QP: Demanding a televised meeting

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Although he had not been initially scheduled to attend Question Period today, the prime minister updated his itinerary late morning to indicate that he would be here today after all, even though his deputy would not be. All of the other leaders were also present, as is usual when the PM is here. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, recited his slogans, accused the government of ramping up “generational inflation” (which is not what happened) and said the government was giving more to bankers than healthcare. Trudeau listed what they are investing in healthcare, as well as school food, and child care, but didn’t correct the disinformation about inflation. Poilievre again falsely claimed that they government’s programmes were inflationary and demanded a meeting with the premiers, and Poilievre insisted that they were there to work with the provinces, as opposed to Conservative austerity. Poilievre switched to English to once again recite his slogans, falsely quoted the PBO report, and demanded a televised meeting with the premiers. Trudeau said that if they really cared about people having a hard time, they would help to pass the rural top-up. Poilievre insisted that they could do so with the NDP’s support, and repeated his demand for the televised meeting. Trudeau noted that they did agree to carbon pricing before, and noted the upcoming the upcoming rebate payments to people. Poilievre repeated the same falsehoods as before and wondered why Trudeau wouldn’t meet with the premiers. Trudeau noted that Poilievre was spouting misinformation and disinformation and that he got an endorsement from Alex Jones.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and worried about interference in Quebec’s jurisdiction, and that the federal government had no competence in healthcare, child care and education. Trudeau said that even though provinces have the competence, there are gaps that people are falling through so they are investing in the help people need along with provinces. Blanchet made a remark about not going to a dentist to fix his car, which gave Trudeau an opening to praise dental care.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP and railed about corporations delaying climate action, and oil and gas subsidies, to which Trudeau noted that they have eliminated those subsidies ahead of schedule and praised carbon pricing. Singh repeated the question in French, and got a paean about the costs of climate change, and the carbon rebates.

Round two, and Poilievre got back up to raise a speech given by Mark Carney, whom he called the “incoming leader of the Liberal Party,” and noted his call for a meeting with the premiers (Wilkinson: 200 economists agreed with us on pricing pollution—which isn’t really what they said; Mark Carney believes in carbon pricing), Melissa Lantsman read an angry script demanding a meeting with the premiers (Sudds: Our actions have helped families with child care and the Canada Child Benefit; Champagne: The cost of inaction is something you’re not talking about), and Gérard Deltell demanded more action on supposedly inflationary spending (Duclos: We have created more housing units in your riding than when your leader was minister; Austerity is not a solution in 2024, and respect is a foundation of academic relations, and you need to apologise to the mayor of Quebec City).

Mario Simard railed about the mental health of students as a demand for transferring more money for Quebec (Rodriguez: When we help people, you cry with the Conservatives; You’re losing your identity and being eclipsed by the Conservatives), and Kristina Michaud worried about the lack of transition plans by the government (Guilbeault: We are investing in the green transition).

Michael Kram demanded the passage of Bill C-234 unamended (Wilkinson: You are misleading on what the price covers), and demanded a meeting with the premiers (Wilkinson: Provinces can put in their own pricing system), and Earl Dreeshen and Terry Dowdall made the same demands (MacAulay: Farmers are devastated by storms and droughts; Wilkinson: The whole structure is to make changes affordable).

Peter Julian worried about the rollout of dental care—when he should look in the mirror about how badly the implementation as happened (Holland: We are creating a new portal to make it easier for dentists to participate), and Rachel Blaney railed about OAS being clawed back from seniors on workers’ compensation (O’Regan: Hooray for dental care).

Round three saw yet more questions on Bill C-234 (Fraser: We are taking action about a school food programme; You voted against a pay raise for members of the military; Sudds: We are supporting parents with our programmes; Blair: We care about the welfare of our military members and negotiated a pay raise for them which you voted against). It also saw questions on Mexican migrants versus temporary foreign workers (Miller: We are working to get Mexican workers their visas), building housing (Champagne: We won’t take lessons, slogans don’t build houses; Your leader insulated mayors), homelessness (Fraser: We are making investments with the  provinces), deficits (Champagne: We will take no lessons; Anand: You keep voting against measures to support Canadians; Boissonnault: Inflation has come down while you have voted against jobs), climate change (Guilbeault: He have invested 20 times more than any previous government), and the greener homes program (Wilkinson: This was a successful programme and we are building a new one to make it more accessible to lower-income households).

Overall, it was a fairly mediocre day in the Chamber, where most of the Conservative questions were focused around their Supply Day motion on demanding a televised meeting with the premiers, because we all know this would merely a performative exercised geared toward those premiers gathering clips of them say mean things to Justin Trudeau and fundraising off of them. There have also been the false assertions that federal government spending is fuelling inflation and keeping rates high, but the government never challenges it, so the lie just festers in the open, which only hurts their own case in the long run. You would think that they would realise this by now, but of course they don’t, and the Conservatives continue to lie without consequence.

I also want to give a shout out to Peter Julian for the complete lack of self-awareness when he was worried about the implementation of dental care. A reminder—the NDP insisted that it needed to be rolled out in this particular way, and lo, now that dentists don’t want to sign onto the programme (because they don’t like the fee structure or the hassle), the NDP complains. Guys, you made this an insistence as part of the Supply and Confidence Agreement, so you don’t get to complain that dentists don’t like this route to implementation, and it would be great if Mark Holland or the government could point this out rather than return to the usual bromides about working together.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Mario Simard for a navy three-piece suit over a crisp white shirt and a blue-grey tie, and to Kristina Michaud for a black short-sleeved dress. Style citations go out to Marci Ien for a black tunic top with large white puffy sleeves over black slacks, and to Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe for a tan brown jacket over a white shirt, eggplant tie and blue jeans. Dishonourable mention goes out to Brenda Shanahan for a dark yellow tasseled shaw over a black turtleneck and slacks.