QP: Fighting to claim who loves seniors most

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The first day back after an extended weekend, and the prime minister was in town but absent, while his deputy was there. Most of the other leaders were also away, and this was the Bloc’s Supply Day and the Conservatives were about to have the vote of their latest non-confidence motion, so that was going to set the stage for what was to come. Before things got underway the Bloc’s newest MP got introduced to the Chamber to take his seat. Speaker Fergus then gave another admonishment for MPs to behave, as though that was going to do anything.

Once things got started, Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and rattled off some slogans that claimed to be in the defence of seniors. Chrystia Freeland said that seniors remember that Stephen Harper went off to Davos to raise the age of retirement, and that they government introduced child care for the benefit of their grandchildren. Poilievre then took a swipe at the Bloc before demanding an election. Jean-Yves Duclos pointed out that Poilievre picked fights with municipalities. Poilievre switched to English to spin a tall tale about Mark Carney, calling him a walking conflict of interest. Freeland said that they are glad to get advice from former central bankers like Carney and Stephen Poloz, while the Conservatives get their advice from Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson. Poilievre then raised Blaine Higgs’ doomed promise to try and challenge the carbon levy in the courts again (who will promptly tell him to pound sand), and demanded an election. Freeland pointed out their announcement from this morning about the small business carbon levy. Poilievre then switched topics again, this time other Israel’s right to defend itself. Mélanie Joly says that they condemn Iran’s attacks, which will only further escalate the region, that she contacted her Israeli counterpart this morning and other regional counterparts, and that the war needs to stop.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and listed seniors groups on the Hill before demanding support for their OAS changes. Steve MacKinnon listed all of the measures for seniors that they voted against, saying their hypocrisy was shocking. Therrien made the demand again, pointing out it’s International Seniors Day, and MacKinnon prevaricated by wishing seniors well on this day, before returning to the his points about what the Bloc voted against.

Lori Idlout appeared by video to demand more funding for First Nations, particularly things like fire services. Patty Hajdu says they have invested $136 million for First Nations self-determined fire safety priorities. Leah Gazan demanded better healthcare access for First Nations. Hajdu says that there were $2 billion in the recent transfers earmarked for Indigenous self-determined priorities.

Round two, and Michael Chong recited a Financial Times headline about Canada’s decline in per-capita GDP (Freeland: Canada was the first G7 country to lower interest rates, and wages have outpaced inflation for 19 months now), falsely claimed the economy was contracting (Freeland: Inflation is back on target and rates are coming down), Adam Chambers cited some other doomsday economic figures (Freeland: Good news on inflation means good news for interest rates; Champagne: Let’s talk about how we’re building the economy of the twenty-first century), and Luc Berthold read the economic doom points in French (Freeland: We have good news about inflation; Champagne: We have always been there for seniors but they also understand we need to invest in the future, which we are doing).

Andréanne Larouche repeated that seniors groups were on the Hill to demand the OAS enhancement (MacKinnon: I take great pleasure in calling out the Bloc for its hypocrisy), and claimed the government was starving money for the aging at home programme in Quebec because of a “jurisdictional squabble” (MacKinnon: We are proud of this programme, but the government of Quebec needs to do their part in order to get their funding).

Michael Barrett recited some swipes about Mark Carney before repeating slogans (Gould: Another week, another line, where you only tear down people who don’t agree with you; They can’t handle being criticised, and that includes what you’re doing with the media), and Michelle Rempel Garner read some more swipes about Carney (Gould: You tear down people who don’t agree with you), and spun another conspiracy theory about Carney and a blood plasma company (Holland: Canada is one of the best jurisdictions in the world for blood supplies, and you are just casting aspersions).

Lisa Marie Barron demanded the release of more documents from residential schools (Anandasangaree: Let me acknowledge the commemorations for National Day of Reconciliations, and we have been working toward enacting the Calls to Justice), and Blake Desjarlais appeared by video to demand housing (Hajdu: We are working with communities and First Nations leaders to ensure people have the housing they need).

Round three saw more questions on credit card debts (Freeland: Fees are going down for small businesses, and they will also get carbon rebates; Guilbeault: We have removed sixty million cars’ worth of emissions from the atmosphere), food prices (Guilbeault: You want to start quoting economists, here’s one from Trevor Tombe; MacAulay: Farmers are getting rebates for the carbon levy), demanding OAS changes (MacKinnon: You voted against seniors and this is hypocritical of you), the carbon levy (Guilbeault: New Brunswick adopted the levy so that people can get the rebates; Wilkinson: 300 economists validated that eight out of ten households get more back than they spend; You personally asked the Higgs to adopt the levy and rebate system), forestry vs the caribou (Guilbeault: We put half a billion dollars on the table, and are waiting for the Quebec government), mental health supports in BC First Nations (Hajdu: We are working with these First Nations to ensure that programmes and services are available), First Nations drinking water vs lawsuits (Hajdu: We have lifted over 145 long-term advisories and prevented over 200 more).

Overall, it was a slightly more sedate day, while Speaker Fergus was being performatively stern with MPs and hecklers, but not really being stern because only a couple of usual suspects got a slight chiding, and nobody lost questions or suffered any consequences for when there were heckles. He also seemed to call out Freeland for her “good answer!” remarks caught on the mic, but he was a bit vague if that was what he was calling out or something else. In either case, it changed nothing and will change nothing, but he will try to burnish his image. There were fewer swipes at other opposition leaders, probably because they weren’t present today, but the mendacity remains unchanged, whether around this new stupid talking point about the carbon levy impacting nurses and teachers, while the cherry-picked economic doom figures were also pretty context-specific and were in some cases outright fabrications.

I also noticed that nearly every single NDP question today, save two, were done remotely, which is especially egregious because they had an extra day to travel. Frankly, the NDP are abusing the ability to use hybrid sittings, which should be done as a last resort, because the job is in Ottawa (but don’t say that I didn’t warn everyone that this was going to happen if they made it permanent, and lo, it has).

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Blake Richards for a tailored charcoal suit with a pink shirt and a purple paisley tie, and to Mélanie Joly for a white collared top with rolled sleeves over black slacks. Style citations go out to Rosemarie Falk for a black-ish long-sleeved dress with grey and gold florals, and to Ryan Turnbull for a light blue jacket over a faded cranberry shirt and a burgundy tie with a black pocket square, and dark blue slacks. Dishonourable mention goes out to Leah Gazan for a dark yellow top over a black leather skirt, and to Rachel Bendayan for a custard yellow jacket over a black dress.