With Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh still at D-Day commemorations, and Andrew Scheer at a family event in Regina, there were no major leaders present. Lisa Raitt led off, and she made a statement about D-Day, and offered the government a chance to say how they are commemorating the event. Bill Blair read a statement about service and sacrifice in response. Raitt then moved onto affordability and a plea for a government to “stop the taxes” without specifying which ones, to which Ralph Goodale stood up and reminded her of the Middle Class™ tax cuts and the Canada Child Benefit. Raitt moaned about the loss of boutique tax credits, and Goodale noted that the net of the government’s changes mean that most families are $2000 better off than before. Alain Rayes then cited the false Fraser Institute figure that taxes were raised by $800 per year, to which Jean-Yves Duclos recited in French the same measures that Goodale listed. Rayes tried again, with added theatrics, and Duclos cited that he was upset that the opposition was painting a false picture (in his calm demeanour). Ruth Ellen Brosseau was up next for the NDP, and she read a lament about the settlement that CRA reached with KPMG clients, to which Diane Lebouthillier stated that she had asked the CRA for more transparency around settlements going forward. Daniel Blaikie repeated the question in English with added outrage, and Lebouthillier repeated her response. Blaikie then moved onto a demand for additional aid for homeless veterans, and Blair read that their whole of government approach was getting results with homeless veterans. Brosseau then read the French version of the same question, and Duclos repeated the same response in French.

https://twitter.com/AaronWherry/status/1136701597906558977

Round two, and Candice Bergen and Gérard Deltell gave a falsehood-laden screed about affordability with some references to small businesses thrown in for good measure (Champagne: We just made a new investment about transit infrastructure; Ng: We are helping small businesses by lowering their taxes and cutting more regulations in three years than you did in ten; Lightbound: We cut small business taxes), and Pierre Poilievre raised the spectre of supposed failed tax increases (Lightbound: You are still quoting a debunked Fraser Institute study). Pierre-Luc Dusseault returned to the KPMG client settlement (Lebouthillier: We will be publishing the results of our audits soon), and Niki Ashton hectored about Grassy Narrows (Vandal: We share the goal of finding a solution that meets their needs and we continue discussions). Luc Berthold and Erin O’Toole raised the issue of pork exports to China (Bibeau: Last night the CFIA had discussions with their Chinese counterparts about canola; Oliphant: China has heard our positions clearly at many levels, and you didn’t send anyone on the recent parliamentary delegation). Brigitte Sansoucy asked about a particular refugee case (DeCourcey: You can speak to me or the minister about this but we can’t answer on the floor of the Commons), and Jenny Kwan raised an issue of temporary foreign workers caught in a bad situation (Hajdu: I am aware of these reports, and we are taking them seriously and conducting an investigation).

Round three saw questions on Elections Canada hiring social media “influencers” (Gould: We won’t muzzle Elections Canada), the Paris targets (Fraser: Here are a number of measures we are taking), the Auditor General’s budget (Goodale: We did a full overhaul of our cybersecurity systems; We increased his budget while you guys cut it), CPPIB investments in Chinese tech companies (Lightbound: The CPP operates independently of government), rural broadband spectrum (Bains: We have always supported high-speed connectivity; Jordan: We are allowing local communities set up their own networks until 5G is available), Irwin Cotler being shouted down in a speech (Oliphant: We stand with Irwin Cotler), temporary foreign workers (Hajdu: There are more applications this year and we are deploying additional resources), and the need for community social funds (Champagne: We are working with municipalities and proposed a $2.2 billion top-up in the budget). 

Pierre Nantel just railed about climate change and stormed out of the Chamber.
Speaker Regan said that his language was unacceptable.
Fraser stood up and said that when the NDP is faced with a difficult situation, they give up. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) June 6, 2019

Overall, in some respects it was a more measured day in terms of tone and volume, but in other respects, it was replete with a bunch of false and misleading rhetoric — that debunked Fraser Institute report as a key example — that there was again little pushback from the government on (though Duclos’ mild-mannered professing that he was a little upset by the rhetoric was quite something in its atypical as opposed to theatrical delivery — in great contrast to Pierre Nantel storming out after his question). Nevertheless, we need to hear more from the government that the questions are based on false premises of outright lies in order for it to maybe sink in with some people who will watch everything earnestly and who may think that the Conservatives have a good point and are onto something when they’re not. This having been said, there was far less shilling for election platforms today, so small mercies there, and no one question was prefaced with policing the prime minister’s feminism, so I’ll take that as a win for today in any case. 

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Joël Lightbound for a tailored navy suit would a light blue shirt and a spotted navy tie, and to Karina Gould for a dress with beige, white, and black panels with a black jacket. Style citations go out to Diane Finley for her somewhat plastic white jacket with both pastel panels and florals, paired with a black top and slacks, and to Mark Holland for a maroon suit with a white shirt and a baby blue bow tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Yvonne Jones for a lemon yellow collared shirt with a black sweater.