QP: Did you watch my documentary?

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While the prime minister was in town, he was not present, though his deputy was. Most of the other leaders were absent as well, for what it’s worth. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he decried that rent was rising faster than salaries, and blamed the prime minister for it, and implored him to watch his “documentary” which he called “common sense,” and demanded a “common sense” plan. Sean Fraser got up to respond that it was a shame that Poilievre doesn’t put as much energy into generating housing policy as he does videos, and that the reality was when when he looks at Poilievre’s proposals, it would mean fewer houses get built. Poilievre insisted that minster must not have watched his “common sense” video, which he claimed was being “widely acclaimed” (it’s not), and listed some of his proposals. Fraser said that while Poilievre was more concerned about clicks, he was concerned about putting roofs over people’s heads. Poilievre mocked the progress the government has made and their insistence of photo ops, to which Fraser pointed out that Poilievre likes to go around the country on the taxpayer’s expense, and take photos in front of projects the government funded. Poilievre gave a soliloquy about how all of the government’s projects are imaginary, and this time, Fraser pointed out how much the government’s housing strategy has provided, and that they have turned the corner after three decades of federal inaction. Poilievre gave another pitch for his nonsense plan, and Fraser responded with the responsibility that they all have to ensure that everyone has a home.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and wanted to know how long the heritage minister knew that cuts were happening at CBC/Radio-Canada, as though she is the manager in charge. Pascale St-Onge praised their record on reinvesting in CBC and the media sector. Therrien then went on a rant about Catherine Tait having her term expend to make these cuts, to which St-Onge reminds him that CBC operates at arm’s length, and that they were doing more the media sector thanks to their Online News Act.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, took a swipe at St-Onge, before worrying about the Operation Santa Claus letters about children asking for food, and turned it into a rant about grocery giants. Chrystia Freeland talked about how the Canada Child Benefit has lifted families out of poverty but they were also advancing new competition measures. Alaister MacGregor took over in English to decry the grocery CEOs, to which Freeland repeated her praise about benefits, and their bill to enhance competition. 

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan angrily raced through some slogans about Bill C-234 (van Koeverden: We don’t control senators while you guys like to bully female senators; Wilkinson: The most efficient way to reduce emissions is pricing, and here are some Conservative platform commitments saying that), John Barlow recited his own slogans about Bill C-234 (MacAulay: Farmers care about the environment, while your party has no plan; We don’t have senators in our caucus), and Luc Berthold cited some Journale De Montreal polling before making his own demand about senators passing Bill C-234 (Gould: We don’t control senators and if you want to do something about food you’d vote for the Canada-Ukraine Trade Deal; Quebec is not part of the federal carbon pricing system).

Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe demanded the federal government “reimburse” Quebec for asylum seekers (Miller: We have a special $700 million deal with Quebec), and accused the federal government of not doing their job with migrants (Miller: There are record levels of global migration, and we have done a lot to reduce backlogs and wait times).

Lianne Rood read a script about carbon price carve-outs (van Koeverden: Most farm fuels are exempt and the rural top-up has been doubled and we have invested in R&D to make grain drying less emitting; MacAulay: Farmers don’t understand why your party doesn’t have a plan for the environment), and Gérard Deltell read the same talking points about Bill C-234 (Brière: Hooray the child benefit).

Matthew Green yelled about corporate greed (Freeland: We have permanently increased corporate income taxes, and implement the COVID recovery dividend, and are reforming competition), and Jenny Kwan demanded special immigration measures for people in Gaza (Joly: We are trying to ensure that Palestinian civilians are protected, and I’m happy that 130 Canadians were able to leave Gaza last night).

Round three saw questions on balancing the budget (Freeland: Let me praise our Canadian Mortgage Charter), housing (Fraser: I have been working with the mayor of your city to ensure that they can access the housing accelerator funds; Fraser: We have the lowest debt and deficit in the G7, and we have an Aaa credit rating), the competition for the Afghanistan monument (Petitpas Taylor: The department did a questionnaire and mostly veterans responded and they wanted this monument), the carbon price (MacAulay: Farmers are concerned that you don’t have a plan for the environment; van Koeverden: There is no federal carbon price in Quebec), the Stellantis plant (Turnbull: You drove away manufacturing when you were in government; Those workers will only be here for a matter of months and they are not taking Canadian jobs; Gould: The local union leaders are warning that Conservatives are jeopardising this investment), women with disabilities needing new benefits (Zuberi: We are working on the regulations and it will happen), and the foreign interference inquiry (O’Connell: We have been taking measures while we wait for the inquiry’s recommendations).

Overall, it was a somewhat quieter day (until the end), which may have been because the Conservatives were behaving with the deputy Speaker, Chris d’Entrement, in the Big Chair instead of Greg Fergus, who has recused himself given the day’s events and the calls for him to resign. Nevertheless, we got a bit showdown between Pierre Poilievre and Sean Fraser, which I will remind you is the whole reason why Fraser was given the housing portfolio in the first place. Poilievre was busily patting himself on the back for the alleged success of his “documentary,” in spite of its false claims, data visualization crimes, inability to distinguish between correlation and causation, or the conspiracies that it promotes. No, he was going to talk that up for all it was worth day. And Fraser was gamely pushing back against this, but he didn’t dispute any of the mis/disinformation in the video, which is going to be a problem.

Meanwhile, I will note that for the very first time, we had Ryan Turnbull actually read that the temporary foreign workers at the Stellantis plant will be there for a few months to install equipment and then they’ll go home. I don’t know why nobody has said this over the past two weeks. Glad it did get said today, but man, too little too late, as they’ve allowed the narrative to get set into people’s minds.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Sameer Zuberi for a tailored dark grey suit with a crisp white shirt and a dark purple tie, and to Mélanie Joly for a black top and slacks under an olive green jacket. Style citations go out to Marie-Claude Bibeau for a black smock top with big pink roses over black slacks, and to Clifford Small for a navy jacket over a blueberry shirt, grey slacks, and a dark blue tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Sonia Sidhu for a mustard turtleneck under a dark grey long sleeveless jacket with black slacks.