QP: All about Scheer

Posted on by

For what might be the final QP of the year, the galleries were full — press gallery included — and the benches were full. Andrew Scheer led off, repeating yesterday’s lead around the PBO’s contention that the deficit could be higher than reported. Trudeau got up and recited by rote his well-worn talking points about investing in Canadians and making life better for the Middle Class™. Scheer switched to English to ask again, and Trudeau hit back about “phoney budget balance” the Conservatives delivered that hurt veterans and families. Scheer accused him of offering falsehoods about the Conservative record (which is rich coming from Scheer, whose capacity for mistruth is quickly becoming legendary) before demanding a balanced budget. Trudeau castigated the Conservative record on growth while his government oversaw growth. Scheer insisted that Trudeau inherited a good economy (not true), to which Trudeau found it curious that Scheer wanted to double down on a plan that Canadians rejected in 2015. Scheer retorted that it was Trudeau who was doubling down on a failed plan before calling him a trust fund baby, and Trudeau replied that you can’t grow the economy with cuts to services, and listed the investments they made that led to record-low unemployment. Guy Caron was up next for for the NDP, and he worried that the CRA has not recouped anything from the Panama Papers. Trudeau picked up a script to read about the investments made in CRA to combat tax evasion, and that CRA has risk-assessed over 80 percent of the 3000 identified files and that criminal investigations were ongoing. Caron switched to French to reiterate the question, and Trudeau read the French version of the same script. François Choquette worried about Canada’s climate performance, to which Trudeau, sans script, talked about putting a price on pollution and helping families adapt. Linda Duncan repeated the question in English, and Trudeau grabbed a script to list measures they have made and investments made.

Round two, and Scheer got back up to worry about the escalating costs of carbon taxes, and kept citing falsehoods about major industrial emitter policies (Trudeau: We have a robust plan to combat climate change and help families adapt but you have no plan; Here is a list of measures we’ve taken; We have set a target for industry, and if they don’t meet it, they pay a penalty and if they exceed it, they get rewarded), and demanded that Bill C-69 be scrapped (Trudeau: You want to go back to a system that didn’t get anything built, which would be a disaster for the oil and gas industry). Karine Trudel accused the government of abandoning middle-class workers (Trudeau, with script: We are going to upgrade our rail system to make travelling greener, and got the best contract possible), and Tracey Ramsey accused him of betraying Canadian workers (Trudeau: We have always worked with labour, repealing anti-union bills and we base everything on a relationship of respect). Scheer got back up to decry the costs of irregular border crossers (Trudeau, with script: It’s a complex situation but we are working with the provinces and our partners; Your government cut $390 million from the border). Brigitte Sansoucy worried about the slow pace of some Indigenous drinking water restorations (Trudeau: We recognise it’s a problem which is why we’ve committed to getting there and we are doing that work), and Georgina Jolibois worried about rural public transport (Trudeau: We were disturbed by Greyhound by their decision to cut service, and we have created partnerships to find replacements).

Round three, and Scheer got back up to ask about steel and aluminium tariffs (Trudeau, with script: The goal was to get a good deal for Canadians and protect the $2 billion in two-way trade every day), areas of provincial jurisdiction (Trudeau: I was pleased to talk with premiers last week) Davie shipyard (Trudeau: You’re the one playing politics on this file, and the Canadian Forces said they don’t need another ship), a Quebec-city transit plan (Trudeau: That project doesn’t exist yet, and we’ll take a look when there’s an actual proposal), ethics investigations (Trudeau: You just got censured by the Commissioner for telling one of your members to break the Code), and balancing the budget (Trudeau: We put forward a fiscally responsible plan). Other non-Scheer questions included an asylum case (Trudeau: We have a system based on rules, and some decisions are difficult and we will look at all files on compassionate grounds), consumer internet code of conduct (Trudeau: We recognise there is more need for data and access to broadband, and are working with the CRTC), rising HIV infection rates while front-line services have been cut (Trudeau: Health Canada is working with provincial partners to help Canadians stay safe), VIA Rail’s choice of Siemens over Bombardier (Trudeau, with script: We’ve invested to help millions of passengers to travel on new trains, and we got the best possible deal).

Shortly afterward, Trudeau, Scheer, Caron and Bloc MP Louis Plamondon, who is also the Dean of the House (first elected as a PC MP in 1984) all gave speeches to mark the coming closure of Centre Block and the move of the House of Commons to West Block for the next decade or more.

Overall, it was the Andrew Scheer show, which was a little more dynamic than most QPs tend to be, and he kept Trudeau on his toes more than usual — but it often devolved into rounds of insults and self-aggrandisement after one or two exchanges. Several times. I also found it extremely precious that Scheer kept insisting that it was the prime minister who was spouting falsehoods when he has consistently lied to the House and to the public through his social media shitposts. At least Trudeau called him out on it a few times, but the indignation was hard to take. Trudeau, to his credit, largely didn’t use scripts today and mostly didn’t turn to the camera to talk to the folks at home, but his needling Scheer about taking all the spots that were intended for other MPs to ask him questions directly only served to give Scheer the opening to insist that Trudeau was afraid of his questions. And then it was back to insults and back-patting. Time for MPs to go home.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Lisa Raitt for a dark blue jacket with a black top and slacks, and to Pablo Rodriguez for a black three-piece suit and tie with a white shirt and red pocket square. Style citations go out to Ramesh Sangha for a brown and grey checked suit with a light blue jacket and dark grey tie, and to Marilyn Gladu for a sleeveless eggplant dress with a matching lace and sequin poncho draped over it. Special mention goes out to Robert-Falcon Ouelette for a bright red and green Christmas tree-patterned suit and matching tie with a white shirt, and to Mark Warawa for a similar suit and tie, but his was in blue with a snowman pattern. (Can we please ban and burn those awful Oppo suits?)