QP: The overwrought demands for a gas tax holiday

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The prime minister was in town but otherwise engaged, while his deputy was present for QP today. Most of the other leaders were present, and Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and recited a bunch of abject nonsense about the Bloc supporting the government, and wondered why the government didn’t formalise their supposed “coalition.” Chrystia Freeland noted that Quebeckers believe in a lot of things the government does, such as child care, and the that the Conservatives only want to cut, cut, cut. Poilievre said that he would cut taxes, and went on another rant about the Bloc. Freeland responded talking about social solidarity, and raising the rate of capital gains. Poielivre switched to English to take a swipe at the out-of-context comments by Mark Holland on Friday, and wondered if he would also call out his leader for taking his so-called “private jet” (which is not a private jet, it’s the Canadian military’s plane). Holland says that he was mistaken on the math, that it wasn’t 37,000 kilometres, but 44,000 kilometres to meet the supposed savings the Conservatives promised, and that they were meeting the existential challenge of climate change unlike the Conservatives. Poilievre dismissed this as “whacko math,” and decried the government’s climate plans before demanding the gas tax holiday. Steven Guilbeault repeated the point about the Conservatives’ math, which meant that a person could drive from the North Pole to the South Pole and back, and have kilometres remaining. Poilievre again dismissed this and demanded people get their gas tax holiday from the “miserable economy.” Guilbeault replied with another example of how far someone would have to drive to achieve the supposed savings the Conservatives claim.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and decried another Liberal MP’s comments on bilingualism, to which Pablo Rodriguez pointing out that the Bloc keeps voting against language funding. Therrien continued on his tear about the Liberals disrespecting French, and Rodriguez dismissed it as a ridicule question.

Leah Gazan rose for the NDP, and decried the lack of progress on the MMIW report, and Gary Anandasangaree read some anodyne talking points about systemic racism, and that they tabled their progress report today. Heather MacPherson went on a rant about the Liberals not doing enough to stop the war in Gaza. Mélanie Joly agreed the situation was catastrophic, which is why Canada supports the Biden plan.

Round two, and Michelle Ferreri gave an overwrought plea for the gas tax holiday (Guilbeault: The Conservatives claims for savings are not true, and it would cost billions in revenue, so what would they cut to fund it; Fraser: You keep voting against programmes then showing up in your riding at ribbon cuttings), John Barlow demanded the same gas tax holiday (Holland: We believe a road trip is a few hundred kilometres, not 44,000 kilometres like the Conservatives  think would need to achieve their savings; Freeland: We want the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup, but Danielle Smith also raised provincial gas taxes). And Luc Berthold demanded the same cut with a swipe at the Bloc (Guilbeault: Your math doesn’t add up).

Mario Beaulieu returned to his outrage over bilingualism comments (Rodriguez: You voted against our budget with language funding; Boissonnault: We have clearly understood that French is in decline, and we will defend minority language communities in all parts of the country).

Shelby Kramp-Neuman returned to the scripts for a gas tax holiday (Sudds: If you wanted to support families, you would support our programmes), Martin Shields read more of the same (Boissonnault: Your premier raised the provincial gas tax).

Alexandre Boulerice demanded that federal lands will be used for social and affordable housing (Fraser: We created an accelerator fund, and I am working to establish the details on use of federal lands), and Alistair MacGregor railed about grocery CEOs (Champagne: We have changed the competition regime in this country, and the Conservatives keep voting against it).

Round three saw questions on GDP per capita (Freeland: You can’t resist talking Canada down, while we have tamed inflation and attracted foreign investment; Champagne: Around the world, people are talking about how great Canada is; Ng: Talk to the hundreds of Canadian companies who trading around the world), making oil companies pay for damage caused by climate change like Vermont does (Guilbeault: We are the only G20 country that has gone after oil companies and have a fund to help communities adapt to climate change; Emissions in Canada haven’t been this low since Canadians last won the Stanley Cup), some complete nonsense about bail and crime rates (Duclos: You told people in my riding that dental care doesn’t exist, and over 2000 people in your riding have already used it; Martinez Ferrada: We are working to combat homeless which you vote against), guards in prison threatened by the Mafia (LeBlanc: We are working to ensure that prisons are safe for workers), contracts for McKinsey (Duclos: We look forward to the Auditor General’s report), SDTC (Champagne: Same answer), a Liberal MP’s comments on bilingualism (Lebouthillier: Your own MPs kept complaining that I speak French too much), oil and gas disinformation (Champagne: We have received a record investment in the green economy), and an immigration file (Lebouthillier: I will pass along the matter to the minister).

Overall, it was one of those days where the overriding concern of the Conservatives was the upcoming vote on their Supply Day motion, and the questions got increasingly overwrought as a result (looking at you, Michelle Ferreri). Also, trying to single out Mark Holland based on the out-of-context clips they gathered on his comments about road trips on Friday was just more examples of how using QP as a content studio for social media clips has dumbed down the discourse to a great extent. There was also a deeply weird exchange leading off QP as Poilievre was trying to create this bizarre discourse of trying to get the government to “formalise” their supposed coalition with the Bloc, never mind that the Bloc is voting against the budget. The Conservatives have been trying to tie the Bloc to the government for months, in utterly dishonest ways, but this escalated this even more to what end?

Otherwise, I will note that Jagmeet Singh was present but didn’t stand up to speak, instead passing the lead to Leah Gazan to raise the MMIW, given that today was the five-year anniversary of the report and there were statements made about the perceived lack of progress in meeting those calls to action. It’s not the first time that the NDP leader has stepped back on specific days, but this was one of those days, for what it’s worth.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Mélanie Joly for a navy belted half-sleeved dress, and Len Webber for a dark blue suit with a crisp white shirt and a dark purple tie. Style citations (and there was a glut of them today) go out to John Williamson for a tan suit with a white shirt and red striped tie, and to Marci Ien for a tan and green patterned shapeless smock dress with ruffles around the collar and cuffs. Special mention goes out to Blake Desjarlais for a beaded traditional buckskin vest over a white collared shirt with a bolo tie.