QP: Out not with a bang, but with a conspiracy theory

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For the final QP of 2024, the PM was elsewhere, licking his wounds and “reflecting” on the damage his actions caused him and his party, and he no longer has a deputy as a result. Pierre Poilievre was off in Mississauga, though a couple of the other leaders were present, because why not? That left Andrew Scheer to lead off in English, and he decried what happened yesterday and lamented the “gut-punch” of the deficit number, and demanded a “strong leader” with a new mandate to head off tariffs. Dominic LeBlanc thanked Scheer for his “heartfelt congratulations on my new role,” and wanted to tell him how proud they were of the statement because it speaks to growth, to supporting Canadians, and a declining debt-to-GDP ratio. Scheer congratulated him on being the fourth finance minister in 24 hours (building a narrative around things that did not happen yesterday), and moaned that more is spent on interest on the debt than healthcare. LeBlanc said that Canadians expect the government be focused on their wellbeing and the border issues, and that he had great conversations on the topic yesterday, which the economic statement supported. Scheer mocked that the government was so proud of the statement that they tabled it and ran away, and again listed economic issues that he blamed the government for, and LeBlanc again praised the investments the government made, and that it was the opposition trying to run the House into chaos. Pierre Paul-Hus took over in French, kept up the Mark Carney conspiracies, and demanded an election. LeBlanc praised the economic statement, and how it plans for growth and responsible use of taxpayer money—somewhat ironic given the GST “holiday” issue. Paul-Hus read portions of Freeland’s letter, and LeBlanc responded with the debt-to-GDP ratio and that this was the time to support Canadians “responsibly.”

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, decried the deficit in the fiscal update, and demanded an election saying the government doesn’t have confidence. LeBlanc said that they just tested the confidence of the House and got it. Blanchet retorted that they don’t enjoy the confidence of the House, they enjoy the weakness of the NDP, and again demanded an election. LeBlanc raised the dinner he had at Mar-a-Lago and the conversations since.

Jagmeet Singh lambasted the government being focused on their own interests and not Canadians, and demanded the prime minister’s resignation. Karina Gould reminded him that they tested confidence last week, and they are focused on Canadians and the relationship with the U.S. Singh tried again in French, and got the same answer from Gould.

Round two, and Melissa Lantsman raised the deficit in the fiscal update and cherry-picked figures out of context (LeBlanc: Much of that figure was contingent liabilities for Indigenous lawsuits, and we were transparent about that; Champagne: this is a time to be serious about investing in workers and Canadians), Michael Chong thundered about the deficit with self-righteousness (Gould: We are focused on Canadians at a difficult times and protecting the Canadian economy; Anand: We have the lowest debt and deficit in the G7, and here are measures to support Canadians), and Gérard Deltell gave the same in French (LeBlanc: We disagree with the idea of having a Conservative government that would cut and gut our programmes).

 Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagé decried the cost of the GST “holiday” to demand an election (Duclos: Hooray for dental care!; Bendayan: The Bloc is against cutting taxes, and if they read the statement, they would see jobs and higher paycheques), and Yves Perron decried the cynicism of the fiscal update to demand an election (Champagne: If you read the statement, you would see significant investments for Quebec).

Stephanie Kusie policed feminism (Gould: No; Ien: You keep bandying about the word feminism, but here are policies for women in the update), and Tracy Grey did the same (Ien: If you want to talk about feminism, let’s talk about policies which you opposed; Valdez: You are distracting from the Bank of Canada cutting rates).

Jenny Kwan worried about the pilot programme for caregivers getting status (Miller: We are still on track to launch this, but may have some modifications to make), and Don Davies decried the update for not creating new spending programmes (Holland: We worked together to deliver pharmacare, and Canadians enjoy longer lifespans than Americans).

Round three saw yet more questions on the deficit (Virani: In that statement, there were a measures for community safety and auto theft; There is money in there to take guns off the streets and cracking down on money laundering; Guilbeault: If you read the statement, we are in a better financial position than all G7 counterparts; The clean electricity strategy includes money for Quebec; Anand: Rather than talking down Canada, let’s talk about supporting Canadians; Wilkinson: Hooray our clean electricity strategy; The update also has an Indigenous loan guarantee programme; Fraser: You have been banned by your own leader from speaking out on behalf of your community; Bendayan: Hooray for measures like the capital cost allowance; Saks: We invest in people while we have the lowest debt and deficit in the G7). There were also questions about “buying time” in the House (Martinez Ferrada: We have maintained confidence, but the statement includes support for culture and tourism; doctor shortages—which is a provincial issue (Holland: We signed agreement with the provinces and the data shows we are getting more but it’s not enough), and a comical demand to fight Trump (Ng: The statement has measures to strengthen the trade relationship).

Overall, it was better behaved than one might have suspected since it was the last day and everyone is squirrelly, and probably as well for Speaker Fergus, who was hoarse today. It was pretty much as expected in terms of content—exaggerated caterwauls about the size of the deficit while ignoring the one-time charges from settling lawsuits, or wailing about the size of the debt while ignoring that COVID happened. There was still some policing of feminism, but for the most part, it was one last opportunity to harvest clips for their social media, and most of those clips were all out the deficit in order to demand an election. And as is the usual practice of the government, they give up on having the actual minister answer and instead just start putting up random ministers to deliver the same talking points, so that they all get a little camera time, making the exercise as pointless as it sounds. 

 As this was the final QP of 2024, I will remark that the decline has continued apace, and the practice of harvesting clips for social media continues to make Parliament not only dysfunctional, but nigh-irrelevant since nobody has any interest in actually doing the work of legislation, scrutiny, or accountability. It’s all just continuous point-scoring for the same of getting that clip that might get them a few more clicks or juice their engagement numbers on their socials temporarily, while steadily eroding any interest that the general voting public has in the institution or the work it’s supposed to be doing. MPs are dooming themselves and our institutions, but they can’t stop because this is what they’re told they need to do to “engage.” It’s not engagement, and it’s killing our democracy, one “own” at a time.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Taleeb Noormohamed for a tailored dark grey suit with a crisp white shirt and a dark purple tie, and to Melissa Lantsman for a tailored burgundy suit with a white collared shirt. Style citations go out to Stephanie Kusie for a sequinned fuchsia top over black slacks, and to Yves-François Blanchet for a navy suit, pale blue shirt, burgundy striped ties and dark grey slacks. Dishonourable mention goes out to Anna Roberts for a mustard yellow jacket over a dark blue top and black slacks.