Neither the prime minister nor his deputy were present, and neither were most of the other leaders. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he raised the Auditor General’s report, and the $3.5 billion that was given to businesses that didn’t qualify for the CEBA loan programme, and the fact that the government subcontracted out its administration, claiming this was a loss of control and corruption. Rechie Valdez, in English, retorted that during COVID, Poilievre said that they don’t believe in these kinds of supports, while the government stood up for small businesses. Poilievre said that this report shows that he was right all along, and Arif Virani, in French, listed the help they have given businesses, including the carbon levy rebates (finally) being returned to them and the GST “holiday” (which most businesses are not really thrilled about). Poilievre switched to English to repeat his first question, and Valdez cited Conservative MPs who wrote her office to advocate for the loan programme. Poilievre said his members champion constituents who are eligible for the programme, not those who weren’t, and pivoted to another report on food insecurity, and misleadingly blamed the carbon levy. Jenna Sudds praised the work of food banks and cited from the report that praised government efforts for seniors. Poilievre cited the faux talking point about food price increases in Canada versus the U.S., and demanded once again to kill the carbon levy, and Karina Gould cited the ways he has voted against Canadians, that they gave him an opposition day to make his case and he turned it down, which was a sign of his own weak leaders.
Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and raised the Auditor General’s report that they are not tracking the data for support for seniors, and used this to demand more aid for them. Steven MacKinnon retorted that the Bloc have voted against seniors at every opportunity. Therrien again demanded more aid for seniors, and MacKinnon again listed programmes that the Bloc voted against, calling it “shocking.”
Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, and in French, worried about the Trump tariffs and accused Trudeau of coming home empty-handed. Dominic LeBlanc agreed the tariffs would be destructive, which his why they spoke to their American counterparts about the integration of the economy. Blake Desjarlais repeated the same in English, and LeBlanc responded much the same way.
Round two, and Melissa Lantsman listed things for which she claimed that the government had “lost control” of (Miller: We presented an asylum reform package and you guys voted against it; You guys were the gleeful authors of the “barbaric practices tip line” and you’re not serious now), Brad Redekopp tried to insinuate a crisis about people with expiring visas not leaving (LeBlanc: The first part of our plan was to reverse the cuts you guys made; Miller: Your leader was in his basement trying to figure out rhymes after he went to the GTA to promise visas to everyone under the sun), and Pierre Paul-Hus read the same script in French (LeBlanc: We had productive discussions with our American partners; We restored the cuts from your government, and your leader needs his security clearance).
The Conservatives continue to full-on capitulate to Trump about the border. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-12-02T19:34:26.258Z
Redekopp says Trudeau went to Mar-a-Lago to “kiss the ring,” and got much derisive laughter in response. Miller says that Poilievre was in his basement trying to figure out what rhymes to put up, after he promised visas to everyone in the GTA. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-12-02T19:37:53.447Z
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné raised the Auditor General’s report on subcontracting the CEBA loan administration (Duclos: The only thing during the pandemic that the Conservatives wanted to do was cut taxes for big business; Bendayan: CEBA ensured businesses didn’t go bankrupt, and you are just trying to change the channel from voting against the GST holiday; Valdez: If we didn’t help these businesses there would have been even higher costs).
Lianne Rood blamed food insecurity on government corruption and the carbon levy (Sudds: Hooray for the school food programme rolling out in PEI; Gould: You had a chance to put forward a vote of non-confidence and you ran away from it), and Jamie Schmale gave another script of the same (Bendayan: Giving a tax break to Canadians is real).
Lindsay Mathyssen decried closed ERs in Ontario and not forcing Doug Ford to do something (Holland: We have funding agreements with the province, and new data shows staffing levels above pre-pandemic levels), and Brian Masse demanded more CBSA rehires (LeBlanc: I want to praise these front-line workers).
Questions about Ontario emergency rooms should be addressed in Queen’s Park, not Parliament. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-12-02T19:49:41.414Z
Round three saw questions on GDP per capita (Bendayan: The numbers were revised upwards; Sidhu: The prime minister had a productive discussion on Friday), A closing sawmill (Sidhu: We stood up for Canada when the Conservatives told us to capitulate; LeBouthillier: We are fighting against the American tariffs), trolling for support for a Bloc bill on organised crime (Virani: We need to address the situation, but we have increased funding; We have been working with our provincial counterparts with investments), some nonsense about labour and the NDP (MacKinnon: Your party attacked unions in government and you refused to bring forward that very confidence motion; You put forward motions and then refused to debate them), the Auditor General report on CEBA subcontractors (Valdez: It’s nice to see that there is a report that the Conservatives can read without a security clearance; Your leader won’t deal with allegations of interference in his leadership race; Martinez Ferrada: Same jab about security clearances), Indigenous deaths at the hands of the RCMP (LeBlanc: We share your concerns and I have spoke to the Commissioner about it), and some jabs about Miller not going to Mar-a-Lago (Miller: We are diligent about not letting criminals or terrorist into the country).
Conservatives claiming to be on the side of unions is some Mirror Universe bullshit. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-12-02T20:03:13.868Z
Overall, while it was great to finally see an Auditor General’s report lead in QP for the first time in years, it would have also been great if the government could actually make even a cursory effort to actually call out the bad faith and revision its history inherent in the questions. No, instead they are focusing on trying to catch the Conservatives out, and it’s tiresome because they could show how the questions are based on falsehoods or misinformation, but they don’t, because they don’t think that’s a good clip. Yes, Valdez’s quip later on about the report being something that doesn’t need a security clearance was cute…but for Martinez Ferrada to immediately repeat it in French just killed any notion about it being snappy or spontaneous and showed it to be a carefully scripted and rehearsed line, and the Liberals need to stop doing that, for the love of all the gods on Olympus. Just stop.
Otherwise, the Conservatives conceding that Trump’s overblown concerns about the border being a problem remains a weird little bit of capitulation that is not going to serve them well should they come to power next year, and insisting that “We told you the border was broken and you didn’t believe us” is not as clever as they think it is because they are complaining about very different border issues than Trump is, and Trump is demanding that we do the border enforcement that they are supposed to do on their side, which is how border controls work. Conceding to Trump to own the Libs is a very bad idea, and I can’t believe that they don’t see it.
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Marc Miller for a tailored dark grey suit with a white shirt and a hot pink tie, and to Jenny Kwan for a grey dress with an argyle pattern under a black jacket. Style citations go out to Stephanie Kusie for a dark green short-sleeved sparkly top over black slacks, and to Paul Chiang for the a faded burgundy jacket over a dark blue shirt, reddish-pink striped tie, and to dark blue slacks of a different shade. Dishonourable mention goes out to Caroline Desbiens for a black jacket and slacks over a dark yellow top.