QP: No, you’re the ultra-wealthy!

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Wednesday post-budget, and both the prime minister and his deputy were present, as were all of the other leaders who wanted their camera time decrying the budget, Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and gave a direct-to-camera appeal of “who will pay for this orgy of spending” and claimed it wouldn’t be the wealthy, but “you, the ones who are paying too much taxes. The Speaker warned him that comments need to be directed through the chair. Trudeau insisted that Poilievre was defending the wealthy, while he was defending the Middle Class™. Poilievre insisted that after nine deficits, it was not a fair county for young people. Trudeau insisted that they made the choice to invest to build a stronger economy while the Conservatives only wanted austerity. Poilievre switched to English and repeated the talking directly to the camera appeal, and got a second gentle caution from the Speaker. Trudeau repeated that Poilievre was defending the wealthiest 0.1 percent. Poilievre railed that Trudeau was blaming the rest of the world for his failures that raised inflation (erm…) and repeated the same line about the government repeating the same mistakes and hoping for a different outcome. Trudeau repeated that Poilievre is only looking out for the ultra-wealthy, to which Poilievre insisted that Trudeau was the ultra-wealthy. (No, he’s really not). Trudeau said not on a tear about the people that they are standing up for and the Conservatives were standing against.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and said that the prime minister was so enamoured with areas of provincial jurisdiction, and wondered if he would run in his preferred province—Ontario. Trudeau noted he as a proud Quebecker and praised the investments they were making to enhance programmes in provinces like Quebec. Blanchet shot back that he was such a proud Quebecker that he wanted them to be their own country, and demanded unconditional transfers. Trudeau went on a paean about his pride in Quebec being secure in Canada, and praised Quebec for being ahead of the rest of the country with their programmes, and that the government was there to help Quebec advance those programmes. 

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP and started shouting about “corporate greed” and that the government was not clamping down on it in the budget. Trudeau praised the measures in the budget to help younger generations. Singh repeated the question in French, and Trudeau spoke about asking the wealthiest to pay a little more to help the next generations. 

Round two, and Poilievre got back up to laugh at his own joke about Trudeau being mad about whoever has been running the country for the last nine years (Trudeau: We took over after you did nothing about housing), gave some nonsense figures about housing when he was “minister” (Trudeau: We put out the most comprehensive housing plan in this country to help the next generation), Poilievre claimed he would cut rent (Trudeau: I was in Vancouver talking to young people and here are some measures we’re taking), Poilievre mocked how long it was taking for some of the government’s promises (Trudeau: You stand with the ultra-wealthy),  the Housing Accelerator not building houses (Trudeau: We are standing up for more densification and better use of public lands), and housing costs being higher in Canada than the US (Trudeau: Our population is growing faster and we are on more solid economic footing than any of our G7 partners).

Blanchet got back up, and demanded more fiscal transfers to Quebec (Trudeau: We work with the Quebec government while you just want to squabble; We are investing in the future of Quebec’s manufacturing sector).

Poilievre switched to French to worry about rent in Montreal (Trudeau: You only push austerity and cuts), returned to English to read the sob story of a Toronto renter (Trudeau: We are standing up for people who have been affected by the global economy while you only want to cut programmes; You want to do less for people like her while we want to do more).

Singh asked if the prime minister regrets his bad decisions that “got us into this mess” (Trudeau: We stepped up in 2017 with the National Housing Strategy and we are continuing to help), and decried not investing enough in Indigenous children instead of cutting corporate “handouts” (Trudeau: We are stepping up and there is more to do).

Round three saw Poilievre state some utter disinformation about the carbon levy and rebate (Trudeau: People got rebates this week, while you are standing with the ultra-wealthy; I am resolute in fighting climate change and putting more money in people’s pockets; Ontario is an example of a province that had a cap-and-trade system before its Conservative government subjected then to the federal backstop but now they get more money back). It also saw questions on spending in Quebec (Trudeau: How shocking that the Bloc is denouncing a federal government!; We are investing in partnership with the province), Thomas Mulcair’s comments on the budget (Trudeau: I was surprised that Mulcair was against raising taxes on the top 0.1 percent; We are investing responsibly; That would he a more credible argument if you didn’t stand against investments in Canadians), all of the “adults in the Liberal and NDP” are saying this budget is a disaster (Trudeau: We are making the choice to invest in a fairer future for all Canadians), the size of the Disability Benefit (Trudeau: This is a start that will make a measurable difference for some people, and we will work with provinces to do more; We are stepping up with reducing barriers and there is more to do but this will help).

Overall, I cannot begin to express how completely inappropriate the direct-to-camera appeals are, and the Speaker should have shut them down when he could see that’s what was happening, and it was obvious within seconds that it was. The gentle “ask questions through the chair” doesn’t stop that kind of behaviour, and in fact encourages it because they know they can get away with it and harvest the clips in this way going forward. This kind of thing continues to corrupt the system, and it never gets stopped. Otherwise, the day was pretty much as expected—each party had their pre-determined narratives and questions, and the prime minister had a list of talking points that he kept deploying, with even less spontaneous volleying with Poilievre or other leaders than normally happens on a Wednesday.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Peter Fragiskatos for a dark grey three-piece suit over a crisp white shirt with a dark purple tie and a white pocket square, and to Iqra Khalid for a navy suit with a white collared shirt. Style citations go out to Patty Hajdu for a teal blue long-sleeved top under some kind of garish floral smock (which may have been an oversized scarf draped as a shawl) and dark grey slacks, and to Jagmeet Singh for a an overly large and boxy dark grey double-breasted suit, over a white shirt with a black tie and eggplant turban.