Tag Archives: Official Languages

QP: Back-patting on the global fiscal position

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The prime minister was present for proto-PMQ day, though his deputy was not. All of the other leaders were in the Chamber, and Pierre Poilievre led off in French, recited his slogans, and turned that into a question about rent in Montreal, blaming it on so-called “inflationary policies.” Trudeau suggested that Poilievre share facts instead of disinformation to stoke anxiety, and praised their international fiscal position. Poilievre mocked the notion that he is spreading disinformation, and continued his rant about rent. Trudeau again repeated their strong fiscal position, and how they were using that position to help families. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his slogans and cherry-pick a few down economic statistics, to which Trudeau again praised using their strong fiscal position to help people when they need it. Poilievre accused him of spending the most to achieve the worst, and Trudeau dismissed this as coming from a former “housing minister” who didn’t believe in investing in housing, before touting what the government is investing in. Poilievre padded his record as minster, and again cherry-picked certain statistics. Trudeau asked if they should be investing in Canadians,or cutting their services.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, mentioned the controversy of Francis Drouin’s comments at committee, before worrying about funding of French-language universities. Trudeau noted that Drouin apologised before pointing out that the Bloc don’t care about French outside of Quebec. Blanchet took another swipe at Drouin, and Trudeau said this was the Bloc attacking Franco-Ontarians.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and with a hoarse voice, accused the government of giving “big grocery” a free ride, and demanded they do something. Trudeau took up a script to praise their competition reforms, the grocery code of conduct, and the school food programme. Singh repeated the question in French, and got the same response in French.

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Roundup: MPs lacking a moral compass make up bizarre accusations

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When it comes to the absolute moral decline of MPs in the current Parliament, we’ve found a good candidate who exemplifies this in the form of Conservative MP Brad Redekopp, who put out an absolutely batshit crazy video a few days ago that literally blames Justin Trudeau and his supposed “soft on crime” policies for the murders that happened in Saskatoon so far this year. Columnist Phil Tank points to all of the ways that this accusation is batshit insanity by looking at the circumstances of each of these murders, and you really can’t connect them to any of Trudeau’s policies, but that won’t stop Redekopp from not only making these accusations, but defending them in the face of Tank’s column.

The accusations against the so-called “attack” against him (because heaven forfend, we hold him to account for his batshit insane conduct) as being from an “extremist left-wing agenda,” and that both the columnist and Justin Trudeau want to hand out free drugs. I would laugh at how absolutely childish this thin-skinned retaliation is if this wasn’t a gods damned elected official who should not only know better, but should have the ability to take criticism, and to behave in a manner that is somewhat dignified as befits his office.

But it’s more than that—it’s the fact that he feels like he can get away with outright lying (and lying to such batshit insane lengths) because he feels no sense of shame or moral compass that says “Maybe you shouldn’t lie or make up batshit insane accusations and stick to some facts in the face of tragic circumstances.” But he doesn’t, and that is perhaps most concerning out of all of this.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russian strikes have damaged several power generation plants in a fresh round of targeting them. Ukrainian artillery forces need to fire and then quickly hide their platforms from Russian drones. Ukrainian intelligence says that they thwarted (another) attempt on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s life.

https://twitter.com/rustem_umerov/status/1787917915460649244

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QP: The “refusing to rule out” ploy

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On a bright and sunny Tuesday in the nation’s capital, both the prime minister and his deputy were present for QP, as were most of the other leaders (some of whom stated they would be here but were not). Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he worried that the city of Montreal has requested the “legalization of hard drugs” in their communities, and wanted an admission that what happened in BC was a “deadly mistake,” lest the prime minister repeat the same problem. Trudeau reminded him that they are working with BC on modifying their project, and that they are working only with provinces, and no other requests have been made. Poilievre switched to a English to ask if the prime minster supports decriminalisation for using drugs in parks, hospitals or public transit, and Trudeau repeated his answer. Poilievre pointed out that Trudeau refused to answer his question, and suspected it means he wants to impose the same “radical” policy elsewhere. Trudeau said that nobody supports that, but that Poilievre was trying to use tragedies to score political points, and took a jab at Poilievre for willing to suspend Charter rights if he feels it suits him. Poilievre accused the prime minister of secretly planning to impose “legalisation” on Toronto, and Trudeau reminded him that they will only with with provinces, not the municipalities directly. Poilievre said that Trudeau was not ruling out future extensions, which was obviously ridiculous, before he accused the prime minister of killing more people in the meantime. Trudeau said that they only took three days to approve BC’s completed request, and that the opposition was only scoring cheap points.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and accused the government of threatening French, to which Trudeau gave a paean about defending the French language and language minorities around the country, while the Bloc was just picking fights. Blanchet raised comments by an MP about “extremists,” and Trudeau said that they stand for protecting French across the country. 

