QP: Inventing condemnation from the Auditor General

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For likely the only time this week, both the prime minister and his deputy were both present for QP today, as were all of the other leaders. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he raised the Auditor General Report on SDTC, the allegations of improper spending, and demanded a taking of responsibility. Justin Trudeau said that they would look into report carefully, and that they were still focused on the green economy in a responsible manner. Poilievre noted the various contracts intended to focus McKinsey, to which Trudeau said that they have ensured that processes are now more transparent. Poilievre switched to English to praise the Parliamentary Budget Officer, and his allegation of a “gag order” on a federal report. Trudeau said that the PBO admitted to a mistake, and insisted that eight out of ten families get more money back than they spend (which is not the part of the report that was flawed). Poilievre returned to the report on SDTC spending, and demanded personal responsibility for the “costs and corruption.” Trudeau said that the minister has already taken measures to ensure that processes are properly followed while stepping up on the creation of the green economy. Poilievre then repeated his question on McKinsey, and demanded they get no more money, and Trudeau repeated that they have strengthened processes by how civil servants grant contracts to outside consultants,  before taking on a pitch about the carbon rebates. 

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and raised the NISCOP on the possible witting engagement by some parliamentarians with foreign powers. Trudeau thanked NSICOP for the report, and listed actions they have taken including the public inquiry, but said nothing about the parliamentarians. Blanchet demanded an answer on who was implicated, and Trudeau said it was ironic that Blanchet was asking his because he refused to get security-cleared so that he could see for himself.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, raised foreign interference particularly by India, noted the Conservatives’ refused to denounce Narendra Modi, and demanded more answers on implicated parliamentarians. Trudeau again spoke in generalities about what has been done. Singh repeated his same question in French, and Trudeau repeated his generalities. 

Round two, and Melissa Lantsman returned to torqued allegations around the report on SDTC (Champagne: We won’t take lessons from them on climate change, and we have taken action; We are changing the governance structure), Michael Barrett upped the torque even more (Champagne: This was the governance model the Conservatives put into place, and we investigated once allegations were raised), and Luc Berthold gave more of the same in French (Duclos: We have already made changes to contracting processes; Champagne: We took immediately action).

Blanchet got back up to again demand more disclosure on implicated parliamentarians with foreign interference (LeBlanc: Be careful when talking about security issues), and Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe railed about asylum seekers in Quebec (Miller: This is a global issue, and we thank Quebec for doing their part; I am working closely with the province).

Stephanie Kusie flamboyantly read a script on the McKinsey report (Duclos: We have made changes to contracting processes), Kelly Block read a script on the same (Duclos: No political interference was ever found), and Garnett Genuis ramped up the rhetorical nonsense (Freeland: This has already been answered, but if you are concerned about income inequality, you should vote for the capital gains changes).

Alexandre Boulerice demanded action on the potential CBSA strike (Anand: We are at the table, and are continuing to negotiate a fair agreement), and Lori Idlout worried about high airline fees in the North (Vandal: We have worked on affordability in the North).

Round three saw yet more questions on the Auditor General reports (Champagne: We took immediate action; Duclos: We have tightened contracting practices, We have to be better able to share and store security information). There were also questions on the PBO’s claims of a secret report (van Koeverden: He has corrected the record that his record was faulty; Conservative math isn’t adding up; Freeland: Eight out of ten households get more back than they pay, and it’s your backbencher being gagged after saying most Conservatives don’t believe in a woman’s right to choose; We should be afraid of these Conservatives), the capital gains legislation (Freeland: The bill will be tabled before the House rises, so that Canadians can see the true colours of the Conservatives), the Disability Benefit (Khera: Back-patting on the “first steps” of the benefit).

Overall, it was a very interesting choice that the Conservatives studiously ignored the NSICOP report that pointed to possible witting or unwitting engagement of parliamentarians with foreign governments, and left it up to the Bloc and the NDP to bring those up, not that the government gave much of an answer. The Conservatives were instead gung ho to talk about the Auditor General’s report, which was scathing on Sustainable Development Technology Canada and contracting to McKinsey and company, but because they couldn’t just talk about the report, they had to invent details, such as allegations that money was going to “Liberal insiders,” (while some Conservatives used “swindlers” and “cronies” in their questions). Except the Auditor General said nothing of the sort, and in fact found no allegations of political interference in any of those files. So while it was nice to see an AG report dominate Question Period for a change, it turns out that it wasn’t really the report but a fiction built up around it for the sake of yet more social media clips.

There was another undercurrent, which was that the Conservatives started going hard in defence of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, and his claim that he was being “gagged” around a departmental report that he says would have vindicated his flawed report. This is a problem in and of itself, because MPs should all be demanding that the PBO tender his resignation, not only for the error in his report, but for his refusal to properly take responsibility for it, but instead, the Conservatives tried to invent a conspiracy. It’s not surprising, but its disappointing because Giroux needs to go.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Rob Oliphant for a tailored dark grey suit with a white shirt and purple tie, and to Stephanie Kusie for a short-sleeved black dress. Style citations go out to Emanuella Lambropoulos for a pink floral wrap dress, and to Taleeb Noormohamed for a tan suit with a white shirt and no tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Julie Vignola for a dark yellow jacket over a black dress with a striped collar, and to Kristina Michaud for a pale yellow suit over a black top.