QP: Free-wheeling, chaotic, and from an alternate reality

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In the wake of that big caucus meeting where little seemed to happen, the prime minister was present for QP—his proto-PMQ day in fact, while his deputy left for Washington. All of the other leaders were present, and Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he needled about 24 Liberal backbenchers signing the document, the Bloc supporting them, and demanded an election. Trudeau got up, for much applause from his caucus, the Conservatives got up with what was supposed to be sarcastic applause but just looked like more applause, and after it died down, Trudeau insisted (in English) that they were totally united and they were focused on delivering for Canadians. Poilievre noted that the question was in French, claimed that backbenchers leaking to journalists from the washroom at caucus, and again demanded an election. Trudeau, in French, trotted out his lines about confident governments investing in people and not resorting to austerity. Poilievre, still in French, listed slogans, claimed immigration was “out of control,” and demanded an election. Trudeau noted Poilievre only offers cuts and empty slogans and not investments in people and the green future. Poilievre turned to English to repeat his slogans, his concern trolling over the 24 backbenchers, lied about the privilege issue, and demanded an election. Trudeau recited his line about while the opposition is focused on politics, he is focused on Canadians. Poilievre again mocked the dissident Liberals, and Trudeau hit back with the Conservatives’ hanging out with white nationalists and Poilievre’s lack of a security clearance. 

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and worried about the allegations at a particular school in Quebec, and Trudeau noted that’s a provincial issue but they would defend rights and freedoms for all Canadians. Blanchet wondered if Trudeau was saying “forced religious education” and corporal punishment was freedom of expression. Trudeau reiterated that this was a provincial matter.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, declared that he knew the prime minister was distracted, and demanded he take action on food prices. Trudeau noted that they have taken action, whether it is with competition reform or a school food programme, before he took a swipe at the NDP for backing away from the carbon rebates. Singh wondered if Trudeau has even been to a grocery store, and was shouted down before the Speaker intervened. When he started again, he read the same line again (proving it was a scripted applause line to be clipped) before switching to French worry about rents. Trudeau, in English, noted he had recently been to a grocery store with the Speaker in his riding, and then turned to French to praise their housing investments.

Round two, and Poilievre went on a rant about grocery prices and the carbon levy, Singh’s brother lobbying for Metro, and lobbed a question at Singh (Trudeau: That wasn’t a question for me but hooray carbon rebates), a rant about people eating from dumpsters (Trudeau: Why have none of your MPs demanded you get your security clearance), accused Trudeau of “racist rants” and demanded an election (Trudeau: You want to cut the fight against climate change), the Housing Accelerator (Trudeau: When you were minister you only built six units—not actually true—and said Poilievre is only looking to pick fights), falsely claimed the number of housing completions when he was minister as though he had a hand in any of them (Trudeau: Harper said the federal government has no role in housing), and Poilievre made the same claim of Trudeau—not what he said—and went on a rant about immigration (Trudeau: Listed measures to accelerate the construction of housing).

Blanchet got back up to return to that school issue and blamed the government for sowing division (Trudeau: We defend the fundamental rights of Canadians, and we expect the Quebec government to look into this school; What happened at this school was unacceptable but using this exceptional case to attack Quebec’s cultural diversity is also unacceptable).

Poilievre cited a report that claimed immigration was going to drive up rents further (Trudeau: We understand that immigration is a source of growth, but the system is nimble after we needed to make changes after the post-pandemic surge that was needed at the time), went on a rant about “breaking the immigration system” (Trudeau: We are working hard for the Middle Class and Those Working Hard to Join It™, and hooray, rates went down today), claimed he had broken the “promise” of this country—as though the premiers were blameless with what happened (Trudeau: You keep pushing a “brokenist” vision while we invest in Canadians), and Poilievre mocked the use of “brokenist” and demanded an election (Trudeau: You are exploiting vulnerable people without offering any solutions).

Singh demanded harsh sanctions on Netanyahu and his “extremist” ministers (Trudeau: The violence needs to end, the hostages need to be released), and Heather McPherson demanded he do something about doctors in Alberta (Trudeau: Conservative governments across the country have weakened public healthcare).

Round three saw Poilievre ask more questions on housing issues in Quebec (Trudeau: You use the plight of people for your own ambitions; Every housing expert has panned your plan; You only insult progressive mayors who are delivering results), claimed the rate cut was an “emergency” one to “salvage” the economy (Trudeau: Your tinfoil hat is peeking out), homeless encampments (Trudeau: You have a cozy relationship with a conservative premiers who should be doing more; You have made your whole career playing the blame game), opioids (Trudeau: We are using all tools to help people, while you use vulnerable people as political props), the SDTC documents (Trudeau: More about the security clearance), which turned to Chong ranting about what kind of briefing his leader would take (Trudeau: We just saw an example of partisan lengths the Conservatives will go to in order to not take national security questions seriously). There were also questions about that school in Quebec (Trudeau: As a former teacher, I can vouch for the fact that it is essential to protect our children and values like freedom, but the province needs to address it), TD Bank’s American fines (Trudeau: We make sure banks in Canada play by the rules with strengthen oversight), and the tax differential for local healthy products (Trudeau: We will study this issue).

Overall, it was a bit of an odd day, where everyone had all of this energy built up around the expectations about what would happen at that Liberal caucus meeting that went nowhere, so there was nowhere for that energy to go but into the theatrics of QP, and it was a boisterous and loud day. The exchanges between Poilievre and Trudeau were pretty free-wheeling for most of the day, but Trudeau did start to fall back on some old chestnuts like the “Middle Class and Those Working Hard to Join It™”(, which was also a bit strange. But more than anything, what really struck me was just how much Poilievre basically was asking his questions from an alternate universe where the facts did not match reality, mostly because what facts he did use were taken so far out of context that they presented a completely false picture, whether it was because of the lack of culpability of premiers to these social ills, or his particularly skewed view of economics, particularly what happened with the Bank of Canada’s rate cut earlier this morning. The full-on assault on reality is in view if you care to see it, but most people don’t, and the government refuses to point it out.

#QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-10-23T20:10:26.408Z

Otherwise, I found that Trudeau was tip-toeing around Blanchet’s oblique racism in trying to wedge a federal angle into the issue of this particular school where there have been allegations of religious education/indoctrination and corporal punishment happening. While this is one hundred percent a provincial issue, the Bloc have been trying to blame this on multiculturalism and the so-called “weakening” of Quebec “secularism” (which is not actually secularism), and are trying to use this as a cudgel to prevent the federal government from being an intervenor in the challenge against Quebec’s “secularism” law. Nevertheless, the underlying implications of what they are saying without actually saying is something that nobody seems willing to call out, least of all Trudeau.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Lianne Rood for a half-sleeved eggplant dress, and to Maninder Sidhu for a tailored dark grey suit with a pale blue shirt and a maroon tie. Style citations go out to Brad Redekopp for a khaki jacket over black shirt and taupe slacks, and to Marie-Claude Bibeau for a rose-patterned sweater-dress. Dishonourable mention goes out to Carol Hughes for a black sweater and slacks over a dark yellow top. 

One thought on “QP: Free-wheeling, chaotic, and from an alternate reality”

  1. I just listened to QP, maybe watching might have made a different impression, but I thought Trudeau was really good. I liked the tinfoil hat comment and the dig at Polievre about the national security briefing was effective…then I listened to the CPAC panel and they seemed to have watched something totally different.

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