Peter Julian rose for the NDP in French, and took swipes at Conservatives for not supporting pharmacare legislation, and exhorted the government to support them in passing it (which is dumb, because it’s the government who needs their support as it’s government legislation). Trudeau thanked the NDP for their support, and said that the Conservatives were against it because their anti-choice members opposed contraception. Leah Gazan took the question in English, with more of an emphasis on birth control instead of diabetes, and Trudeau repeated his same response. 

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Roundup: More misleading over opioids

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The weekend discourse appears to have been much of what last week’s was, which was the Conservatives lying about the state of the opioid crisis in BC, lying about Justin Trudeau’s culpability, and lying about…well, pretty much everything. I feel like I need to keep saying this, but the decriminalisation project in BC is not what caused people to start using drugs openly in public places. That is happening everywhere. It is happening right now on the streets in Ottawa, where there is no decriminalisation, because there is currently a prevailing ethos that if you use in public places and overdose, you have a better chance that someone will come across you and get a Naloxone kit to save your life. It’s not about decriminalisation. That also didn’t cause users to leave needles in parks—that’s been happening for decades in some urban centres. We’re now fully into moral panic territory.

Meanwhile, Toronto Public Health’s hopes for a similar decriminalisation programme don’t seem to be going anywhere, and Justin Trudeau stated last week, in QP that they only work with provinces and not individual cities on these kinds of projects, which is why they didn’t accept Vancouver’s proposal earlier, and why they’re not contemplating Toronto or Montreal now. And frankly, that shouldn’t be unexpected because public health is a provincial responsibility, so it would make more sense for the federal government to work with a province rather than an individual municipality that may be at odds with the province in question. Federalism matters, guys.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Ukrainian forces shot down 23 of 24 drones overnight on Sunday, with more airstrikes on Kharkiv during the day on Sunday. There was also a drone attack on power supply in the Sumy region early Monday morning. Drone footage shows how the village of Ocheretyne is being pummelled by Russians, as residents are scrambling to flee the area, as Russia claims they have captured it. Problem gambling has become an issue for a lot of Ukrainian soldiers dealing with the stress of combat.

https://twitter.com/kyivindependent/status/1787172469100478665

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QP: Getting partisan about gendered violence

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The prime minister was off attending the big auto theft summit several blocks away from the West Block, while his deputy was similarly absent, as were all other leaders. Andrew Scheer led off in English, read some specious statistics about auto theft, and demanded more tough policies. Jennifer O’Connell countered with the fact that five years under the Harper government saw even higher auto theft rates than now. Scheer volleyed that those were the first five years with the problem they inherited, before giving a misleading statement about carbon prices and grocery prices. François-Philippe Champagne deployed his “take no lessons” line and gave a swipe about Jenni Byrne. Scheer returned with the number of former Liberal staffers who lobby for Loblaws, and gave an “it’s the carbon tax, stupid.” The Speaker warned him, before Champagne extolled his efforts to get new grocers into Canada. Gérard Deltell took over in French, and accused the government of prioritising photo ops over building housing. Champagne said that the only thing the Conservatives are good at is insulting  mayors. Deltell noted the decrease in housing stocks under the Liberals and demanded action. Champagne said that he has nothing to learn about videos and photo ops from the Conservatives, as they don’t solve problems.

Claude DeBellefeuille led for the Bloc, and she wanted the government to let Quebec proceed with advanced request for MAiD, to which Jean-Yves Duclos noted that as the former minster of health, he wanted to recognise Quebec’s movement and said that they would work together. DeBellefeuille repeated the demand for the Criminal Code changes, and Duclos said that they need to protect the most vulnerable, and promised to look closely at this.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the Bloc, and demanded support for their “grocery prices” bill, and in response, Champagne stated that they have moved forward with competition reform and took most of the NDP’s recommendations. Lindsay Mathyssen repeated the demand in English, to which Champagne repeated the same response in English.

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QP: Keeping up the focus on auto thefts

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Both the prime minister and his deputy were present today, as were all other leaders, and it wasn’t even a Wednesday. Pierre Poilievre led off in French and complained that CBSA was only inspecting one percent of containers, and demanded that the government do more about it. Justin Trudeau responded that organised crime is largely responsible for car thefts, which is why they sent $121 million to Ontario, which the Conservatives voted against. Poilievre complained that the money was just going to managers, and demanded the government agree to his “plan” of buying new container scanners. Trudeau noted that they had to rehire the border officers that the Conservatives fired when they cut their budget. Poilievre switched to English, and claimed that the Conservatives cut car thefts and Trudeau saw them explode, which is a bit of specious reasoning. Trudeau noted that this would be more credible if the Conservatives didn’t vote against their plans to invest in the border. Poilievre insisted that his plan would scan every single container in the four major ports, to which Trudeau again reminded him that the previous government which Poilievre was part of fires the very boots on the ground he touts. Poilievre then pivoted to the invitation to Yaroslav Hunka to a Toronto event for Volodymyr Zelenskyy and demanded Trudeau resign like the previous Speaker did. Trudeau said that this was a slam against the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, and that it shows the Conservatives no longer support Ukraine.

