Monday in the Commons, and there were few leaders in the House — just Elizabeth May and Thomas Mulcair. Mulcair kept up with this short questions, asking first the date in which the Prime Minister spoke with Mike Duffy about his expenses. Baird gave a packaged talking point about how Harper insisted that Duffy repay any improper expenses. Mulcair then asked whether Senator LeBreton recused herself from cabinet discussions involving Senate expenses (though I’m not sure why she would, but whatever). Baird returned to the talking points about how Harper learned about the deal on the morning of the 15th. When Mulcair asked about Senators being paid for campaigning, Baird said that all campaign expenses were paid from by party funds. Megan Leslie was up next, more questions on the expenses, to which Baird gave the same talking point about repaying expenses and hey, Mulcair sat on that bribe allegation for 17 years. Bob Rae was up for the Liberals and asked why not simply call one public inquiry than to have the several separate private enquiries currently going on with regards to the Wright-Duffy affair. Baird touted the Accountability Act, and hey, your caucus has a Senator with an offshore tax haven (which is of course false).
Category Archives: Question Period
QP: Back to the buffoonery
After a really good QP, and one that was a little better than average, there we no hopes for a good show as none of the leaders were present — Harper was entertaining the president of Chile, while Mulcair and Trudeau were each giving speeches in Montreal and Toronto respectively. That left Megan Leslie to lead off, with the kinds of preambles and soliloquies that we expect from QP scripts, and James Moore — the designated back-up PM du jour — gave a boilerplate about how Wright admitted doing wrong, and by the way, your leader is covering up corruption in Montreal. Leslie tried to ask about former Senator Bert Brown’s travel expenses — which has precisely zero do do with government operations and should have been disallowed. Moore mentioned Elections Canada had all of the campaign expense files, and returned to the point about Mulcair covering up corruption. Leslie then moved onto the appropriateness of Nigel Wright getting severance pay, which was followed up by David Christopherson, who tried to tie it to Harper’s comments about David Dodge back in 2005. Moore said that Wright would get the minimum amount owed to him by law and nothing more. Ralph Goodale was up for the Liberals and brought up Nigel Wright’s emails to Senator Duffy, but Moore’s dodge/counter-punch was about Liberal Senator Pana Merchant’s husband’s offshore account. When Goodale wondered why Duffy’s wage weren’t being garnisheed to ensure that he paid the $90,000 he personally owed, not that Moore’s answer changed, nor did it change when Stéphane Dion tried to impress upon him the illegality of Wright’s payment.
QP: But what about the mayor of Laval?
After yesterday’s standout QP performance, the question was going to be whether lightning could strike twice. Mulcair opted not to use his mini-lectern for a second day in a row, and with notes on his desk, asked briefly about the emails between Senator Mike Duffy and Nigel Wright. Harper highlighted that Duffy was no longer in caucus was being investigated by the appropriate authorities. Mulcair then asked if the RCMP had asked PMO for said emails, and Harper insisted they were cooperating — unlike Mulcair sitting on a bribery allegation for some 17 years. Mulcair tried to press on what was discussed in Cabinet, but Harper insisted that this wasn’t public business and therefore not discussed in cabinet. Mulcair wanted to know how Harper could be sure that it was a personal cheque, and Harper said that he would take Wright at his word — and by the way, you sat on a bribery allegation for 17 years. Justin Trudeau was up next and returned to the February 20 email and wanted it to be made public, but Harper went back to his talking point about about cooperating with authorities. Trudeau brought up the media contacting the PMO in the afternoon of May 14th and the identical talking points from Duffy and the PMO that evening, but Harper continued to insist he found out on the morning of the 15th. When Trudeau pressed, Harper brought up Liberal Senator Pana Merchant’s husband’s offshore accounts, to much applause.
QP: The way QP should happen
With Harper finally — finally! — back in the House for the first time since the whole ClusterDuff affair really exploded, it was shaping up to be an incredibly tense day. Thomas Mulcair stood without script or mini-lectern before him, and asked short, pointed questions about the Nigel Wright/Mike Duffy exchange. Harper stood and delivered his usual points about how he learned the about the issue at the same time as everyone else, and that he accepted Wright’s resignation — his tone getting all the more exasperated. When it was his turn, Trudeau asked a longer question with more of a preamble, asking for information and documentation related to the exchange. Harper insisted that they were cooperating with the investigations from the Ethics officers of both chambers. For his final question, Trudeau asked if everyone involved, including Harper himself, would testify under oath in public about what he knew. Harper repeated his answer, and threw in a gratuitous slam about Trudeau trying to pit regions against one another.
QP: James Moore goes on the attack
Despite being back in the country, Stephen Harper remained out of the House for QP — not that his absence was enough for Thomas Mulcair to change his script, as he read questions designed to be asked of the Prime Minister. James Moore, the designated back-up PM du jour, insisted that the Prime Minister was demonstrating accountability (despite not being at QP, which is the prime moment of accountability every day), that the NDP should get on board with Senate “reform,” and by the way, your MPs aren’t paying their taxes. Mulcair moved onto questions on CSIS not passing along information on Jeffrey Delisle to the RCMP while he passed along classified intelligence, but Vic Toews rebutted by saying that the media story made the wrong conclusions, and by the way, your MPs aren’t paying their taxes. Justin Trudeau was up next for the Liberals, and brought up the fact that they would be moving a motion in the Ethics Committee to study the Wright/Duffy affair, and would the government have their MPs in that committee vote to support the motion so that the air can be cleared. Moore rebutted with the non-sequitur of Trudeau’s comments on the Senate — taking it all out of context, of course. Trudeau then brought up the Federal Court ruling around misleading robocalls, not that Moore changed his answer of attacking Trudeau.
