They PM was jetting off to Laos for an ASEAN summit, while his deputy was also away in Toronto, leaving the rest of the front bench to fend for themselves. Most of the other leaders were also absent, and the Speaker had ruled that Poilievre would not be allowed to speak for the day because he didn’t withdraw his remarks that Mélanie Joly was pandering to Hamas supporters. That meant Melissa Lantsman got to lead off, and she started off on the SDTC production order and the privilege debate, and rhetorically wondered what was in the documents and how bad it was. Arif Virani got up and wanted to note the events at the protest in Vancouver yesterday, led by Samidoun, which he unequivocally condemned. Lantsman said it was glad that they finally found the courage to condemn something, and returned to demand the documents again, and this time, Karina Gould read the Speaker’s ruling that the matter be sent to committee. Lantsman decried that the government was in contempt, and again demanded the document, alleging a cover-up. Gould reiterated that they were ready to move this to committee and that only the Conservatives are obstructing their own motion, because they don’t want committee testimony to show how this was an abuse of power. Pierre Paul-Hus took over in French, and read a quote from a Montreal cop who decried people getting bail. Virani said that there was a provincial element to the administration of justice, and he should probably talk to François Legault. Paul-Hus scoffed at this, and again decried bail decision. Virani repeated his answer about provincial culpability. 

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and demanded the government force the Senate to pass their Supply Management bill. Marie-Claude Bibeau gave the usual lines that they support Supply Management and that they expect senators to pass it. Therrien tried again, and Bibeau said that Senators are independent, which is a concept the Bloc should understand. 

Peter Julian rose for the NDP in French, and decried landlords who use AI to raise rents. Sean Fraser said that they need to identify solutions rather than just pointing fingers. Bonita Zarrillo read the same in English, with the added focus of decrying her attempt to study this at committee, and Fraser said that he can’t tell his MPs on the committee what to do, and listed measures they are taking.

Round two, and Andrew Scheer returned to the SDTC document demand (Gould: You were a former Speaker and knows this is false, and this is supposed to go to committee; Do you even believe your own spin?), Michael Barrett gave an overwrought soliloquy on the same subject (Gould: Only you guys are afraid to send this to committee; Champagne: You are obstructing your own motion, and there have already been four independent reports on SDTC), and Jacques Gourde made another demand for the documents in French (Champagne: We took action quickly and decisively, and there were four reports; Duclos: Since we are talking about the RCMP, the Commissioner said they are independent and need to be free from political direction).

How can it be “buried at committee” if those committees are now just content generation studios for social media clips? #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) October 8, 2024

Andréanne Larouche demanded the royal recommendation for her OAS bill (MacKinnon: You have never taken an opportunity to support seniors before now; Our track record for seniors is better than yours; Seniors are afraid of having their dental care taken away, and that the Bloc are colluding with the Conservatives).

Rick Perkins kept saying the word “corruption” as part of the demand for the SDTC documents (Gould: This is supposed to go to committee; Virani: This production order is against the Charter), and Larry Brock thundered the same (Virani: You are a former Crown prosecutor and knows that those police operate independently, and this is emulating an authoritarian regime).

Lori Idlout decried the length of time it took to deal with a contained dock in a remote community (Anand: I hear and understand their concerns, and I am working with Indigenous Services on this), and Niki Ashton—in person!—decried a lack of clean water on certain First Nations (Hajdu: We have lifted 145 long-term advisories so far, and you can support our bill on First Nations drinking water).

Round three saw more questions on Randy Boissonnault’s former business partner (Gould: If a witness goes to committee, we expect them to provide the information asked of them), the SDTC documents (Champagne: People tuning in are probably wondering why the Conservatives are obsessed with an organisation that no longer exists), somehow forcing other provinces to take asylum seekers (Miller: Other provinces do need to do their fair share, but we are working with them; asylum seekers are not the reason for a teacher shortage in Quebec), the Jasper wildfire (Guilbeault: Those discussion were about options on forest management and we invested more in forest management than the previous government; Instead of spreading disinformation, I can tell you where that sprinkler system was installed; Boissonnault: You know that the company in question was under the employ in the province and we have been working with the mayor), Samidoun protesters in Vancouver calling for “death to Canada” (Joly: We both condemn what happened yesterday, and we all condemn any form of antisemitism; O’Connell: The public safety minister has already asked national security agencies to assess this group for a terror listing), sectoral bargaining for gig workers (Boissonnault: We have been the most labour-friendly government in the history of this country), and not training firefighters—which is mostly a provincial jurisdiction (Sajjan: We have invested in emergency preparedness and have helped train over a thousand firefighters, many of them Indigenous).

#QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-10-08T21:46:42.757Z

Overall, it was an incredibly repetitive day, focused mostly on getting clips about the SDTC documents and scurrilous accusations of “corruption” that had nothing to do with the government, not that the Conservatives are terribly concerned about the truth. There were a few other stand-bys in there about crime and the current disinformation campaign about the government’s culpability with the Jasper wildfire, but again, almost everything was about the documents and the privilege fight. Gould and Virani have acquitted themselves much more reasonably on this file than they usually do, so that’s great to see, but it’s just constant. I would note, however, that the Conservatives keep saying the “NDP-Liberals” in their questions about the SDTC documents, even though the NDP voted for their initial banana republic production order, so that makes even less sense than the stupid label normally does, and that maybe they should think about their talking points for two gods damned seconds before they say anything, but of course they won’t, because the whole point here is to just lob baseless accusations and get clips from it, so you don’t need to care about the truth. Such is the state of our parliament these days.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Karen Vecchio for a black and grey patterned jacket over a neutral beige top and black slacks, and to Vince Badaway for a dark blue suit with a crisp white shirt and a bright pink tie. Style citations go out to Alain Therrien for a black jacket with a white shirt, black and grey striped tie, and dark blue jeans, and to Marci Ien for a green and white chunky-patterned blouse-dress.