QP: Concern trolling about caucus matters

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The prime minister was present today for the first time in more than a week, as was his deputy, as were most of the other leaders. Pierre Poilievre led of in French, and he needled the fact that as many of forty Liberal backbenchers are pushing back against him, and concern trolled about their freedom of expression. Speaker Fergus noted that this wasn’t under the administrative responsibilities of the government, but Justin Trudeau got up to speak anyway, and gave a paean about the things they are delivering for Canadians. Poilievre tried to bring the Bloc in on this, but kept it as a question about caucus, but Trudeau again got up to pat himself on the back for pharmacare. Poilievre turned to English to repeat his concern trolling about caucus, and got another warning from Fergus. Trudeau again got up in spite of this and said that Poilievre only wants to score political points and not talk about what the government is delivering for Canadians. Poilievre claimed that these backbenchers were talking to Conservatives to ask this in QP—obvious bullshit—and Trudeau didn’t get up this time. Poilievre listed a lot of non sequitur statistics to demand an election, and Trudeau told that Poilievre’s only solution for tough times is cuts to programmes and services people rely on.

Yves-François Blanchet rose for the Bloc, and he demanded support for their two bills, on OAS and Supply Management. Trudeau said that they will always protect Supply Management, before listing all the times the Bloc voted against help for seniors. Blanchet called this a “manipulation of the facts,” and demanded support for those bills in order to break the deadlock in Parliament. Trudeau listed ways in which they have been there for seniors.

Alexandre Boulerice led for the NDP, listed the false statistic of people being $200 away from insolvency (which has been debunked numerous times), and demanded action on forcing corporations to control food prices. Trudeau noted ways they have acted, and threw in a jab at the Conservatives. Lori Idlout got up to note the failure of the agreement on First Nations child and family welfare last week, and demanded immediate action on this. Trudeau noted that they are looking at ways to move forward.

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan raced through some slogans and angry word salad to cite the PBO’s deficit projection and demanded an election (Freeland: His report said that our spending is sustainable and could actually increase; Puerile playground insults from the Maple Syrup MAGA crowd don’t bother me, but your crocodile tears are what makes me mad), Rosemarie Falk read some slogans (Fraser: Slogans and rhymes are up; Wilkinson: Here are some facts from the PBO and 300 economists), and Gérard Deltell read some economic nonsense (Martinez Ferrada: We created the first national housing strategy and a tax free savings account; Duclos: Your leader only built six affordable housing—which is not entirely true).

Martin Champoux demanded the federal government not challenge the “secularism” law at the Supreme Court (Duclos: Education matters are provincial jurisdiction and you should run for that level of government if you’re so concerned), concern trolled about multiculturalism (Duclos: We are proud of how things work in Quebec; You are just looking to squabble).

Laila Goodridge read some slogans and falsehoods about the PBO report (Boissonnault: The PBO says that eight out of ten households get more back, and Danielle Smith agreed; You don’t care if the planet burns, or about child care), Warren Steinley did more of the same (Virani: You used to send cheques to millionaires), and Richard Martel demanded an election in French (MacKinnon: You voted against lowering the retirement age and against dental care).

Blake Desjarlais worried about the homeless in Edmonton (Fraser: We have advanced billions for these concerns including to the City of Edmonton, and your provincial government hasn’t responded to our request to work together), and Brian Masse railed about Rogers raising rates (Champagne: It’s ironic to hear the NDP talk about standing up when you folded, while we fought for more competition and lower prices).

Round three saw more questions on the SDTC documents (Gould: You keep saying things that aren’t true, but your leader won’t get a security clearance; The order was for this matter to go to committee), gang warfare in Quebec (Virani: We have put $390 million to help children caught up in this; O’Connell: We agree that it’s important to crack down on criminal organisations, which is why we restored the cuts made by the previous government), gun violence in Toronto (O’Connell: You’re using the talking points of the gun lobby; You think putting more guns on the streets will make people safer; Bendayan: I can barely believe this Conservative hypocrisy), procurement investigations (O’Connell: We are ensuring that anyone who broke the rules faces consequences; Duclos: Why don’t you want to help children have food at schools?), migrant workers and open work permits (Boissonnault: Businesses need to ensure they are following the rules and more changes are on the way), and the Soccer Canada scandal (Qualtrough: The committee is free to determine its own business, but we took action when it came to light).

Overall, it was a surprisingly low-energy day for most of QP, barring a handful of outbursts, and there was absolutely nothing about India or foreign interference—because clearly it’s being taken seriously. The fact that Poilievre spent his round needling Trudeau about internal caucus matters was something Trudeau should have stayed seated for, rather than insisting on making grand statements instead, but no, the temptations to soliloquise remains too great. He had to get the clips of him delivering the good-news talking points. I will add that while Karina Gould has been pretty good on the responses to the SDTC documents/parliamentary privilege issue, the fact that she’s trying to suggest that Poilievre has something to hide in not getting his security clearance undermines her efforts. She needs to make it clear that he won’t get it so that he can continue to lie with abandon rather than be responsible with his comments, and that is the kind of thing that is disqualifying for future government.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Christine Normandin for a half-sleeved black dress, and to Justin Trudeau for a tailored navy suit with a crisp white shirt and a fuchsia tie. Style citations go out to Arif Virani for a tan jacket over a light grey shirt, navy tie and pocket square and black slacks, and to Rosemarie Falk for a long back dress with grey and gold florals.

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