QP: Spiralling into a cavalcade of bullshit

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The prime minister was back from New York and in Question Period for his proto-PMQ day, and his deputy was then along with him, in advance of the confidence vote that was to happen right after. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and rattled off some slogans to demand an election. Justin Trudeau said that they only thing they have to offer are cuts and austerity, while the government was investing in Canadians and Quebeckers. Poilievre trotted out the lines about people in poverty already living in austerity, made claims about when he was “housing minister,” and demanded an election. Trudeau said that if Poilievre was so concerned about single mothers, he shouldn’t have voted against child care or the Child Benefit. Poilievre switched to English to rattle off his slogans again to preface the confidence vote. Trudeau dismissed this as a “clever little slogan” that disguises his self-interest rather than help for Canadians, before saying they would have an election “in the right time,” but the rest got drowned out by competing applause. Poilievre said that if he wants an election if he would call it today. Trudeau said that today, they would see that the House doesn’t have confidence in the leader of the opposition, before mouthing pabulum talking points. Poilievre again called for an election and made some swipes about politicians versus people deciding, while Trudeau rattled off the lines about eight out of ten families getting more back, before saying that Poilievre doesn’t understand science, math, or economics, and and that they can arrange briefings for him that won’t require a security clearance. 

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and asked if the government would agree to their demands on the OAS and Supply Management bills. Trudeau said that they have already shown a commitment to seniors and to protecting Supply Management. Blanchet again wanted assurances, but Trudeau took this as an opportunity to plug dental care, which the Bloc didn’t support.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and Jagmeet Singh complained that Trudeau wasn’t standing up to Danielle Smith on healthcare. Trudeau said that they stand up for universal healthcare, and that in those provinces, the NDP couldn’t stand up to conservatives in those provinces to protect healthcare. Singh demanded Trudeau use his powers to stop Smith (HOW?!), and Trudeau talked up their agreements to get accountability from provinces for the money that gets sent to them.

Round two, and Poilievre claimed the carbon levy attacks healthcare (Trudeau: Yay rebates, and this year was the most expensive on record for climate disasters), pointed out that hospitals don’t get the rebate (Trudeau: You voted against the increased transfers and climate change will have more expensive health outcomes), claimed that nurses would lose jobs because of the carbon levy (Trudeau: At least you now recognise that the rebates exist), made the same claims that the carbon levy is closing schools and firing teachers (Trudeau: The reality is wildfires, floods, and droughts and future governments will pay for current inaction), tried to play the calm and reasonable character by claiming Trudeau is “screaming and hollering” before his faux concern about teachers and nurses (Trudeau: Teachers and nurses  are terrified of Conservative cuts), saying the school food programme doesn’t exist and only serves bureaucracy in Ottawa—which is stupid because it’s a transfer to provinces (Trudeau: I was proud to serve as a teacher).

Blanchet got back up to again to try and compare the OAS to dental care, and said that OAS doesn’t intrude on provinces’ jurisdiction (Trudeau: We do have to help vulnerable people, which is what we are doing, and if provinces want to deliver the same dental programme for the same costs, we’re happy to talk to them about it) and wanted support for the two Bloc bills (In terms of farmers, we made a promise to protect supply management).

Poilievre listed some statistics about GDP-per-capita (Trudeau: You refuse to accept that cuts to services and programmes won’t grow the economy of help anyone, and we have the strongest balance sheet in the G7), blamed Trudeau for housing and food insecurity (Trudeau: You only built six affordable housing units as minister—which isn’t really true; We work in partnerships with non-profits to build housing), and then pivoted to the Consul General’s residence in New York (Trudeau: We’re used to homophobic comments from the other side—and then things erupted).

Lori Idlout insisted that the government hasn’t invested enough in healthcare in Nunavut (Trudeau: We signed a historic health agreement with the premier of the territory), Lindsay Mathyssen demanded the government force Doug Ford to do something about seniors in long-term care (Trudeau:  We are moving forward with safe long-term care legislation).

Round three saw more questions from Poilievre on softwood lumber (Trudeau: I was happy to talk to Americans to talk-up Canada; One of your MPs went to Florida at the behest of an anti-abortion church; You wanted us to capitulate on NAFTA renegotiations), the prime minister’s travel over the summer vis-à-vis the carbon levy (Trudeau: If you met with Canadians or talked with media, you would have heard the Canadians need support from government; Apparently you’re not going to go across the country, but stay in your basement and watch YouTube; You have no plan for the environment, and no plan for the economy), violence against women and criminals on bail (Trudeau: You want to take rights away from women because you can’t stand up to members of your own caucus), gun crime (Trudeau: Silence from your own benches when you suggested you’re pro-choice), closing safe-consumption sites (Trudeau: We are partnering with communities to deal with this crisis). There were also questions on the two Bloc bills (Trudeau: We have always supported seniors and farmers), the situation in Lebanon (Trudeau: We need to see de-escalation and I spoke with regional leaders while at the UN), and the culpability of Benjamin Netanyahu (Trudeau: The violence needs to stop, hostages need to be released, and we need a ceasefire with a two-state solution).

 

Overall, the day started out stupid, and got progressively worse as it went on, as it began with the usual litany of dumb slogans and demands for an immediate election, and eventually sliding into an absolute cavalcade of bullshit. Almost none of it was at all witty—Trudeau’s remark about arranging economic briefings that don’t need a security clearance being the closest thing we saw to wit today, and even then that’s a bit of a stretch, but throughout most of it, Trudeau came off as a bit shaky and not really decisively putting down any of Poilievre’s completely ridiculous points (the carbon levy is forcing hospitals to fire nurses? Really?) There was also this bizarre side-trip from Poilievre where he was playing calm while he accused Trudeau of “screaming and hollering” (he emphatically was not) in order to try and prime the perceptions in really creepy and artificial ways. In fact, with several of his questions/demands, he ended them with a somewhat rictus grin that looks like he’s trying to fake smiling to be more friendly and approachable. And then there were the heckles from the Conservatives that sounded an awful lot like casual homophobia and insinuations about the prime minister and New York consul general Tom Clark, and the Conservatives saying that they were talking about “bunk beds” and holding meetings in the coppery soaker tub are too cute by half. And for the Speaker to have utterly lost control of the situation there and tried to make Trudeau withdraw his calling out the remarks is just another example of how Fergus has lost the plot.

Otherwise, there have been a number of questions over the past week-and-a-half that amount two “Why aren’t you forcing premiers to do what we want,” which are absolutely crazy-making. That’s not how federalism works. What exactly do they think that Trudeau can do? He can’t force them to do anything in their own jurisdiction, and if it’s about healthcare privatisation, the most he can do under the Canada Health Act is clawback future transfers, which is really not a lot. It’s not forcing a premier to do anything. Trudeau gave a half-assed answer to one of the remarks about their agreements with the provinces with accountability, but the fact that nobody can call out the very nature of these questions is even more of a problem.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Pascale St-Onge for a dark grey jacket over a black v-necked top and black slacks, and to Rob Oliphant for a tailored dark blue suit with a crisp white shirt and a dark purple tie. Style citations go out to Yves-François Blanchet for a dark grey jacket over a light blue shirt, blue striped tie and dark blue pocket square, and tan khaki slacks, and to Shelby Kramp-Neuman for a long-sleeved blue-grey dress with loud florals.

One thought on “QP: Spiralling into a cavalcade of bullshit”

  1. I think you might be idealizing the wit of the UK parliament a bit. Brexit and Nigel Firage was probably a turning point. Much like the Reform Party was here.

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