QP: Another slogan to “fix” the budget

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While both the prime minister and his deputy were in town, they were not present for QP, though most of the other leaders were present. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and listed off his slogans before noting that the government was spending more on interest on the debt than healthcare, and demanded the government take is “dollar-for-dollar” plan to “fix the budget.” Sean Fraser wondered if it was common sense or nonsense to cut programmes to help people. Poilievre took a swipe at Fraser for his alleged incompetence around immigration numbers, which “doubled” housing prices, and demanded the government reduce the deficit and interest rates. François-Philippe Champagne recited that Poilievre only built six affordable housing units when he was “housing minister” (which he wasn’t really), and that they wouldn’t take any lessons. Poilievre switched to English to misquote a Scotiabank report claiming government deficits were adding two points to the interest rates, to which Fraser accused him of knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing in his opposition to programmes to help people. Poilievre insisted there was no value in food programmes that don’t exist or the doubling of the cost of housing, and repeated his same misleading declaration about interest rates. Fraser needled Poilievre about the number of affordable units lost when he was “minister” and the number of houses that weren’t built. Poilievre accused Fraser of being incompetent as immigration minister before being named housing minister, and then gave some misleading nonsense about rental prices when he was “housing minister.” Fraser took a shot at the Conservatives for opposing the resettlement of Afghan refugees who had helped the Canadian Forces, and after the Speaker finally restored order, repeated the points about Poilievre’s housing record.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and complained that Quebec didn’t get their fair share of housing funds, to which Pablo Rodriguez talked about the Bloc’s lack of priorities as they keep demanding referendums while the government is investing. Therrien tried his complaint again, and Fraser insisted that they were working with the province to ensure they would get their fair share.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he railed about corporate handouts to companies like Loblaws, and wanted the government to roll back Conservative policies. Champagne thanked him for his help in reforming competition law, but said they still needed support to get the Grocery Code of Conduct passed. Singh switched to French to demand an excess profits tax on grocery giants, and Champagne repeated his response.

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan breathlessly read some nonsense slogans and talking points about the budget (Boissonnault: Inflation is below three percent, and we have our Aaa rating; You keep voting against Alberta jobs), Michelle Ferreri blamed the federal government for a woman losing her home (Anand: You will see support for renters and home owners in the budget while being fiscally prudent; Sudds: The Conservative response to affordability challenges are cuts to programmes people need), and Luc Berthold demanded taxes be cut in the budget (Duclos: Your leader only built six units when he was “minister” but we are building 24 units in your own riding).

Claude DeBellefeuille prised the French prime minister’s support of “secularism” and tried to make this a slight by Trudeau to Quebec (Rodriguez: Quebec is a secular province but you re looking for a fight; Virani: We will intervene at the Supreme Court to defend the Charter).

Philip Lawrence demanded the passage of Bill C-234 unamended (MacAulay: Farmers see the devastation climate change can wreak; MacKinnon: The bill is in your hands, and you can bring it forward at any point), and Damien Kurek demanded the same (Wilkinson: It’s important that people are not talking nonsense in the Chamber, and you have a selective use of the facts).

Leah Gazan complained about on-campus food banks and blamed grocery CEOs (Champagne: We have been explaining how we are helping Canadians over the past two weeks), and Charlie Angus railed about the fact that the land transfer to Attawapiskat hasn’t happened (Hajdu: I have been working with the province, who is the current owner of the land).

Round three saw yet more questions on Bill C-234 (Boissonnault: 97 percent of on-farm fuels are exempt, and there is no data to support carbon prices and the increase of food prices; MacKinnon: Your own House Leader can call the bill at any point; Guilbeault: If you had an ounce of intellectual integrity, you would know that most fuels are exempt and farmers are more concerned about droughts; Bibeau: Quebec has their own pricing system). It also saw questions on asylum seekers needing work permits (Miller: We are accelerating the granting of permits, but do you want to follow your leader’s demand to cap visas when your province needs workers?), the deficit (Anand: We have reduced poverty in this country while you want to cut; Duclos: Your leader only built six housing units across the country, while we built 41 units in your riding already), alleged preferential treatment for McKinsey in procurement (Duclos: Some pabulum about investing in Canadians), the IRGC (LeBlanc: Iran is a state-sponsor of terrorism and we have taken severe measures, but we listen to the advice of national security experts on listings), a school in Nunavut falling apart (Jones: We have implemented programmes to support schools and students), and whether we are still blocking arms to Israel in light of Iran’s attacks (Joly: We support Israel and its people, and escalation is unacceptable).

Overall, for Budget Day Eve, it was a little surprising that there wasn’t the usual parade of demands for items in the budget—the Conservative lines about supposedly “fixing” with a “dollar-for-dollar” process being little more than a dumb slogan, but his insistence that the federal deficit put two percent of interest rates is nothing more than complete nonsense, but of course, it never gets challenged, so the lies are just left to fester. It was a fairly rowdy day at points, which was somewhat unusual for a Monday, where there were places where things were held up for up to a minute in a couple of places, but it did calm down the longer it went, for what that’s worth.

Otherwise, the NDP’s continued railing about corporate handouts continues to be fairly cartoonish, while the Bloc have tried to weaponize the visit by French prime  minister Gabriel Attal in their attempt to poke the federal government over Quebec’s so-called “secularism” law (which is not actually secularism, let’s be clear), though the government was not being goaded on either. In either case, I don’t think the government responses were all that great, but the discourse continues to race to the bottom in this parliament.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Michelle Rempel Garner for a fuchsia jacket over a white top and dark blue jeans, and to Adam Chambers for a tailored navy suit over a crisp white shirt with a light purple tie. Style citations go out to Martin Shields for a brown jacket over a light green shirt and a dark green tie with a matching pocket square, and to Diane Lebouthillier for a dusky rose jacket over a black high-necked top and slacks. Dishonourable mention goes out to Anna Roberts for a dark yellow jacket over a tan and black striped collared top and black slacks.