Despite the previous afternoon’s tensions, the bulk of the Members’ Statements prior to QP were in recognition of the École Polytechnique massacre 23 years ago, followed by a minute of silence, and that kept the mood somber and tempers restrained. When QP began, Thomas Mulcair read off a question about a story in the Toronto Star that the government may be looking to weaken gun control laws further. Harper assured him that wasn’t the case, and the prohibited weapons category existed for a reason – namely public safety. Mulcair then read the same question in French, and got the same response. And then Françoise Boivin asked a pair of questions on the very same thing, to which Vic Toews assured her that no, they weren’t going to weaken the regulations. (Note: this is what happens when you stick to scripted questions and can’t think on your feet and actually debate like you’re supposed to). When Bob Rae got up for the Liberals to ask if Harper would consider adding the Chiefs of Police and the perspectives of domestic violence and suicide prevention groups to the firearms advisory council. Harper told him that he would take it under advisement because it is such a serious issue. For his final question, Rae asked if the government would table the KPMG report on the F-35s before the House rises for the winter break. Harper talked around the answer, and didn’t make such a commitment.
Tag Archives: Fiscal Austerity
QP: The pressing matter of random Breathalyzer tests
For the first time in a couple of weeks, both Stephen Harper and Thomas Mulcair were in the House at the same time for QP, and had the chance to face-off. Mulcair led-off by reading a question about random Breathalyzer testing legislation, to which Harper assured him that the government had brought in measures and would be doing more as they went along. Rob Nicholson asked two follow-ups by hectoring the NDP for not being tough on all kinds of crime. Mulcair carried on with the leader’s round, taking all five questions, with a pro forma question on the economy, which Harper shrugged off with a pro forma answer, and the final question was on the First Nations Residential Schools apology, to which Harper assured him that they were cooperating, but that some of the documents now under contention were personal records that were outside of the scope of the commission. Bob Rae was then up, asking about the need for consultation with the Northern Gateway project, with respect to First Nations. Harper assured him that they were consulting, but Rae challenged him on this, saying that the government downloaded that consultation to the National Energy Board.
QP: Dancing around disability questions
It was nearly a full House, which is rare for a Monday, but as is also the norm for a Monday, Harper was absent. Nevertheless, Thomas Mulcair got the ball rolling by reading a about the government missing its economic targets, to which John Baird, the designated back-up PM du jour, first congratulated the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their happy news before he moved onto approved Economic Action Plan™ talking points. When Mulcair pressed on about job numbers and temporary foreign workers, Baird kept on with the Action Plan™. Peter Julian was up next to denounce the supposed fire sale of Canadian resources to China, to which Christian Paradis assured him that they will ensure investments provide a net benefit to Canada. Bob Rae was up then for the Liberals and asked about the government’s disability tax credit and whether or not it would be made refundable. (It was Persons With Disabilities Day, for the record). Baird danced around the question with feel-good talking points about all kinds of tax credits.
QP: The return of tainted meat questions
It ended up being a week without the two main leaders facing off in QP, where Mulcair was again absent while Harper was back in the Chamber today. And despite there being three NDP deputy leaders in the House, they nevertheless decided to have Nycole Turmel read off the scripted question about a memo at CFIA about ignoring contaminated meat for non-Japan markets. Harper responded by saying that they ensure that meat is just as safe for Canadians as for the export market. Turmel then asked about cuts to inspections, to which Gerry Ritz responded this time, saying that they were enhancing the regulatory powers, and that the NDP voted against it. Malcolm Allen followed up with more of the same, this time in English, and got much the same from Ritz in response. When Bob Rae got up for the Liberals, he hammered away on the CFIA memo, not that Harper and Ritz responded any differently.
QP: Schrödinger’s contingency plan
While Thomas Mulcair was back in the Commons today, Harper was off meeting the President-elect of Mexico, who is currently visiting Ottawa. So while Mulcair opened QP by reading off a trio of questions on whether or not the government had any contingency plans for another fiscal downturn, it was Jason Kenney’s turn to be back-up PM du jour, and he responded that there was a line in each budget for unexpected expenses. Oh, and the NDP would raise taxes. Peggy Nash then asked what the government was going to cut in order to meet its election promises, to which Ted Menzies batted back about the fictional “carbon tax” and reiterated their intention to get the budget in balance within the current parliament. Bob Rae demanded an apology from the Conservatives for their engaging Campaign Research for their reprehensible calls into Irwin Cotler’s riding, to which Peter Van Loan (correctly) pointed out that this wasn’t about government business, before he went on to say that the Speaker had already settled this issue.
