QP: Conspicuous silence about India

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The first day back after a busy constituency week, and the PM was absent, though his deputy was present. Most of the other leaders were also away, but Pierre Poilievre was there, and he once again began in French to lament mortgage costs in Quebec, and complained that Trudeau was too worried about his own survival, before demanding an election. Chrystia Freeland said that she was glad the Conservatives were thinking about the economy, and she praised the fact that inflation has been tamed, which the Conservatives don’t want to talk about. Poilievre needed that Trudeau is facing a backbench revolt and demanded an election, to which Karina Gould noted that the Conservatives were trying to avoid another vote in the Chamber that they would lose. Poilievre switched to English to lament that people lined up in Cloverdale, BC, for “ugly potato day,” and used this to demand an election. Freeland noted that Poilievre was crying crocodile tears because he voted against their school food programme. Poilievre gave a more emphatic version of the same, and Freeland noted that the Conservatives were damning themselves by their intransigence, and described the launch of their school food programme in Manitoba on Friday. Poilievre was incredulous as this, accused the prime minister of being in the “fetal position” under his desk, and demanded an election. Freeland dismissed this as the Conservatives losing the plot, and their concerns about inflation Missed that his has been back in the target range for nine months.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he demanded the government support the Bloc’s OAS enrichment bill. Steve MacKinnon said the Bloc have never voted in the interests of seniors, so this was disingenuous. Therrien then turned to the Supply Management bill in the Senate, and lamented that the prime minister was not pressuring senators, and Jean-Yves Duclos noted the government’s support for system all along.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, worried about foreign interference from India, and wondered if the PM had personally urged Poilievre to get his security clearance. Dominic LeBlanc said that they extended the offer, and that they are working to keep Canadians safe. Singh tried again in French and got much the same response. 

Round two, and Melissa Lantsman worried about Spotify raising their prices as a result of the “greedy government” (St-Onge: You are repeating the talking points of wealthy web giants, and this is not the first time they have raised their rates; Wilkinson: We have a plan to deal with climate change which you don’t), John Barlow made his usual false connection between the carbon levy and food prices, and misquoted the PBO’s report (Sudds: We have helped families with programmes like the Canada Child Benefit; Holland: Your cutting the carbon rebates won’t help people who are getting scurvy), and Dominique Vien worried about the increase in Quebec home prices (Fraser: You know we are investing to build affordable housing in Quebec and around the country, which you voted against; Duclos: Can your leader tell us where those six affordable housing units he built are located).

 Martin Champoux demanded the government not challenge Quebec’s “secularism” bill (Duclos: We don’t have jurisdiction over education, so perhaps you should seek a seat at that level).

Andrew Scheer cited an Angus Reid survey that worried about affordability and demanded the carbon levy be scrapped (Wilkinson: This is a mistruth, and your allies are all conspiracy theorists; 300 economists confirmed that the carbon rebates make eight out of ten households better off), and Dan Mazier read some slogans (Sudds: You voted against a school food programme).

Bonita Zarrillo demanded support for her bill to end unpaid work for flight attendants (MacKinnon: Canadian airlines are private sector entities, and flight attendants have a collective agreement that is not my place to weigh in on), and Alexandre Boulerice worried about the number of homeless people who are dying and blamed big CEOs (Martinez Ferrada: We see there is a crisis, and we are working with municipalities to put a roof over everyone’s head).

Round three saw more questions on the SDTC documents (Champagne: You know very well we acted in a timely manner and dissolved the organisation; Gould: We have handed over thousands of documents, and you are filibustering your own motion; You won’t admit to the facts that are inconvenient to you), a “gang war” in Quebec (LeBlanc: We have reinvested in the RCMP and CBSA and are working with the province), Mark Carney (Gould: You make personal attacks when people disagree with you; Why won’t your leader get his security clearance), crime  in Quebec (Virani: The provincial government is response for enforcing bail and administering justice), forestry jobs (Guilbeault: We are working with all stakeholders in the industry), Rogers raising prices (Champagne: We stood up to Rogers against their proposed merger, and we stand up for Canadians), and an IDF strike in a hospital tent camp in Gaza (Joly: The situation is catastrophic, we need a ceasefire, and hostages to be released, and more aid going into Gaza, which are working on).

Overall, I have to say that I was surprised at how little the India foreign interference got mentioned today—not from the Conservatives at all, and when from the NDP, it was only in the context of trying to take a swipe at Pierre Poilievre regarding his security clearance (and a ham-fisted attempt at that, because we all know that the government has called on Poilievre to get that clearance, so asking if they did was redundant when it comes to getting a clip). I suspect that this was because the Conservatives both didn’t want to deviate from any of their existing message tracks, but also didn’t want to get further hammered on the security clearance issue, but the fact that they were quick to sign onto calling for an “emergency debate” (aka emergency speech-reading) means that they want to have some engagement on the issue, but just not QP, where they would get the most exposure for it. That left it mostly up to Liberal backbench suck-up questions, which I just find to be overly curious why no other party tried to do anything substantive with the issue.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Dominique Vien for a smart black suit over a black collared shirt, and to Peter Fragiskatos for a tailored navy three-piece suit over a crisp white shirt with a matching pocket square and a purple striped tie. Style citations go out to Luc Berthold for a powder blue suit with a white shirt and a slightly darker blue tie, and to Stephanie Kusie for a half-sleeved orange dress with black lace patterns overlaid and black panels along the sides. Dishonourable mention goes out to Steven Guilbeault for a brown jacket over a white shirt and black slacks with a pale yellow tie.