Neither the prime minister or his deputy were present today, and neither were most of the other leaders either. Andrew Scheer led off today, and he raised today’s Globe and Mail story that says Trudeau has made more outreaches to Mark Carney to get involved in politics, which Scheer interpreted as a plot to replace Freeland with Carney, and that he is somehow orchestrating the larger deficit spending. Arif Virani took this, for some reason, and he praised the work Freeland has been doing for Canadians, which yesterday’s Bank of Canada rate cut apparently reflected, and then praised their GST “holiday.” Scheer claimed the rate cut was because the economy is performing so poorly—which is not what the governor said in his remarks—and again claimed that Carney was pulling all the strings before replacing Freeland, concern trolling for Freeland’s future. Virani quoted Tiff Macklem’s remarks about inflation being tamed. Scheer disputed this, and quoted other Liberal MPs who wanted more fiscal discipline and demanded they get a “free vote,” to which Virani cited IMF economic growth projections and our status as having the lowest debt and deficit in the G7. Dominique Vien took over in French, and she too concern trolled about Freeland’s future and called Trudeau a “fake feminist,” this time François-Philippe Champagne deployed his “take no lessons” line before praising the Bank of Canada lowering rates, and the upcoming GST “holiday.” Vien repeated the claim that Trudeau was about to replace Freeland with Carney, and called him a hypocrite for his speech at Equal Voice about being a proud feminist. Diane Lebouthillier responded by wondering how a woman from Quebec could attack a woman like Freeland who brought in child care, and the Speaker called for order, she dismissed the men heckling because women are the ones who handle men head on.
Claude DeBellefeuille led for the Bloc, and worried about the Senate voting on their Supply Management bill, and wondered if the government contacted each of their appointments to tell them how to vote. Marie-Claude Bibeau reminded her that senators are independent. DeBellefeuille wanted each party leader to tell senators to support the bill in its original form, and Bibeau repeated her same point.
DeBellefeuille wonders if the government contacted each of their senate appointees to tell them how to vote on the Supply Management bill. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-12-12T19:30:46.447Z
Alexandre Boulerice led for the NDP and demanded the government improve access to healthcare in Quebec, which is a provincial responsibility. Mark Holland praised the investments they have made with the provinces. Brian Masse demanded the government consult with workers before a Trump plan, and demanded a “Buy Canada” plan (which is utterly boneheaded in a trade-dependent economy). Mary Ng said that all voices matter in this issue.
Round two, and Rosemarie Falk accused the prime minister of making Freeland take the fall before brining in Carney (Bendayan: Inflation is tamed and rates are going down; Hepfner: I was also at the Equal Voice gala and your deputy leader undermined the whole point of Equal Voice), Michelle Ferreri called Freeland a token (Hajdu: Your leader would run more women and put them in positions of power; That woman may feel like a token but I never do because I earned my seat), and Michelle Rempel Garner also concern trolled about Freeland (Khera: Your leader tagged his video with misogynistic tags; Gould: The nature of the questions today are more indicative of their opposition to feminism, and they are the real fake feminists).
It’s always great when Conservatives police feminism. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-12-12T19:36:59.621Z
https://bsky.app/profile/patricklegay.bsky.social/post/3ld4zrn6th22w
Rhéal Fortin called a committee report on combatting Islamophobia an “attack on Quebec” (Duclos: Committees are independent and we will read their recommendations and see if they should be used or not used), Martin Champoux decried a recommendation to hire more Muslim professors (Duclos: Quebec universities are also independent and make their own choices).
Leslyn Lewis read her own script belittling Freeland (O’Connell: Your party is struggling with feminism; Hajdu: You are part of the anti-abortion crowd who bullies women), and Joël Godin read the same script in French (Bibeau: What is disgusting in this discourse is that the prime minister has shown his commitment to women while your leader was trying to attract misogynists).
Jenny Kwan worried about cuts to settlement services (Miller: We review the funding model every five years, and we reduced levels, so that means some readjustments), and Heather McPherson wanted the government to stand up to Danielle Smith around healthcare (Holland: We are doing our part to transform the system, and provinces must be held to account for their responsibilities).
Round three saw yet more questions belittling Freeland (Bendayan: You’re just attacking women instead of asking about the economy; Listening to your questions, you would think the Conservatives want interest rates to be higher; You guys are the ones doing the bullying; Lebouthillier: You voted against school food and dental care; How could you vote against investing in the Coast Guard or in small vessel ports?). There were also questions about the CBSA’s latest IT issue (O’Connell: The system was to replace a 36-year-old system, and was developed by the Conservatives, but we will ensure the system works), deficits (Gould: We have taken tax off more groceries and food from restaurants; Champagne: We have attracted the some of the highest investments in history), Urban Indigenous friendship centres funding (Saks: They do provide essential services, and we have committed more funding in this year’s budget), and the threshold for temporary foreign workers (Petitpas Taylor: The programme needs to meet the realtime needs of the labour market and we have tightened it up).
Bendayan: Listening to the Conservatives, you would think they want interest rates to be higher. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-12-12T20:02:11.729Z
No, a higher deficit is not going to raise the price of food. FFS, you guys. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-12-12T20:17:26.537Z
Overall, it was one of those pretty gross days where the main line of attack was to belittle Chrystia Freeland as a concern troll for claiming the prime minister is the bully, and beyond that, they wholesale made-up claims that were not in the Globe article and built up a wholly fictional narrative in order to belittle Freeland and police feminism. I mean, does anyone actually believe that Mark Carney is the one demanding higher spending and that they are orchestrating to make Freeland take the fall for missing deficit targets. And if you actually believe that, can you tell me just what drugs you’re on? Honest to Zeus, this is just egregious bullshit, bad faith, and some pretty explicit misogyny wrapped up in the guise of concern for feminism. It’s bad enough to make one want to take a Silkwood shower after being in the room with this kind of awful rhetoric.
Me, sitting in the gallery during #QP, every single day:
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-12-12T15:05:13.073Z
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Fraser Tolmie for a navy three-piece suit over a white shirt with a burgundy tie and pocket square, and to Anita Anand for a plum-coloured suit over a high-necked white top. Style citations go out to Patty Hajdu for a black sweater with big beige florals over black slacks, and to Alain Therrien for a navy jacket, dark blue shirt, navy spotted tie and faded blue jeans. Dishonourable mention goes out to Jonathan Wilkinson for a black suit with a white shirt and bright yellow tie.