Yves-François Blanchet led off for the Bloc, and demanded support for a Bloc bill to remove the religious exemption for hate speech. Trudeau said that he agrees that there was no place for hatred and that Canadians need to stand against it no matter how it manifests. Blanchet insisted that law enforcement needs the ability to make those arrests. Trudeau said that they know it’s important to defend the Charter while standing against hate speech and glorification of violence.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and demanded the government impose new taxes on grocery giants, and accused them of not being tough because the housing minister got donations from the Sobey’s family. Trudeau read a script about the changes to the Competition Act they have made. Singh repeated his demand and insinuation in French, and got the same scripted response in French.

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QP: Starting the Christmas brawling in November

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The prime minister was present while his deputy wasn’t, as news was breaking both about an indictment around Indian-sponsored assassination plots and a deal from Google on online news. Most of the other leaders were present, but there was also the promise that the one who wasn’t physically present was there virtually. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, claiming that the prime minister was ashamed of his fiscal record and launched into a rant about debt-servicing charges. Justin Trudeau responded by pointing out that the Conservatives opposed their health funding agreement with the provinces and would prefer austerity to the “responsible” record of the government. Poilievre trotted out his line about people already experiencing austerity and blamed government deficits. Trudeau said that Poilievre’s logic was faulty, as government austerity would not help those people. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his first question, and returned to misquoting that Scotiabank report before demanding that he “get control of his spending,” to which Trudeau said that the media didn’t cover the fall economic update much as they would have liked because they were too busy covering Poilievre’s terrible week. Poilievre suggested he give the media even more money to cover what he likes, before he recited lines about carbon pricing, to which Trudeau patted himself on the back for the deal with Google to help fund local journalism. Poilievre then moved to a juvenile “debate me!” cries, before demanding the carbon price be axed. Trudeau said that farmers are seeing the impacts of climate change, which is glaringly obvious to every except for certain MAGA Conservatives.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he demanded a call for tenders for surveillance aircraft that included Bombardier’s vapourware. Trudeau said that they were concerned that the armed forces gets what they need while keeping the aerospace sector in Quebec strong, and that minsters would making decisions in due course. Blanchet tried to insist this was some kind of slight against Quebec, but Trudeau reiterated his same response.

Jagmeet Singh appeared by video, and in English, he demanded to know where the online harms bill was after a sextortion case wound up in a suicide. Trudeau said that they all want to protect kids, and were moving forward in the right way, and that they need to ensure that they get this legislation right. Singh demanded action, before switching to French to decry that the president of COP28 was trying to make oil deals in Canada, but Trudeau kept going on about the forthcoming online harms bill, and said it was inappropriate to make accusations about actions or inactions.

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QP: Just impotently wailing about Senate votes

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While the prime minister was in town, he was not at QP, though his deputy was for a change. Most of the other leaders were also absent, for what it’s worth. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and accused the prime minister of subsidising three different battery plants to the tune of $44 billion, and lied about staffing them with “foreign replacement workers,” demanding to see the contracts for each plant. François-Philippe Champagne said that Canadians can see where Conservatives stand, and that when Poilievre was employment minister, he oversaw the loss of 300,000 manufacturing jobs in the country, and that these plants will create Canadian jobs. Poilievre said that Champagne would be a good employment minister for South Korea, before railing about how much the government was spending on servicing the debt. Chrystia Freeland noted that Canada has the lowest debt and deficit of all G7 countries plus a Aaa credit rating, while having a responsible plan that could make the necessary investments in the economy. Poilievre switched to English to cite the stats about food bank use, and demanded that C-234, on carving out more carbon prices for farmers, get passed. Freeland patted herself on the back for programmes like child care and dental care, and said that Poilievre’s plan for cuts is not common sense but nonsense. Poilievre repeated his demand for the bill to pass, to which Karina Gould said that once again, Poilievre was proving he couldn’t tell the truth to a Canadians, at which point she was being drowned out by the Conservatives. The Speaker warned her about not “approaching the limit of what is parliamentary.” Poilievre then continued to lie about the effect of the carbon price on food, and again demanded the bill get passed. Gould got back and says that just because he says something, it doesn’t mean it’s true, and gave a laundry list of falsehoods including that the government doesn’t direct the Senate.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he cited StatsCan figures around rental increases, and blamed the immigration targets for the rise. Marc Miller responded that Quebec controls its immigration levels and to blame the rise only on immigration was just rich. Therrien accused the government of getting their immigration targets by way of a Ouija board, and Miller dismissed this as not being a serious question.

