QP: Mocking each other’s housing plans

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With precious few Wednesdays remaining in the spring sitting, the prime minister was present today, while his deputy was off at a Senate committee meeting to talk about the budget bills. The other leaders were all present, and Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and raised an interview that the PM gave where he said that if he spends more, That inflation will go up, and claimed that he had been saying that the whole time. Justin Trudeau noted that he ignored the rest of the sentence from the interview and talked about investments in helping Canadians like dental care. Poilievre mocked this, and demanded his “dollar for dollar” budget slogan be implemented. Trudeau noted that dental care is not inflation, it’s help for people who need it, which the Conservatives are against. Poilievre switched to English to repeat the quote from the interview, and Trudeau repeated that the Conservatives have been using inflation as the excuse not to support programmes like dental care. Poilievre mocked this, saying Trudeau was going against his own words, which he actually wasn’t, but Trudeau insisted that they have been focused on bringing down inflation, which the Conservative found uproarious. Poilievre again mocked that Trudeau was finally talking about monetary policy, and Trudeau repeated the Conservatives were standing against help for people.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, worried about what was happening in Rafah, wanted a ceasefire, humanitarian aid, and to work with the Arab League for a peacekeeping force in the area toward an independent Palestinian state. Trudeau noted that they have been calling for a ceasefire and working toward a two-state solution. Blanchet asked if he believed they needed a peacekeeping force in the region, and Trudeau noted they were working with partners in the G7 and the region to get to a sustainable solution.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he insisted that Trudeau could do more about Rafah like a two-way arms embargo and sanctions against the Netanyahu government. Trudeau reiterated that he was sickened by what happened in Rafah, and that they continued to call for a ceasefire, humanitarian aid, and the hostages being released. Singh repeated the demand in French, and got much the same response. 

Round two, and Poilievre got back up in French, and blamed the prime minister and the “incompetent” mayor of Montreal for building permit processing times increasing (Trudeau: Instead of targeting elected officials, we are investing to reduce bureaucratic processes, which you want to tear up), and demanded support for his bill being voted on later (Trudeau: Our plan is building more housing, whereas when you were “minister” you built a total of six affordable units), Poilievre took credit for all construction when he was in office and the lower price of rent then, and again shilled for his bill (Trudeau: Here are some experts denouncing your bill), Poilievre returned to English to repeat his conflated record and took a shot at the mayor of Toronto ( Trudeau: We are leading on housing, and you delayed debate on your bill because you know it’s been panned by experts), Poilievre then called out the mayor of Winnipeg for blocking a housing development (Trudeau: You were part of a federal government that got out of building housing), and Poilievre blamed Trudeau for the doubling of housing prices (Trudeau: You want to do less when we know we need to do more).

Blanchet got back up to demand official recognition of a Palestinian state (Trudeau: We will recognise it at the moment it is most conducive toward peace, not at the end of the process; Our position remains eminently clear that there need to be two states).

Poilievre returned to his feet quote someone saying there was no chance they could ever meet their housing targets (Trudeau: We need to take real action on this crisis, which is what we’ve done, and Canada has solved housing crises before), he invented a promise for housing targets for this year (Trudeau: We had to restart investments in housing from zero; Your criticism is there are too many measures in our plan), and Poilievre mocked the housing design catalogue (Trudeau: This was how Canada helped solved the crisis after WWII, while you just want to mock and insult).

Lindsay Mathyssen raised the toxic culture in military colleges (Trudeau: We know there is a problem at these colleges and we are working to institute culture change), and Alexandre Boulerice loudly worried that this summer could be worse than last (Trudeau: We have been making progress in reducing emissions while we grow the economy).

Round three saw Poilievre worry that parents needed a police escort at a daycare in Montreal because of homeless people whom he attributed to being on bail (Trudeau: We invested in healthcare where you seek to criminalise vulnerable addicts; What you are proposing here is a returned to failed policy and Harper’s former advisor Ben Perrin can tell you how it failed; Your approach is austerity that will make it even harder for people), he recited some slogans (Trudeau: You want to take away the rebate cheques that help families like that), he took some swipes at the Bloc in demanding a gas tax holiday (Trudeau: You have a problem in that your messages don’t reach Quebeckers, so your only solution is to attack them because they take climate change seriously; The rebate puts more money back in most families’ pockets). There were also questions on supporting the ICJ and ICC possible arrest warrants against Israelis committing human rights abuses in Gaza (Trudeau: We support the independence of the courts and multilateral processes to uphold international law; We are going to wait for these courts to do their work), calling in the military when they are needed for forest fires (Trudeau: They will show up when needed), and some particular concern about Canada Day Celebrations not happening in certain communities (Trudeau: Thanks for bringing this up and we’ll look into it).

Overall, there weren’t any fireworks today, but there were a few back-and-forth exchanges, mostly involving Poilievre mocking things that he didn’t bother to listen to the answers to, because he knows everything, apparently. The cherry-picking of partial quotes and treating it like a gotcha is the kind of debate-me-bro tactic that Poilievre loves to engage in, because that’s the state of the discourse, and the mocking of more complete answers or context was exactly why you don’t debate debate-me-bros. Poilievre also spent a lot of time demanding support for his housing bill, which was resoundingly defeated after QP was over (and I suspect that means the next week or two will be full of recriminations about that defeat).

Meanwhile, the Bloc focusing all of their questions on the Israel/Gaza conflict was more than a little unusual, because this really isn’t the kind of thing that they tend to focus on, and it’s a bit of an open question as to what their calculation is with this. The NDP’s couple of questions on the same topic was expected, but the demands for a “two-way arms embargo” seems a bit curious because Canada hasn’t sent any arms, particularly not since December, so I’m not sure why they think this is any kind of solution (other than the symbolism).

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Christine Normandin for a black top under a white jacket with half sleeves and dark grey slacks, and to Peter Fragiskatos for a dark grey three-piece suit over a crisp white shirt with matching pocket square and a dark blue tie. Style citations go out to Alain Therrien for a blue jacket with a loud windowpane pattern over a white shirt, light blue tie and blue jeans, and to Marilène Gill for a blueberry dress with a tight floral pattern. 

3 thoughts on “QP: Mocking each other’s housing plans”

  1. PP continues to diss mayors who are very politicians he would have to curry if he were PM. I hope he continues as these are actions that will bring his lead down right across Canada. Canadians will patiently watch him blow his popularity by his own words. A fast mouth is evidence of a slow brain.

  2. Your comment about M. Blanchet asking about Gaza is not really unusual, given the PM Trudeau is avoiding saying anything meaningful and leading us to believe that a 2 State solution is possible when PM Netanyahu has rejected it out right. Trudeau is complicit in this genocide by refusing to recognize the State of Palestine and not focusing on helping Palestinians visa to exit Gaza and the West Bank. Trudeau is focused on Jewish votes to help Housefather, the Liberals really do not care about Arabs or Palestinians, so sick of them. I hope the Bloc continues to raise the issue.

    • Netanyahu will be gone one day, but in the meantime, what’s the point of recognizing the State of Palestine if it can never happen under the current regime? Isn’t it more likely that Canada and other G7 countries can help the Palestinians more by engaging diplomatically rather than symbolic gestures?

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