Wednesday, the final proto-PMQ of the year, and the prime minister was indeed present and ready to respond to all questions put to him, while his deputy was elsewhere. All of the other leaders were also present today, and Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and again cited the Globe and Mail story about the supposed tensions between Freeland and Trudeau over the size of the deficit, and demanded to know why he pushed her to break her promise on capping it. Justin Trudeau said that Poilievre was dramatizing things to distract from his voting against programmes that help people, and that he muzzles his MPs to prevent them from speaking out for their communities, or get his security clearance. Poilievre again demanded to know why Trudeau forced his finance minister to break her promise and Trudeau responded with a list of things Poilievre voted against. Poilievre switched to English and repeated his first question on the Globe story, and Trudeau once again called these little “dramas” a distraction from his record of voting against supports for Canadians or refusing to get his security clearance. Poilievre accused a Trudeau of bullying Freeland, said that he is too weak to control his own caucus, and then Poilievre proclaimed that he leads by inspiration and that Trudeau leads by intimidation. Trudeau said that Poilievre likes to claim things are broken because he keeps breaking them. Poilievre  mocked this, and then claimed that Freeland was going to be humiliated by reading a fiscal update authored by Mark Carney, and Trudeau accused Poilievre of using Canadians’ struggles for his own gain but that he won’t lift a finger to help them.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, complained about a committee study, and wondered what the PM would say to the thousands of Muslims who are happy to assimilate into Quebec. Trudeau praised diversity and rights. Blanchet then wondered if Trudeau was defending religious “indoctrination” at certain Quebec schools, to which Trudeau praised the Charter, and then said it was the responsibility of those schools to hire the best teachers they could.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, said that Trump was a bully and that Trudeau was too weak to stand up to him. Trudeau said that they were taking a measured approach, working with leaders across the country, and were not freaking out like the NDP were. Singh exclaimed that Trudeau’s job wasn’t safe either, and then repeated the same question/demand in French. Trudeau reminded him that they defeated Trump tariffs in the past.

Round two, and Poilievre got back up to wonder if Trudeau pushed Freeland to cross her own fiscal lines (Trudeau: He is putting on a show to distract from the facts that interest rates are down and Canadians will be getting a tax break; We have the lowest debt and deficit in the G7 and the largest recipient of foreign direct investment per capita), claimed that there was an “emergency” rate cut because the economy is “collapsing” (Trudeau: You’re just making this up), he claimed inflation was up—it’s not (Trudeau: It must be so hard to do your job when things are improving and you can’t acknowledge it), and then turned to take swipes at the Bloc for voting with the government (Trudeau: We are used to his disdain from the Conservatives, which shows why he isn’t worthy of this place).

Poilievre said that there was an “emergency rate cut” this morning because the economy is “collapsing.” #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-12-11T19:46:20.640Z

Blanchet got back up to say that it was up to Quebec to demands what happens at their own schools or if he supports people attacking with religion (Trudeau: We will defend fundamental freedoms), demanded an end to the religious exemption for hate speech (Trudeau: Spreading hate is always illegal and police need to enforce it).

Poilievre complained that the government voted against their motion to cut GST on new homes  (Trudeau: You need to look at the small print of your promises and you want to cut the tools to increase density and faster approvals), claimed that this was all in Trudeau’s imagination (Trudeau: your own MPs want this programme and you keep stopping them from advocating for their communities), returned to French to swipe at the Bloc for also voting against his motion—and got called out by the Speaker as not being about government (Trudeau: Bloc MPs understand that the money invested is increasing densification and cutting red tape), and more of the same (Trudeau: You want to take this away from Quebeckers).

Leah Gazan demanded legal mechanisms against residential school denialism (Trudeau: Incitement to hated is not free speech, and the path of reconciliation needs to be walked by everyone, and we will work with you on the bill), and Blake Desjarlais complained that Trudeau wouldn’t stand up to Danielle Smith around housing (Trudeau: We have put in billions, but provinces have been varied in their responses, so we are working with municipalities directly).

Round three saw more questions from Poilievre on fentanyl (Trudeau: We have been stepping up in an evidence-based, compassionate approach), losing track of people facing deportation (Trudeau: We remains the best country in the world, and we are rolling up our sleeves; We have invested significantly in the border agency when you cut them), more swipes about the Bloc (Trudeau: Quebeckers don’t like you), demanding an end to the Canada Post strike (Trudeau: Your party attacked labour rights, but we believe the best deals happen at the bargaining table), violent crime (Trudeau: We continue to move ahead red flag and yellow flag laws in spite of Conservative opposition; You are just trying to scare people with misinformation; We defined what an assault-style weapon is in law and the RCMP are now moving and destroying them). There were also questions about Poilievre’s swipes at the Bloc (Trudeau: Quebeckers don’t take him seriously because he wants to attack women’s rights and reduce gun control), biomass incentives (Trudeau: We will stand up for the sector and innovation in the industry), and a call for an excess profit tax (Trudeau: We did bring in an excess profit tax on bank and insurance companies).

Poilievre is workshopping a new slogan of “weak, woke and wasteful.” #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-12-11T20:07:05.985Z

If the question is not for government, DON’T STAND UP! You don’t need a clip that badly. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-12-11T20:11:25.623Z

Overall, it was a fairly regular Wednesday, where the Poilievre/Trudeau show was not any more over the top than it normally is. We got a repeat of yesterday’s opener where Chrystia Freeland gets belittled while they accuse Trudeau of bullying or humiliating her, followed by some outright hallucination about the Bank of Canada’s planned rate cut or the state of the economy, but again, Trudeau had a very difficult time in articulating a fact-based response to those economic questions (talking about GDP growth, for example) rather than just the bland assurances about inflation being on target, or trying to distract with talking points rather than pointing out just how much of an absolute liar Poilievre is. Don’t just say Poilievre is trying to distract, when Trudeau did plenty of that himself—show that he’s a liar who is trying to present a doom scenario to make people anxious. Use figures. Spell it out. Don’t play his game.

Meanwhile, Yves-François Blanchet was utterly incoherent around his attempt to call Trudeau out for not condemning the incident with those North African Muslim teachers using de facto religious education in a Quebec school. Incoherent. And it would be great if Trudeau could point that out. As for Jagmeet Singh, his attempt to play tough guy when it comes to Trump comes off as pretty laughable, and his playing for clips like that is childish and he really doesn’t look like the “adult in the room” that his caucus keeps trying to insist that he is.

I attend Question Period on a daily basis.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-12-11T16:14:33.374Z

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Ben Carr for a dark blue suit with a crisp white shirt and a pink tie, and to Michelle Ferreri for a tailored navy suit over a black top. Style citations go out to Anita Vandenbeld for a smock top with a variety of grey patterns, and to Darrell Samson for a blue-green jacket over a white shirt with no tie.