The PM was in town, but not in QP as he prepared for his Cabinet shuffle to replace Steven Guilbeault. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, where he raised a report on the increase in food insecurity in Quebec, and he blamed the government for forcing them to pay more in taxes and inflation (which is contradictory because most taxes are disinflationary). Anna Gainey praised the government’s investments in things like the school food programme, their income tax cut, and investments in affordable housing. Poilievre claimed they voted against measures that feed bureaucracy instead of families and children, and claimed tried to draw a connection between the increase in children at food banks since with the creation of the school food programme, and make the false connection between government spending and food price inflation. Steve MacKinnon raised the child care benefit and automatic tax filing to ensure more people get benefits as more help for those facing food insecurity, which the Conservatives voted against. Poilievre switched to English to raise that Algoma Steel in Sault Ste Marie was laying off a thousand workers, and said that the prime minister failed to live up to his promises to protect their jobs, and said it was made worse by the fact that the government was raising the industrial carbon price. Mélanie Joly said that their thoughts were with the workers, and that they were in contact with Algoma, and that they have every confidence in those workers and they would support them while they developed new products for new markets. Poilievre said that Liberal thoughts wouldn’t put food on their tables, then turned to the another report on food insecurity, this time in Ontario, but again tied food bank use to industrial carbon prices (which, again, is bullshit). Patty Hajdu decried that the Conservatives have been fighting supports for people, and noted that they voted against the expansion of EI for workers like those from Algoma. Poilievre again blamed the industrial carbon price on food inflation, and François-Philippe Champagne touted their tax cuts, and proclaimed that the government was there for workers and families while Conservatives voted against them. Poilievre then pivoted to the latest Missing Middle Initiative report on housing starts being down, but blamed it again on the industrial carbon price, while somehow trying to tie this to Brookfield tax havens in Bermuda. Gregor Robertson retorted that if they cared about affordable housing, they would have supported the measures in the budget.
Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and raised Steven Guilbeault’s remarks in the media on the weekend, and wanted the government to admit they were abandoning the fight against climate change. MacKinnon praised the “clear commitments” in the MOU with Alberta, which was something to see with a straight face. Normandin wondered, rhetorically, why more Liberals didn’t follow Guilbeault’s lead. MacKinnon again praised the MOU and said that BC was the big winner with major projects. Mario Simard gave his own condemnation, and Mélanie Joly defended the agreement as energy sovereignty.
Round two, and Melissa Lantsman returned to the issue of Toronto home prices (Robertson: Building starts are up across Canada, and we are investing in housing in the budget; Hajdu: You should actually read the reports you cite because we are living up to their recommendations), Luc Berthold read the French script about “hidden taxes” (Gainey: I was in Nova Scotia this weekend and met mothers who were happy with our investments in things like child care; Champagne: We cut taxes for 22 million Canadians), Shelby Kramp-Neuman read the English version of the same script (McLean: You voted against lowering the cost of living n for Canadians in the budget), Anna Roberts read the same script with added melodrama (Adam van Koeverden: You voted against supports for people and are exploiting people).
Patrick Bonin declared that the government was abandoning the environment (Provost: We are not abandoning it but finding different methods to meet our targets; MacKinnon: The Bloc speaks in ways no one understands, while we have an agreement with Alberta with specific conditions).
Eric Lefebvre returned to the French script blaming “hidden taxes” for food insecurity (Gainey: Our measures for automatic tax filing will help give supports to five million Canadians; MacKinnon: We go to these same community events and people ask me why Conservatives vote against supports for people), Tamara Kronis read the English version of the same script (McLean: Community groups in your province rely on the programmes you voted against), and Brad Vis read the same (Hajdu: It’s curious you don’t use the “Food Professor’s” quote about climate change driving up food prices).
Round three saw questions on Liberal MPs saying there’s no pipeline (Hodgson: Your premier said it was a great day; You are dealing in conspiracy theories), not consulting with First Nations (Hodgson: I apologised for those comments last week; Alty: We will hold consultations as necessary) more questions on pipelines (McGuinty: We are investing in defence with Europe; Hodgson: We are building Canada), layoffs at auto plants (Joly: Unifor are behind our plan to get a new model at that plant; Harper had no job protections in the 2009 bailout), blaming the industrial carbon price for housing prices (Robertson: Prices are actually coming down; We are giving you the opportunity to support help for home buyers; Hajdu: I want to praise Northern Ontario mayors here today and their ensuring there is housing for critical mineral projects); hidden taxes raising food prices (Joly: We are protecting industries providing good jobs in Quebec), First Nations responding to cargo marine spills (MacKinnon: We want to ensure marine safety must be dealt with, and we will work on this).
Overall, it was interesting to see how Poilievre had changed up his messaging a little today so that there were Quebec-specific questions off the top—after we had a day last week where he didn’t ask any questions in French because he knew the main topic would be of no interest to them. That said, we got very skewed questions, regardless of which audience the were pandering to, as government spending has no bearing on food prices, nor does the industrial carbon price, and even though he raised an MMI report on housing starts, he blamed it again on industrial carbon prices which is nowhere in that report. It’s a bit tired, and it’s even more tired that the government absolutely refuses to call him out on it—they should have on the MMI report like they did with citing the recommendations in the food banks reporting that the Conservatives ignored.
Otherwise, I would say that the government needs to doesn’t seem to have come up with a solid enough plan to deal with the criticism if their MOU with Alberta, because pointing to all of the things they got Alberta to commit to were mostly watered down regulations around things they had the power to enforce (such as the industrial carbon price), and telling the Conservatives that Danielle Smith liked it isn’t actually a defence of the merits of the plan. Tim Hodgson’s messaging continues to be an utter disaster, and I can’t believe that six months later, nobody has bothered to pull him aide and start coaching him on how to actually respond to questions, because yikes.
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Eric Melillo for a tailored dark eggplant suit with a crisp white shirt and a black tie, and to and to Chi Nguyen for a blue tartan jacket over a white scoop-necked top and a black skirt. Style citations go out to Anna Gainey for a collarless fuchsia paisley jacket over a black turtlenecks and slacks, and to Adam van Koeverden for a dark grey tweed jacket over a brown high-collar knit sweater which was over a white shirt (and presumably a tie), along with blue jeans. Dishonourable mention goes out to Rebecca Alty for a mustard yellow jacket over an off-white v-necked top and black slacks.