QP: Concern trolling your own filibuster

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The PM was in Laos, his deputy elsewhere, and all of the other leaders were present because Wednesday. Pierre Poilievre, fresh out of his no-speaking-for-one-day punishment, began in French, and he claimed that he would have liked to use Parliament’s time to deal with pressing issues but they’re paralysed because the prime minister has refused to turn over documents. (Seriously?!) Karina Gould said this was all false, and read the RCP’s concerns with the production order, and they could send this to committee today. Poilievre listed selective facts to make this seem more scandalous than it is, and wondered if someone steals from you whether you call the cops or send the matter to committee. This time François-Philippe Champagne recited that Canadians are tired of these games and slogans, and that they have had enough of filibustering, and that they will always protect rights and freedoms. Poilievre switched to English to retread his first concern-trolling question, and Gould reiterated that this was not true and repeated the RCMP’s statement. Poilievre again listed the selected facts, and claimed the minister’s story was changing (false), and mocked the notion that this would cause Charter rights to come cashing down. Gould said this was a typical witch-hunt to go after things that have nothing to do with the events, such as personnel files of people not implicated by events, and repeated that this should go to committee. Poilievre scoffed at the notion that this was a witch hunt, and mischaracterised the relationship between the government and SDTC. Gould said that if the police request documents, they are turned over, but this is an abuse of authority.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and worried about the Bloc’s Supply Management in the Senate. Lawrence MacAulay recited that they support Supply Management, and they are encouraging the Other Place to pass it. Blanchet railed about the two senators allegedly holding up the bill, and Marie-Claude Bibeau recited the support for Supply Management before noting they appointed independent senators, which is a concept the Bloc should understand. 

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and was incredulous with the story that “corporate landlords” are using AI to jack up rents (which is not federal jurisdiction). Sean Fraser said it was too bad the NDP decided to walk away from the government’s attempt to do something about the situation. Singh then turned to the reports that government lawyers are claiming that there is no duty to provide First Nations with water. Patty Hajdu said that they Have been fixing the mess the Conservatives left, and urged the NDP to support their safe drinking water bill.

Round two, and Leslyn Lewis rhymed off slogans before reading a script about the SDTC documents (Gould: You’re the ones filibustering your own motion; Virani: When law enforcement wants to prosecute an individual, they get a warrant from a judge), Kyle Seeback rhymed the slogans and scripts about SDTC (Champagne: Slogans are up, and you are after the personnel files of former employees; Gould: You are the only ones putting up speakers and filibustering the motion, and here is a quote from the former Law Clerk), and Pierre Paul-Hus worried about a youth killed by a stray bullet, and said the Liberals were responsible for this violence (LeBlanc: We are working with provinces to defeat with violence; Virani: We have invested in borders, increased penalties for car thefts, and you need to ask François Legault about policing and staffing levels at remand facilities).

Blanchet got back up to grouse some more about their Supply Management bill (Bibeau: We stand behind the systems), intimated that sovereignty would solve their problems (Duclos: If anyone is unable to help farmers, it’s the Bloc).

Brad Vis, John Nater and Bernard Généroux got their own SDTC clips (Champagne: You are just repeating falsehoods, and this was your creation, and the organisation no longer exists; Valdez: We are investing in and empowering small businesses; Gould: The Speaker’s ruling was to send this to committee; Duclos: The RCMP have balked at this motion because of police independence).

Blake Desjarlais demanded more housing of Indigenous communities (Hajdu: We have worked with leaders across the country to restore rights, self-determination and funding), and Lisa Marie Barron decried three-days-a-week in the civil service (Anand: Our top priority is to deliver top-quality services to Canadians and are supporting civil servants during implementation).

Round three saw more questions on Randy Boissonnault’s former business partner (Gould: The Ethics Commissioner found nothing to investigate three separate times), Samidoun as a terrorist entity (LeBlanc: We have referred this to national security agencies), increasing OAS (MacKinnon: We have supported seniors all along), food prices (Champagne: I don’t know where you’re shopping for those prices, and we have been reforming competition; Sudds: We have benefits for children and families; Bendayan: You don’t support organisations that help food insecurity or housing), parliamentary privilege (Gould: The RCMP said they can’t use these documents; Virani: This blurs the separation between the legislature and the police), Sudanese family members not making it to Canada (Miller: We devised our plan with the community, and we are hoping they can be here by the end of the year), and a tax issue on certain foods (Bibeau: We have discussed this many times, but it will involve major changes to be made by the department of finance).

Overall, I found the concern trolling off the top, that the Conservatives wanted to deal with substantive issues but the government isn’t letting them, to be beyond parody. If only there was a way that the Conservatives could vote to send the matter to committee to be resolved… Oh, wait. they can. But they don’t want to, because they want to get clips of them calling the government “corrupt” and to grind the business of Parliament to a halt so that they can justify calling an election. It’s stupid and childish, but here we are. But for the most part, the day was repetitive, with nothing novel other than Michael Chong making his own self-righteous proclamations about the privilege debate around those documents, and managed to flush any lingering doubts that one might have that he hasn’t sold out the last of his principles in an attempt to curry favour with the current party leadership.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Jennifer O’Connell for an off-white jacket with a blue windowpane pattern over a navy top and slacks, and to Terry Beech for a tailored navy suit with a matching tie over a light blue shirt and a pink pocket square for accent. Style citations go out to Darren Fisher for his hateful brown corduroy jacket over a light blue shirt with no tie and black slacks, and to Lisa Hepfner for a black button-up dress with huge purple florals.

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