The PM was present for a second day in a row, and you would have expected all the other leaders would be as well, but Pierre Poilievre was absent. That left Melissa Lantsman to lead off instead, and she dutifully read the script about the size of the deficit that accomplishes so little. Mark Carney thundered that the budget is about building the country and that they will put $3000 in the pockets of very Canadian by the end of the decade. Lantsman worried about debt servicing charges and that it goes to “bankers” (as opposed to, say, pension funds), and Carney said that the health transfers were preserved and that the interest charges are less than they were under Harper. Luc Berthold took over in French to read the lines in French about fuelling inflation and children lining up at food banks, to which Carney responded with his lines about 75 percent of the budget is about protecting sovereignty, and that repeated the $3000 claim. Berthold insisted that Carney would go down in history as the most expensive, before repeating his canard about inflation. Carney countered that it was not the most costly budget, but the most ambitious. Jasraj Hallan took over to rush though some swipes at Carney possibly holding money in offshore tax havens. Carney responded that the budget fights for tax fairness and cuts taxes for 22 million people. Hallan repeated the same accusation, and Carney said that he was proud of his time in the private sector but now he is helping to grow the country.

Yves-François Blanchet rose for the Bloc, and he complained about the so-called “discrimination” in Old-Age Security, and Carney noted the social transfers in the budget, and that it was indeed just that older seniors can get more. Blanchet then raised their plan for credits to help young people buy a first home, and Carney said that there is already an advantage for young people, which was on top of their investment in housing. Blanchet then demanded higher health transfers with no conditions attached, and Carney said that Quebec is getting $12 billion for healthcare and $5 billion for infrastructure, along with a few other big numbers.

Round two, and Lianne Rood read a bullshit script about the industrial carbon price, citing the so-called “Food Professor” (McLean: If you vote against the budget, you vote against seniors and families; MacDonald: Let me quote the “Food Professor” who praised some of our other measures), Blaine Calkins read another script of the same (Olszewski: This budget supports Alberta’s economy, and here is a quote from the Calgary Chamber of Commerce; Thompson: Our budget is supporting rural communities), Dave Epp read another slogan-filled script of the same bullshit (van Koeverden: While you are concerned about imaginary taxes, here are sports investments in the budget; Hajdu: Here is another quote from the “Food Professor” praising our  measures), and David McKenzie read another of the same scripts (Hodgson: We worked with nine countries to bring $6.4 billion in investments into this country).

Jean-Denis Garon called the budget “Stephen Harper all over again” (Guilbeault: Quebeckers voted for 44 Liberal members, and your leader used to be in favour of Canadian culture but now he wants to vote against them), and Patrick Bonin called it a budget of “climate capitulation” (Dabrusin: There is still industrial carbon price and we are reducing methane emissions).

Scott Aitchison cited a Home Builders Association report citing job losses in construction and demanded a bigger GST cut on homes (Zerucelli: You are voting against the largest investment in infrastructure in history; Robertson: We are proposing he biggest investment in affordable housing in history), Sandra Cobena read another script of the same (Gainey: Here are things we are investing in; Valdez: Reading a script of good news talking points), and Amarjeet Gill read a script on the deficit (Sahota: There are historic investments to the RCMP in this budget).

Round three saw yet more questions on the deficit and the industrial carbon price (McKnight: Here is a quote from the Chamber of Commerce; McGuinty: Are you suggesting we shouldn’t pass a budget that helps us contribute to NATO in Latvia?; Fraser: This budget delivers for people in rural area; Provost: This budget helps people in the Quebec regions and strengthens border security; Michel: There are billion for health infrastructure; Gull-Masty: There are investments for First Nations in this budget; Joly: Aerospace is an important industry in Quebec; Fuhr: The budget is stepping up to meet the moment for defence, and when you adjust for inflation, Harper’s 2009 budget was more expensive; Alty: Hooray for our critical minerals strategy; Chartrand: We are focused on security our sovereignty in the North; Belanger: This budget helps Saskatchewan). There were also mendacious questions on last week’s Supreme Court ruling (Sahota: We will bring forward legislation to protect children), job cuts in the budget (Champagne: The budget remains true to values, and we are protecting people and programmes like child care and dental care), and the budget not helping people (Champange: We are cutting taxes and are ensuring automatic benefits). 

Overall, today was not much to write home about—it was pretty much a rotation of ministers reading good news talking points that were utterly divorced from the repetitive scripts that the Conservatives were reading, with the exception of the two instances where two ministers read quotes from the so-called “Food Professor” that were in support of their programmes, rather than his nonsense about the industrial carbon price. It was also Leslyn Lewis’ turn to ask a misleading question about the Supreme Court’s decision last Friday, because they all need clips, and Ruby Sahota remains incapable of actually rising to the occasion on this. Once again, I fail to see why this is so difficult for the government to grasp.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Eric Lefebvre for a blue suit with a subtle pattern over a crisp white shirt with a black tie with a blue crosshatch pattern, and to Mélanie Joly for a well-tailored maroon suit with a matching scoop-necked top. Style citations go out to, and to Cathay Wagantall for a maroon faux-velvet jacket over a black top and dark grey slacks, and to Michael Kram for a moss green suit with a white shirt and a brilliant blue striped tie.