Tag Archives: Auditor General

QP: F-35 edition

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After some Members’ Statements to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day and a moment of silence to pay respect, Question Period: F-35 edition got underway. Thomas Mulcair took up all five slots in the leader’s round to demand that Peter MacKay be held responsible for the debacle (not that he demanded his resignation outright), but Harper responded with his usual manner – standing up, shrugging, and saying that they’ve accepted the Auditor General’s report and have put in place a new secretariat to oversee the process. And it was probably Thomas Mulcair’s best performance, with shorter more direct questions, but he was still reading them off. Bob Rae stood up to decry the $10 billion misinformation and wanted Harper personally held responsible, right up to his resignation. Harper was sounding a bit more testy by the end, but kept going back to his talking points about accepting the report and the establishment of a new secretariat, but he did use the rather odd language of it being a more independent process to verify cost estimates, rather than to run an open competition. And in case you were worried, no, he didn’t offer his resignation over this affair.

Round two was largely dominated again by the F-35 debacle. Christine Moore, Matthew Kellway, Matthew Ravignat, Peggy Nash and Malcolm Allen had their own takes on it, whether it was more calls for MacKay to take responsibility, or trying to paint Christian Paradis with the same brush from his time as Public Works minister, or demanding an apology on behalf of the Parliamentary Budget Officer for the way he was treated when his estimates were unpopular but later proved correct. Answering were Julian Fantino, Rona Ambrose, and Peter MacKay, but they only repeated the very same talking points as before (though Ambrose, to her credit, could at least mix it up a bit and give the same talking point six different ways and make it sound like she was giving more information than she really was). Marc Garneau demanded MacKay’s resignation (MacKay: You’re misrepresenting the AG’s report), John McKay followed suit (Ambrose: Look! New secretariat!), and Judy Foote demanded that Fantino resign, calling him the minister without portfolio (the M-4 Unit stood up to respond, and you could hear his duotronic circuits whirring for a few seconds while he tried to formulate a response, before he simply went back to his talking points). From here, the topic shifted, and Hoang Mai asked about the AG report on tax avoidance (Shea: Look at all the things the AG praised us for!), while Nycole Turmel and Paul Dewar asked about the effect of public service job cuts (Saxton: Yay leaner government!).

Round three saw questions on Bruce Carson’s relationship with John Duncan, patronage appointments, CBC cuts, gas prices in Quebec, the demise of the National Round Table on Energy and the Requirement and Rights & Democracy, cuts to staff on military bases, and federal intrusion in BC’s coasts with regards to the Northern Gateway pipeline (Lebel: There are sound regulations in place).

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to John McKay for his charcoal suit with a pink shirt and light blue tie, and to Michelle Rempel for a simple yet tailored black dress with a blue and grey scarf that wasn’t distracting. Style citations go out to Jasbir Sandhu for a pale orange shirt and tie with his grey suit, and to Lynne Yelich for a yellow jacket with black piping with a black turtleneck.

QP: That damning F-35 report

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After a morning spent breathlessly talking about the Auditor General’s report, we were waiting for fireworks. Harper was in the House, Mulcair was ready with his scripted questions sitting on his miniature lectern on his desk, but when the time came, Mulcair instead led off with a fairly pro forma question on budget cuts, to which Harper responded about transfer payments growing faster than provinces themselves were, and that they weren’t actually being cut. So much for that. Mulcair then turned to the F-35s and the Auditor General’s report, for which Harper assured him that they had accepted the report and were putting into place more rigorous supervision of the procurement process. Christine Moore followed up with more of the same, and Julian Fantino delivered an answer just like Harper’s. Ralph Goodale demanded to know why there was still no open tender for replacement fighters, to which Fantino accused Goodale of ignoring the good things the AG said in the report, though Goodale immediately countered that those good things praised were what the Liberals had put into place. When Marc Garneau asked about the government’s wilful blindness on the problems in the process, Rona Ambrose got up to tout the new secretariat being put into place to manage the procurement process.

Round two was mostly taken up with F-35 questions from the likes of Matthew Kellway, Malcolm Allan, and Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, for which we got mostly the same answers from either Fantino (who did mention a new Seven Point Plan™ on the process), or Ambrose. Peter Julian asked about a report claiming private sector job losses stemming from public sector cuts (Flaherty: those are wild numbers), Olvia how asked about the AG’s report on air safety (Lebel: We accept the report – basically shrugging off the reporting of serious lapses in safety inspections), and Jamie Nicholls asked about Aveos (Lebel: It’s an issue with two private companies). John McKay and Dominic LeBlanc returned to the F-35 and four years of mismanagement (Ambrose: New secretariat!). Irene Mathyssen and Kellie Leitch traded scripted outrage versus scripted bafflegab, Huang Mai asked about future tolls on the Champlain Bridge (Lebel: There’s no question about tolls right now), and Françoise Boivin asked about Quebec’s court challenge on long-gun registry data (Bernier: We’re going to defend our area of jurisdiction).

