QP: Lobbing points past one another

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The prime minister was present today, while his deputy was away in São Paulo for G7/G20 finance ministers’ meetings. All of the other leaders were present today for the first time of the week. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and once again falsely claimed that the RCMP were investigating ArriveCan, and demanded that he waive Cabinet confidences to allow the RCMP to have those documents. Trudeau said that anyone who abused the system will face consequences. Poilievre said that was a non-answer, raised SNC-Lavalin, and repeated his demand. Trudeau said that Poilievre we simply focused on personal attacks. Poilievre repeated the same demand in English, and Trudeau repeated that the situation was unacceptable, which is why authorities were looking into it. Poilievre falsely insisted that there were previous criminal investigations into SNC and the Aga Khan, and Trudeau dismissed this as digging up things that were settled year ago, and Trudeau dredged up connections between people involved in ArriveCan and Poilievre during his time in government. Poilievre then demanded the government support their Supply Day motion on producing more ArriveCan documents, and Trudeau said this was a distraction from Poilievre not wanting to talk about the things the government is doing for Canadians. 

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and demanded Quebec be given the ability to withdraw from any pharmacare system with full compensation and no strings. Trudeau said that too many people didn’t have coverage. Blanchet insisted that they did have coverage in Quebec, which was why they want full compensation, and he took a swipe at the NDP in the process. Trudeau said that even in Quebec, people face gaps in pharmacare, which is why the government was working with the provinces with the goal of filling those gaps.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and railed about the revelation that Shopper’s Drug Mart was overcharging for health services, which should have been asked in Queen’s Park and directed to Doug Ford. Trudeau took a swipe at Jenni Byrne participating in Conservative caucus meetings before praising their agreements with provinces. Singh switched to French, and worried about the environmental assessment for the NorthVolt battery plant. Trudeau praised the investment, but didn’t answer the question. 

Round two, and Poilievre got back up to rail about the coming increase in the carbon levy, citing certain PBO numbers out of context (Trudeau: This is the first time you’ve actually acknowledged the rebate, and most families get more back than they pay; Here is what the Parliamentary Budget Officer said; You need to calculate both the costs of action and inaction; Here is what families are getting back; Canadians are worried and angry about climate change).

Blanchet got back up, and he demanded a royal recommendation for the private members’ bill to increase OAS payments to seniors under 75 (Trudeau: Older seniors have higher costs and need more help, and we are now providing then dental care; We have increased payments across the board, but older seniors have higher costs).

Poilievre brought back up the recent report on food bank use and blamed it on carbon prices, asked in both languages (Trudeau: There is no proof to link the carbon price and the price of food, but you are voting against help for families; We are stepping up with supports across the country; Farmers know the impact of climate change on the production of food, which is why we need to fight against climate change).

Lori Idlout demanded housing money for Nunavut (Trudeau: We have sent millions for new housing and we will send more), and food bank use and demands for more federal funds (Trudeau: We have stepped up supports, and we will work on legislation to empower the Competition Bureau).

Round three saw Poilievre recited some more slogans before asking about housing (Trudeau: We just announced two more Housing Accelerator agreements today; You would cancel these funds; You only propose cuts and fights with different levels of government); ArriveCan and support from other parties (Trudeau: Something complimentary about the Bloc; Conservatives disrespect Quebeckers and democracy but I always respect Bloc members), raising taxes on beer and wine (Trudeau: You are only looking to pick fights; While you focus on slogans we are delivering for Canadians), Winnipeg Lab documents (Trudeau: The documents are being tabled after QP, but you said nothing about the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine). It also saw questions on ArriveCan (Trudeau: The situation is unacceptable which is why authorities are following up on it), drought in BC (Trudeau: Our ministers are working with provinces), and the extension of clean electric regulation consultations (Trudeau: We recently released up updated proposal, and we are working with provinces).

Overall, it was another example of how proto-PMQ Wednesdays can be somewhat more free-wheeling between Poilievre and Trudeau, and can get away from scripts, but it can also become frustrating when they start talking past one another. Case in point were the games being played with math and the PBO’s numbers on the effect of the carbon price. Each leader was quoting from a different table to make their point, and Trudeau in particular should have known how to counter this, but he fell flat and tried to change the channel, talking about the costs of climate change rather than the specific figures and calculations. This is not the first time Poilievre has used those particular numbers outside of their proper context and it won’t be the last, and he needs to deal with that. There was also a strange digression where Poilievre started going after the Bloc and essentially forced Trudeau to defend them, which Trudeau fairly successfully turned into saying that it proved Poilievre was showing disdain for Quebec and democracy, but not much later, Trudeau went full non sequitur in a response to try and take shots at Poilievre, and it looked forced and ham-fisted.

There was also a particular incident at the end of QP where Trudeau was responding to an NDP question when Poilievre stood up to leave, and started waving triumphantly to his caucus, who all stood up to give him a standing ovation, and interrupted the prime minister and exasperated the Speaker once again, but he gave them the gentlest of rebukes about not causing disruptions in the Chamber. It was more of the same petulance that is the feature and not the bug in Poilievre’s leadership. I will also note that as this was happening, NDP MP Daniel Blaikie called out something to the effect of Conservatives having their tongues in their leader’s ass, and this turned into some pearl-clutching during points of order after QP ended, and Blaikie needed a couple of chances to apologise properly. Minutes later, Blaikie announced his resignation to go to work for the premier of Manitoba, so that was quite the way to go out.

Sartorially speaking, it was Pink Shirt Day, and a lot of MPs participated with some sort of pink, though not all shirts. Snaps go out to Charles Sousa for a navy suit with a pale pink shirt and a dark pink tie, and to Marci Ien for a pale pink collared shirt under a navy suit. Style citations go out to Patty Hajdu for a long grey jacket with pink florals over a black top and slacks, and to Clifford Small from dark grey jacket with a grid pattern over a medium pink shirt and dark pink diamond-patterned tie, and black slacks. Dishonourable mention goes out to Julie Vignola for a pale yellow trop under a black jacket and slacks.