Jenny Kwan demanded the government turn empty buildings into housing immediately, to which Freeland listed off their programmes to build, build, build. Lindsay Mathyssen repeated the thrust of the question with a slightly different frame, and this time Jenna Sudds recited that the government is helping families get by.

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QP: Champagne, turkeys, and the worst themed questions imaginable

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The prime minister was off in Vaughan, Ontario, a housing announcement, while his deputy was on her way to Kingston for a separate event, while some of the other leaders were present in the Chamber. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, reciting talking points and misleading about the promise around food prices, demanded they be reduced immediately. François-Philippe Champagne said that first Poilievre was trying to tell people to buy crypto and now he wanted them to buy $120 turkeys, but they needed to support their legislation on competition. Poilievre called Champagne the “turkey in this joke,” and decried that the price of turkey had gone up 67 percent in eight years. Speaker Fergus warned about comparing members to animals, before Champagne listed the ways in which they are trying to rein in grocery prices. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his demand to bring down prices in the next four days. Champagne loudly declared that he would take no lessons from the Conservatives, and said that he found a Butterball for Poilievre for $30. He got warned about using props, and Poilievre made a little pun about people not wanting Champagne for Thanksgiving, and complained that turkeys these days are skimpy and looked like they have been “taxed to death.” Champagne tried to come back with people not having fun these days, and got applauded by the Conservative benches, before he pitched support for their competition bill. Poilievre gave a few more of his slogans, and Champagne said that the best way to help Canadians was to support their bill.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he railed that Marc Miller not admitting that French is in decline in Quebec. Pablo Rodriguez cautioned that they need to be careful with statistics, because more people are speaking French than ever before, and stated that he was living proof because he grew up speaking Spanish and is now a francophone. Therrien railed that it meant the government could not understand about settlement capacity, and this time Miller got up to point that the statistics the Bloc are citing are about “mother tongue” which is not the same thing as people not speaking French, and that they shouldn’t misrepresent the situation.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he railed that the government is not helping with the price of food by not stamping down on corporate greed. Anita Anand took this one, and patted herself on the back for the government’s programmes to help Canadians. Singh worried that Shopper’s Drug Mart is rolling out American-style healthcare, to which Mark Holland patted himself of the back for reducing drug costs through bulk purchasing and working on pharmacare legislation.

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QP: Just the number, please

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Following his first procession as Speaker, and the usual bout of Members’ Statements, things got underway in earnest. Pierre Poilievre led off, worrying that 63 percent of Canadians are suffering from high grocery prices and demanded to know if the prime minister would bring prices down by Monday as promised—erm, which was not the promise. Justin Trudeau said that they tabled a bill to increase competition, but the Conservatives have been obstructing it, so they need to walk the talk. Poilievre repeated his demand, and have a list of specific demanded price reductions. Trudeau repeated that the Conservatives are playing political games by holding up the bill. Poilievre gave a rare third question in French and declared that they can ram through anything they want with their “coalition” with the NDP, and railed about the carbon price, and repeated again a demand to bring food prices down (which was not the promise). Trudeau listed things that the Conservatives have tried blocking with parliamentary tactics, while the Liberals were working to help Canadians. Poilievre switched to English to complain that the prime minister was blaming everyone but himself before repeating his demand for price reductions by Monday. Trudeau said that this was just a political game as the Conservatives were not working with them to move their bill through before Thanksgiving. Poilievre repeated his itemised list of price reduction demands, and Trudeau repeated for a fifth time that the Conservatives have been delaying and obstructing their bill.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and complained that there are 500,000 non-permanent residents in Quebec and claimed that the province couldn’t provide necessary services, and demanded the government reduce their targets. Trudeau said that immigration is a shared responsibility between the federal government with Quebec, and that they are trying to fill labour market needs while they are working to help the provincial government. Therrien insisted that the federal government was being irresponsible and demanded targets be set according to capacity to integrate them. Trudeau disagreed that this was viable, and said that they would work with provinces and municipalities to build more houses to settle more newcomers.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he praised Wab Kinew’s victory in Manitoba, but his question got drowned out by Conservative uproar, until Fergus brought order. When Singh restarted this time he got drowned out by applause before he demanded the government deal with healthcare needs in that province. Trudeau said he was happy to see Manitobans reject the politics of fear and division before saying that he was looking forward to sign health accord with the new government. Singh hammered about the refusal of the former provincial government’s refusal to search the landfill, and demanded a “Red Dress Alert,” Trudeau read that they released new funds to work on next steps with the landfill search and they were moving forward with the Alert.

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