QP: Proud of their new housing policy

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The PM was ostensibly in town but not present for Question Period, though his deputy was in his stead. All of the other leaders were absent, including Pierre Poilievre, even though he had just launched another policy position on housing. That left Andrew Scheer to lead off, and he raised the plan from said press conference on cutting GST on new house under $1 million, and asked the government to adopt it. Sean Fraser said that it was great that they took inspiration from the policy to remove the GST on purpose-built rentals, but the Conservative plan to pay for this policy, buy cutting other programmes including to existing low-income housing, was irresponsible. Scheer insisted that the current plan was only paying for bureaucracy and photo ops, and demanded again the policy be adopted. Fraser scoffed that their plan was to do less for housing and spend money on a snitch-line for people who don’t like their neighbours’ housing plans. Scheer repeated his “bureaucracy and photo ops” talking points, and claimed housing starts were down. Fraser retorted that housing starts were in fact up, and tens of thousands over when the Conservatives were last in charge, before reiterating that the Conservative plan is to cut housing supports. Luc Berthold took over in French to demand the government match their pledge to cut GST, and this time, Chrystia Freeland responded that at Poilievre’s rare press conference, he accidentally told the truth and said that they would cut two programmes to pay for this, and listed what those might be. Berthold tried again, decrying how long it took people to afford a home, and this time, Soraya Martinez Ferrada gave her own version of the Conservatives will only cut, and that the programmes the would cut included social housing in Quebec.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and worried about an influx of migrants from the U.S. if Trump wins and asked if the government had a plan. Marc Miller repsonded with a single “oui.” Therrien gave another soliloquy that asked the very same thing. Miller repeated that they do have a plan, and that they have always managed the border with the U.S.

Jenny Kwan rose for the NDP, demanded federal action on abortion access, as though the federal government controlled it. Mark Holland got up and gave a rant about the conservatives and that no man should control a woman’s reproductive freedom. Rachel Blaney gave another round of the same, and Patty Hajdu gave her own rant about not standing for attacks on reproductive rights.

Round two, and John Barlow gave a misleading correlation between the carbon levy and food bank use (Sudds: We have made investments like the Canada Child Benefit; Freeland: Your leader admitted he is going to cut benefits to people), Jasraj Hallan read some slogans and some angry word salad about the carbon levy (Holland: You are only offering cuts; Tuberculosis and syphilis are also back because you guys indulge anti-vaxxers on Reddit), and Michelle Ferreri read her own misleading talking points on food bank use and the carbon levy (Gould: During tough times, you should help people rather than cut their programmes; Who is doing the gaslighting is you guys).

Luc Thériault wanted the federal government to back down on Quebec moving ahead with advanced requests for MAiD (Holland: We need to make sure there is a national conversation and that the system is ready, so we need to take the time; Holland: I lost my grandmother to Alzheimer’s so I get this, but we need time for a national conversation; Virani: We need a national consensus on this issue).

Rosemarie Falk gave her own false talking points on food bank use and the carbon levy (Sudds: We have programmes to help families; Virani: If you actually wanted to help with food insecurity, you wouldn’t vote against a school food programme), and Stephen Ellis gave the same with a Nova Scotia spin (Fraser: You have taken lavish trips while opposing programmes to give food to children at school).

Alexandre Boulerice also worried about food bank use, but he blamed grocery CEOs (Duclos: Yes there really hardships, but that’s why we need things like the school food programme), and Bonita Zarrillo demanded more barrier-free public transit (Fraser: It is important to make investments in public transit, and we are moving forward with the largest investment in history that will include new baseline funding and regional plans, including accessibility).

Round three saw more questions on matching their plan to cut GST on houses under $1 million (Fraser: I was in your riding a year ago last week to announce the Housing Accelerator Fund, which your leader just planned to cut; Your leader is going to raise taxes in your community; It’s funny how you guys just take programmes from right-wing Americans; Freeland: We won’t take your plan to cut programmes; Martinez Ferrada: Your cuts would include social housing in Quebec; Duclos: Your leader only built six units when he was “minister,” which is not exactly true), correctional facilities and gangs inside (LeBlanc: I met with members of the union and are looking at how to implement changes; I saw the technology to stop smuggling in action), privacy breaches at the CRA (Bibeau: Fraud is unacceptable and the CRA is a target of choice, but our systems are robust, so we are making every effort to fight this situation), a labour situation (MacKinnon: We are monitoring the situation and mediators are working with the parties; We will take no lessons from these union-busting Conservatives), Rogers price hikes (Turnbull: Our priority is making life more affordable by increasing competition), and CBC executive bonuses (Guilbeault: Thanks for your courage in denouncing the Conservatives’ attacks on the right to choose, but also the CBC manages its own affairs).

Overall, it was a fairly low-energy day, particularly because none of the leaders were present today, but also because part of the day was basically reruns, or the ABBA Gold of talking points. While the Conservatives were very proud of their new policy idea, the Liberals were fully prepared for the counter in terms of what was being cut, and I did note that by the second go-around on that policy, the Conservatives were mischaracterising just what was being offered, which is a bit funny in that they not only lie about the government’s record, but about their own policy offering as well. It was also curious that the middle part of QP was back to misleading references to the carbon levy driving up food bank use, when in fact Food Banks Canada’s own report shows that the main driver of food insecurity was the lack of rent controls in provinces (but why would the Conservatives want to tell the truth?)

Additionally, I am getting pretty tired of the Liberals and NDP going on constantly about abortion rights. I get that for the Liberals, this is scoring points in particular after the documentary that quoted Alain Rayes’ talking about that being one of the reasons why he quit the Conservatives, even though that should have been a one-day story that they could move on from, but for the NDP, with the blaming the federal government for the provinces’ inability to properly fund access, this feels a lot more like they are desperately importing yet another American Democrat talking point rather than actually doing something useful at home. But that’s pretty much their entire MO these days, so we shouldn’t be too surprised.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Adam Chambers for a dark grey suit over a crisp white shirt and a blue-green tie, and to Ginette Petitpas Taylor for a white jacket with grey grid patterns over a black collared top and matching slacks. Style citations go out to Rosemarie Falk for a blue-grey top with a tight ruffled collar and pink and pale yellow florals over black slacks, and to Alain Therrien for a dark blue jacket over a white shirt, light blue tie, and grey slacks.