Both the PM and his deputy were present today, and as a result, so were most of the other leaders. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he claimed the PM had “copied and pasting” his idea of cutting the GST on rentals, and then patted himself on the back and quoted Mike Moffatt in praising his current plan to cut GST on new houses under $1 million, and wanted the government to adopt it. Justin Trudeau recited the false talking point that Poilievre had only built six affordable units when he was “minister” before saying they wouldn’t sign onto a programme of cuts. Poilievre insisted his plan would build by cutting bureaucracy, and Trudeau pointed out that cutting the Accelerator Fund would mean cutting investment in social housing in Quebec. Poilievre repeated his first question in English, and Trudeau noted that the fine print of Poilievre’s plan is to cut affordable housing programmes. Poilievre then recited some particular misleading talking points another the two housing programmes he plans to cut, and Trudeau gave a half-hearted defence of those programmes, getting back to his “fine print” talking points. Poilievre repeated his policy pledge in order to get a clean clip, and Trudeau returned to his same “check the fine print” talking point.

https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1851331074929918416

Yves-François Blanchet led for the NDP, and in his most ominous tone, brought up that the government didn’t pass their two bills, and tried to sound as though those bills were the most common sense plan for Quebeckers. Trudeau said that they have supported Supply Management and they hoped the Senate would pass it, before listing measures they have taken to help seniors. Blanchet then threw some shade at the Conservatives for their privilege filibuster which prevented any confidence motions that could bring down the government, and Trudeau noted that they could all see who was in the Chamber to play petty politics versus those there to help Canadians.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he complained about Rogers rising fees and said that the Conservatives don’t care because their leader gets “big cheques” from Edward Rogers, before some disruption, before demanding the government force Rogers to lower fees or ban them from federal contracts. Trudeau gave some blame talking points about hold the telcos to account. Singh switched to French to raise the recent documentary that cited Alain Rayes’ comments on the anti-abortionists in the Conservatives before demanding the federal government increase access (which is provincial jurisdiction). Trudeau threw a verbal grenade across the aisle about Quebec Conservatives who are not saying anything about the anti-abortionists in their caucus.

Round two, and Poilievre got up to ask if the Bloc and NDP would vote with them for an election, which merited a rebuke from the Speaker, then tried to to needle Sean Fraser about his plan on GST on new builds (Fraser: Your own caucus members are writing me to tell me to ask for funding for their communities), claimed housing starts were down (Fraser: You used to advocate for  more density, but apparently you don’t anymore), another reference to Mike Moffatt (Fraser: You just twist facts to suit your narrative), took a shot at Fraser’s unfavourable as a potential future Liberal leader (Fraser: If you are concerned about how arrogance and incompetence can live in one man, you would know), and took a shot at the immigration system (Miller: If you think there was a century-old consensus, that must mean you were fine with the Chinese head tax or the attempt to exclude Jews).

Fraser: He is going to have to send me a cheque for all the time I have spent living rent-free in his head. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) October 29, 2024

These exchanges between Poilievre and Fraser, while somewhat witty, are getting mighty personal. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) October 29, 2024

Luc Thériault complained the government dragged their feet on the debate on advanced directives for MAiD (Holland: This is personal, but we need time to consult nation-wide; This is not a question of courage but of logic and compassion, and we need to be sure we are ready for such a big change as this; What’s irresponsible is to take action without ensuring the system is ready).

Michelle Rempel Garner stood up be sanctimonious tone on Fraser’s response (Fraser: While you take a tone of the moral high ground, your leader only announced cuts, and goes around with a video camera to treat the unhoused as props; Your tone is beyond disingenuous and your own colleagues are writing me asking for more funding), and Dominique Vien wanted the government to adopt the GST cut promise (Martinez Ferrada: Your plan would cut the building of 8000 units in Quebec; We have built social housing while your leader built six units—which is not exactly true).

Laurel Collins demanded the federal action on abortion care (Ien: We have been taking action to increase options and to combat false pregnancy “counselling” centres), and Taylor Bachrach wanted Canadian airlines fined for treatment of disabilities like the Americans (Anand: I am working to definitively emphasis how important accessibility is in this country).

Round three saw more questions falsely linking the carbon levy to food insecurity (Sudds: Point to a single thing your side has done to help, but you can’t; I was just in Manitoba as they signed onto the school food programme which you voted against; Your party will just cut assistance programmes at the first opportunity; Boissonnault: Eight out of ten families get back than they spend; Freeland: Your leader goofed yesterday and admitted he plans to cut programmes; Hajdu: You are no friend to Indigenous people; Holland: Hooray dental care, which you are going to cut), correctional officers complaining about drones over prisons (LeBlanc: We can’t disclose the technologies we are using to combat this; I can organise a briefing if you’d like), crime (Blair: Cops count, but there are 700 fewer cops in Toronto when I was chief, and Conservative mayors and premiers have cut or frozen hires; LeBlanc: The Parole Board operates independently, and we trust their work), fraudulently Indigenous businesses abusing procurement rules (Duclos: Audits are done regularly, but you haven’t said if you are in favour of these targets still being given to Indigenous businesses), Israel banning UNRWA and demanding more aid (Hussen: UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian response, and it poses a significant risk to future aid), and Jagmeet Singh got back up to worry about funding for Caribana in Toronto (Khera: We have been proud to support this festival, and we will continue to work with the organisation).

https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1851342084185141536

Overall, it was less of a low-energy day today, but the real fireworks were not the exchanges between Poilievre and Trudeau, but rather Poilievre getting back up to take shots at Sean Fraser, and Fraser volleying back in kind. And while some of it was mildly witty and a bit funny, it was also getting mighty personal, and none of that humour was self-deprecating in any way, which is who parliamentary humour should be. It’s great that there does seem to be a policy issue that is getting debated, but it’s still being couched in things that are blatantly not true (from either side), and that doesn’t actually help the quality of that policy debate.

Otherwise, the abortion questions, from either the NDP or the Liberal backbenches, are starting to sound a little desperate, like they are watching this work for the Democrats in the US and think it’s going to help them turn the polls around here. Meanwhile, the continued Conservative questions on food bank use and blaming the carbon levy when we have data that shows that it is not the cause, is a little bit on the pathetic side. There are questions to be asked about food bank use which have entirely to do with things like rental supports or other elements of the social safety net, but again, those are largely provincial jurisdiction, but blaming the carbon levy when food price inflation is almost entirely due to climate change is just too much to swallow. Lying to score points means you pretty much haven’t actually scored.

#QPEvery single day.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-10-29T20:31:34.119Z

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Sean Fraser for a tailored medium-grey suit with a pale lavender shirt and a dark pink tie, and to Laila Goodridge for a fuchsia dress under a dark blue jacket. Style citations go out to Marci Ien for a tie-dyed button-up smock dress, and to Darrell Samson for a charcoal suit with a brownish pebble-patterned shirt and a light blue tie.