Round three saw questions on the demise of Rights & Democracy, Henk Tepper, OAS versus the Prime Minister’s special retirement allowance, environmental assessments at airports, a Canadian in a Spanish prison, drug shortages, GMO pork, and a final question on the long-gun registry data.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Greg Rickford who again proves that tailoring is key, with his black suit, white shirt and pocket square, and striped blue tie, and to Alexandrine Latendresse for her grey and black top, black skirt and black jacket. Style citations go out to Robert Goguen for a fluorescent blue shirt/black suit violation, and to Isabelle Morin for a black and floral jacket. The Christine Moore Shiny Watch today reports a multi-coloured metallic dress (that could have come from Talos IV) with black bordering around the waist and bust lines, paired with a black jacket.

QP: Attacking a provincial government

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As the NDP’s budget filibuster – for lack of a better term – continues, it was little surprise that Thomas Mulcair decided to start off today’s Question Period by reading off a trio of questions about the budget and jobs, careful to mention the Aveos job losses and forthcoming public sector cuts. As Harper was off in Washington for a “Three Amigos” meeting, we were instead treated to Peter Van Loan as designated replacement PM for the day, who touted the focus on job creation and economic growth in the budget, and that the NDP’s plan for higher taxes would kill those jobs. Peter Julian got up to ask about the public service cuts, to which Jim Flaherty replied that Julian should read all about the job creation hiring credit within the budget. Bob Rae stood up to ask a pair of questions about why Flaherty thought it was acceptable to attack the province of Ontario’s finances, but Van Loan did not answer, but simply kept trying to assert that Rae was a terrible premier back in his day. For his final question, Rae asked about the “special allowance” given to retired Prime Ministers, but Van Loan insisted that the budget was clear that MP pensions would be brought into line with those of the private sector.

Round two kicked off with Robert Chisholm calling the budget “mean-spirited” (Flaherty: Look at the long-term growth projections!), Wayne Marston and Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe asking about OAS pensions and downloading costs to the provinces (Leitch: We’re acting responsibly!), Libby Davies asked about the so-called cuts to health transfers (Aglukkaq: We’re not cutting transfers), and Hélène LeBlanc asked about the changes coming to the National Research Council (Paradis: We’ve doubled some research funds!). Marc Garneau and Justin Trudeau asked about the suggestions by Conservative MPs of incompetence at Elections Canada at the Procedure and House Affairs committee last week, and about their budget cuts (Uppal: We supported the motion in the House; Van Loan: They assured us they have all the resources they need), and John McKay asking about the forthcoming Auditor General’s report on the F-35s (Fantino: Wait for the report). Matthew Kellway and Christine Moore asked about the F-35 process (Fantino: We need replacement planes), and Jack Harris and Ryan Cleary asked about that search and rescue failure in Labrador (McKay: The Canadian Forces tries to respond to these requests).

Round three saw questions on the Northern Gateway Pipeline approval process, killing the Public Appointments Commission Secretariat, the environmental cuts in the budget (Kent: The budget proves how committed we are to the environment! Yes, indeed it does), Bell planning to double payphone rates to a dollar per call, the letter to Peter MacKay written by a former search and rescue technician about the impact of the changes, unilingual Anglophone IRB judges (Dykstra: Do you want us to fire the unilingual francophone ones in Quebec too?), cuts to the Council of Welfare, and environmental assessments with future airport construction.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Jonathan Genest-Jourdain for his grey suit with a white shirt a somewhat whimsical purple tie, and to Lisa Raitt for her tailored black leather jacket with a striped white collared shirt. Style citations go out to Maxime Bernier for a black suit with a yellow shirt and pocket square, with a red tie, and to Linda Duncan for a creation that appeared to be patchwork, but I can’t much describe it beyond that. Glance askance over to Christine Moore, whose love of shiny metallic ensembles was demonstrated today by a top that was comprised entirely of silver sequins.

And in case you missed it, this little rhyme from Liberal MP Roger Cuzner had everyone in the House laughing before QP got started.