QP: What Nigel Wright did was wrong
With Harper still away, now in Colombia, and Justin Trudeau on an Atlantic Canada mall food court tour, and Thomas Mulcair, well, elsewhere, it was only Elizabeth May as the sole party leader in the House. That left it up to David Christopherson to kick off QP on behalf of the NDP by shouting out his script about Senator Duffy’s primary residency. James Moore, the designated back-up PM du jour, assured him that new questions had been raised which was why the report was being re-evaluated. Christopherson and then Françoise Boivin tried to then press about the knowledge in the PMO of the payment from Nigel Wright to the Senator, of any documents, but Moore repeated the PM’s long-distance assurances that he didn’t know anything about the deal until it was in the media. Ralph Goodale was up next, asking why it took so long for the PM to act about the revelation of Wright’s involvement, and offer a reminder of the Criminal Code sanctions for such a payment. Moore simply repeated the official denial of knowledge of what happened.
QP: A tacit admission that Wright was in the wrong
After Tuesday’s rather dismal performance by the opposition in trying to hold a government to account in the face of scandal, it remained to be seen if anything would be any better today. QP got underway as Thomas Mulcair stood to read a question about how asking the Senate Board of Internal Economy looking into the Duffy affair was tantamount to Paul Martin asking Jean Chrétien to investigate the sponsorship scandal. John Baird, once more the designated back-up PM du jour, said that he had indicated the audit was being referred to two independent bodies, but didn’t clarify or dispute Mulcair’s assertion that it was Internal Economy. Mulcair pressed for documents related to the affair, but Baird insisted that no documents existed to the best of his knowledge. Nathan Cullen tried once more to get answers, but got the very same carefully parsed answers. Justin Trudeau was up next and asked who gave the order for the Conservative majority on the Board of Internal Economy to whitewash the Duffy audit report — and offered to provide the original, damning audit. Baird consisted to insist that the audit found improper expenses, which were paid back, but it should be noted that the talking point that Wright did the honourable thing in writing the cheque had vanished, and there was no disputing that his resignation was accepted once the PM found out about the transaction.
QP: Harper knew nothing
With the Clusterduff explosions still ringing in the air, and Harper on his way to Peru, it was a somewhat tense mood in the House as Question Period started. Thomas Mulcair began by reading a dig about Harper jetting off to Peru before demanding that the RCMP be called in and all papers be turned over. John Baird, the designated back-up PM du jour, read a carefully prepared script about how Harper didn’t know about the payment until last week, and that he made a strong statement about it that morning. Françoise Boivin tried another kick at the same questions, bringing up his iron-fisted control and micromanagement of his office to indicate that he had to be aware, but Baird told her that he’d already given a clear answer, and that perhaps she learn how to roll with QP (as opposed to sticking to her script). Justin Trudeau decried that the government had lost its moral compass, and asked the for the documents on the deal between Nigel Wright and Mike Duffy. Baird responded with the very same answer, that nobody knew anything. For his final question, Trudeau wanted an apology to Canadians over the whole affair, but Baird wasn’t about to provide one.
QP: Scurrilous accusations of the Other Place
With the March For Life having left the lawn outside the Hill, and Mark Warawa having won his little victory by making a statement on female “gendercide” in the House, Question Period got started with Thomas Mulcair reading a question on whether the government would back the NDP’s opposition day motion on the improperly reported $3.1 billion in anti-terrorism funds. Harper got up and calmly reminded him that the Auditor General himself said the money was not misspent, and they will follow through on improving their reporting on the future. Mulcair then turned to the issue of the Senate audits and made a number of scurrilous accusations about the character of the Other Place. Harper said that the external auditors found ambiguities in the rules but that the Senate expected better of its members and they would be repaying the money owed. For his final question, Mulcair asked about a woman who was denied benefits while she received treatment for breast cancer while on maternity leave. Harper said that they recently changed the rules in order to ensure that these instances wouldn’t happen again. For the Liberals, Dominic LeBlanc asked about the government’s wasteful spending on ads and media monitoring instead of youth summer jobs. Diane Finley rose to take that question, and rejected the premise, and touted the launch of the Canada Summer Jobs programme. Ralph Goodale was up next, asking the same in English — and got the very same response. For his final question, Goodale asked about the demise of the long-form census, noting that some small towns were wiped out because of insufficient data. Christian Paradis responded with the red herring about a larger sample size ignoring the actual statistical invalidity of much of the data.
QP: Money in the banana stand
Wednesday, caucus day, and the benches were mostly full. Thomas Mulcair started off by reading a pair of questions about the improperly reported $3.1 billion in anti-terror funds, and showed just how with it he is by making an Arrested Development reference, asking if the money was in the banana stand. Harper ignored it and once again assured him that the Auditor General said that the money was not misspent. Mulcair then turned to the issue of Treasury Board taking an active hand in the collective bargaining of Crown Corporations. Harper reminded him that the government backstops these Crown Corporations, and with some of them in financial difficulty, they had an obligation to ensure that taxpayer’s money was being treated responsibly. For his final question, Mulcair brought up the demise of the mandatory long-form census, as the National Household Survey data was released today. Harper responded with congratulations to Statistics Canada for the data release and praise for how high quality the data was. Justin Trudeau was then up, and after paying mention to the long-form census, he turned to the question of those Economic Action Plan™ ads, and how each spot they run during the playoffs, it costs the same as 32 student summer jobs. Harper first repeated his congratulations to Statistics Canada, before he moved onto the necessity of informing Canadians of how well the economy is doing by way of those ads.