day. Pierre Poilievre led off in French and worried that one of the companies involved in the ArriveCan debacle has won $250 million in government contracts since 2015. Justin Trudeau noted that in spite of the pandemic, rules needed to be followed, which is why he welcomes the Auditor General’s report. Poilievre quoted from that company’s website, and wondered what was up. Trudeau said that it as up to authorities to investigation any misconduct. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his first question with a “W. T. F?” at the end. After being warned by the Speaker, Poilievre clarified he meant “Where’s the Funds,” and the Speaker warned him again. As Trudeau gave his same response, there a disruption in the gallery of “Free Palestine” protesters, and then some shouting on the floor between MPs, at which point the Speaker called for a two minute break.

When things resumed, Poilievre got back up and wondered about this company further, calling them “suspicious.” Trudeau repeated that relevant authorities are investigating what went on. Poilievre got back up one more time, and recited his slogans before casting aspersions on this company for a fifth time. Trudeau repeated his answer yet again, before pointing out what they are doing to help Canadians.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he took his own kick at the ArriveCan question, and Trudeau repeated his same lines about needing to investigate. Blanchet wondered what is happening with this company’s other contracts, to which Trudeau went on about internal processes in the civil service that were triggered and that the RCMP are involved, and he awaited the results.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and lo, asked the very same question, asserting that that $60 million could have done things like hire nurses…which the federal government doesn’t do. Trudeau repeated his response again. Singh repeated the question in French, and got the same answer. Again.

Round two, and Poilievre took a swipe at Singh before he carried on with more torqued and misleading ArriveCan questions (Trudeau: I have answered, and you just deplored our measures during COVID and spreading conspiracy theories), and hen started demanding the full and final costs of the app, in English and French (Trudeau: We are trying to find that out).

Blachet got back up to wonder if any funds spent inappropriately could be recovered (Trudeau: Processes were triggered months ago and we are awaiting results), if he considered putting CBSA under some sort of custodianship (Trudeau: There have been consequences and there will be more as investigations complete).

Poilievre got back up to decry Steven Guilbeault’s comments about not investing in new road infrastructure, in both French and English (Trudeau: He clarified his remarks and our infrastructure approach hasn’t changed, which you voted against; Here is a list of projects).

Singh returns to his feet to call on the prime insister to stop selling arms to Israel (Trudeau: We are concerned about the situation in Rafah, and the only possible path to peace is a two-state solution, and we haven’t signed any new export permits since October), and demanded online harms legislation (Trudeau: We have been working to ensure that we get this right).

Round three saw Poilievre ask about the rebranding the carbon rebates (Trudeau: You want to take money out of people’s pockets), rental prices (Trudeau: We are solving the crisis by encouraging new building; You don’t understand the programmes you want to cut;) an incident at a safe injection site in Richmond involving racism (Trudeau: We are taking a public health approach), slogans (Trudeau: Did he just say “vote for me and life will suck?”). It also saw questions from Blanchet on the nuclear waste storage facility at Chalk River (Trudeau: The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commissioner is independent and only grant permits after consultation, and the minister of the environment can’t overturn their decisions), and other questions on banning thermal coal exports (Trudeau: We are committed to ending them by 2030), and a private member’s bill on banning corporal punishment (Trudeau: Our government is committed to protecting the safety of children and we support this bill).

Overall, it was a weird and chaotic day, given the protesters in the gallery, and the staged incident around the “WTF” which was done solely in service of getting a clip. And once that died down, things got boring and repetitive, as they have been, as each of the leaders were hunting for clips on the same issue, over and over again. There were plenty of places where Trudeau should have given more succinct answers, or pointing out that he had answered that before, but instead, he started to ramble to get as many of his own talking points out as possible, which got painful to watch. The final round started to degenerate a bit more, right up until Poilievre started going on about slogans and the prime minister saying that things “suck,” and inadvertently gave the Liberals a clip to use against him, should they so choose to. The whole thing is just so juvenile and stupid, and there are no serious people left.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Adam Chambers for a dark blue suit with a white shirt and a lighter blue tie, and to Anita Anand for a long fuchsia jacket over a navy top and black slacks. Style citations go out to Jennifer O’Connell for an oversized sleeveless dusky rose jacket over a black turtleneck and slacks, and to Stéphane Lauzon for a dark grey suit over a faded eggplant top and a shiny blue-grey tie.