QP: Spike the Hike vs Scrap the Crap

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Kicking off the sole sitting week of the month, the prime minister was not present for QP, though he did show up immediately after, for the speeches paying tribute to Brian Mulroney. Trudeau’s deputy was present, however, as were most of the other leaders. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and after rattling off his slogans, he railed about the increasing carbon price, and pivoted to a decree about supposedly closing the forestry sector in Quebec. Chrystia Freeland responded that Quebec has their own system for carbon pricing, which…was not the question. Poilievre noted that wasn’t what he asked, and then asked something around police needing to control crowds for food basket deliveries. Freeland noted that the Conservatives only want to cut supports for those less fortunate. Poilievre switched to English to again rattle off his slogans, and noted military families going to food banks and demanded the levy increase be curtailed. Freeland repeated that the Conservatives only want to cut programmes people rely on. Poilievre declared this to be “fear and falsehoods” and repeated some slogans about the carbon prices. Freeland retorted that Poilievre traffics in fear and falsehoods, and repeated that he wants to cut the carbon rebates. Poilievre read an out of context figure about how much the increase will cost—citing a different figure than what applies to households—and Freeland gave a somewhat confused group of carbon rebate points that didn’t really flow.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and raised the PM’s meeting with François Legault last weekend, and lamented all the things that Trudeau rejected that Legault warned. Marc Miller noted they already have an agreement with the province, but they won’t turn over all powers. Therrien took a swipe at Trudeau’s radio interview on Friday, and Miller repeated that they have constructive dialogue with the province.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP to exhort the government to vote for their Supply Day motion on Palestinian statehood. Mélanie Joly said they agree with the aims of peace, but didn’t say if they would or would not support it. Singh repeated the demand in French, and Joly noted that she was in the region last week, and spoken about a two-state solution but again didn’t give a clear answer.

Round two, and Andrew Scheer demanded to know where families would come up with money for the carbon levy (Freeland: Do you support your leader saying he will cut is for Ukraine; It’s about time you talk about the rebate), Melissa Lantsman read her script on the Ontario version of the same question (Freeland: Canadians know the only thing Conservatives want to do is cut; If you believe your rhetoric about supporting families, why don’t you support our programmes?), and Michelle Ferreri returned to the allegation of military families going to food banks (Blair: They got a very significant raise last year, which your party voted against).

Claude DeBellefeuille returned to the demand to give Quebec everything they’re asking for (Duclos: Isn’t dental care  great programme?), Luc Thériault gave more of the same (Rodriguez: The only ones really saying no are the Bloc, who don’t want to cooperate).

Clifford Small demanded the government not raise the carbon levy (O’Regan: We will keep giving cash to people who need it), John Barlow made his own demand under the rubric of farm prices (MacAulay: We have supports for farmers; Freeland: If you care about the most vulnerable, do you support our child care programme, or dental care?).

Jenny Kwan demanded we get more Palestinian families out of Gaza (Miller: The ability to get people out is beyond our control, but we have increased the number of eligible to come to Canada), and Matthew Green donned a Palestinian scarf—a prop that was not called out by the Speaker—demanded to know if Joly raised starvation in Gaza during her meetings last week (Joly: Yes, I did, and I don’t shy away from tough conversations).

Round three saw yet more questions on the increasing carbon levy (Freeland: Quebec has their own carbon pricing system; BC has their own system, and this question demonstrates either profound ignorance or profound disrespect; Guilbeault: we have an agreement with the province). It also saw questions on a retrial ordered for federally-appointed judge (Virani: We are looking into this), Quebec’s immigration targets (Miller: We have an accord with Quebec), ArriveCan documents (Duclos: What happened was unacceptable; LeBlanc: There are internal investigations ongoing), a ceasefire in Gaza (Joly: Peace in the region starts with the release of the hostages), and deficits (Freeland: Hooray our low debt-to-GDP ratio).

Overall, it was a relatively more sedate day than it could be, though there were a few outbursts here and there. The main theme for the week was clearly laid out, in that the Conservatives will be using every opportunity to demand the carbon levy not increase next month, and they are promising a number of votes over the course of the week to that end. The Bloc had one singular theme about Trudeau’s meeting with François Legault, while the NDP were focused primarily on their Supply Day motion around Palestinian statehood, and trying to jam the government about it. While I have no doubt that things will get more toxic as the week progresses, this was about as low-key of a start to the week as we’re going to get.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Christine Normandin for a white sweater over a black top and a grey patterned skirt, and to Yasir Naqvi for a tailored dark grey suit over a crisp white shirt and a dark pink/purple tie. Style citations go out to Clifford Small for a dark grey jacket with a loud grid pattern over a blue-grey shirt, black slacks, and a multi-coloured sealskin tie, and to Jean Yip for a red jacket over a black top with green and white florals and black slacks. Dishonourable mention goes out to Ruby Sahota for a black suit with a pale yellow top with black patterns.