QP: Carney’s “abrupt” departure
In the afterglow of the by-elections, and with Thomas Mulcair still absent – having celebrated his party’s win in Victoria last night – it was up to Libby Davies to lead off QP for the NDP today, and she started off with a question on budget choices. Harper indulged her, and spoke about preserving essential services while still eliminating the deficit in the medium term and growing the economy. So far so good. But then Davies painted a rather odd picture about Mark Carney making an abrupt departure for England, and getting out of Canada in a hurry before our economy cratered again – apparently. Roars of laughter went across the Conservative and Liberal benches, and when Harper did get up, he reminded Davies that their definitions of “abrupt” may be different as Carney is sticking around until June, and that he doesn’t take his new position until July. Oops. Nycole Turmel was up next to wonder about what the government’s fiscal contingency plan was, considering that Europe was back in recession. In response, Jim Flaherty touted the OECD’s projections that Canada would be the second-fastest growing economy in the next two years, behind only the US, which is starting from a much worse position than we are. Bob Rae was then up for the Liberals, asking about the coming 2014 health accords and whether there would be provisions for drug coverage, as it is the fastest-growing portion of healthcare costs. Harper reminded him that healthcare is a provincial responsibility, and that the government sends plenty of health transfer dollars to the provinces.
QP: Not meeting with the premiers
The day was not off to a promising start as more statements condemning David McGuinty and the Liberals continued to make the rounds during the QP warm-up, because hey, there’s a by-election four days away, and there’s nothing like cheap political hay to be made. Thomas Mulcair started off by reading a pair of questions on why Harper wasn’t attending the First Ministers’ meeting in Halifax to talk about the economy, to which Harper assured him that he meets with the premiers regularly, and he’s focused on the economy. For his last question, Mulcair asked about the court case against the Parliamentary Budget Officer, but Harper didn’t answer about that, only offered to “correct” Mulcair’s preamble aside about how job numbers weren’t really that great, and so on. Libby Davies was up next asking about child poverty rates, to which Diane Finley assured her that they were less than half of what they were under the Liberals because of the government’s good work. Bob Rae returned to the question of Harper not speaking to the premiers, and Harper said that he not only met with premiers regularly, but members of the business community and ordinary Canadians too!
QP: By-election questions in the House
With Stephen Harper off answering audience questions at the Canadian American Business Council’s fall policy conference, and John Baird over in the United Arab Emirates discussing the Gaza situation with his counterparts, it was up for grabs as to whose turn it was to be back-up PM du jour. So when Thomas Mulcair got up to read a pair of questions on Harper and Jim Flaherty contradicting each other’s deficit rounding error numbers, we found out that Tony Clement was the day’s designated hitter, who informed the House that it was their objective to balance the budget by 2015, and the NDP wants to raise taxes. Mulcair moved onto a question about why Harper wasn’t meeting with premiers in Halifax, what with the “fiscal cliff” looming and all, by Clement reminded everyone that the NDP wants to raise taxes. Peggy Nash tried to press after why Harper wasn’t meeting with the premiers, but this time Ted Menzies got to respond, reminding her that Harper meets with the premiers regularly. Bob Rae was up next, asking about a Calgary infrastructure project that was to have benefitted from an arrangement with P3 Canada, only to have the rules changed once the project was completed (and incidentally, this happened a year ago, and in the scrums afterward, Rae openly admitted that yeah, he’s asking these questions because there’s a by-election in Calgary Centre and god forbid there be politics in the House of Commons). Menzies accused Rae of having incorrect information, but did congratulate him on his concern for Calgary, and only wished that the Leader of the Official Opposition felt the same. For his final question, Rae asked about the situation in Gaza and working toward a cease-fire, to which Peter MacKay responded with a reaffirmation of the right of Israel to defend itself.
Roundup: Alerted to mischief days before the vote
Uh oh. Access to Information documents show that the public were raising concerns about misleading robo-calls to Elections Canada before the election took place, and that Elections Canada was already in contact with the Conservative Party’s lawyer about said mischief. These new clues fit in with the testimony given by the owner of that one phone bank company regarding the calls they were making for the Conservatives in the days leading up to the campaign.
Some 11,000 jobs have been cut so far in the public service, 7500 of them by attrition, says Tony Clement.
There has been some drama in the Senate over amendments to the Cluster munitions treaty.
QP: A near-outbreak of spontaneous debate
It was a strange kind of place in the Commons this morning – the Chamber was on a Friday schedule so that MPs could head back to their ridings early for Remembrance Day activities, and it was a mostly Friday-vibe in the House, with most front-benchers gone – either mentally or physically – and time distorted into what felt like the longest 45 minutes in history. Despite there being other NDP deputy leaders present, it was Nycole Turmel who was chosen to haltingly read off the lead questions about proposals to privatise certain social services in order to run them like Goldman Sachs – or something like that. (In reality, Diane Finley wants charities and private enterprise to explore “social finance instruments,” not that you could tell from the question Turmel asked.) Kellie Leitch responded with an equally coherent accusation that the NDP want to raise taxes and won’t support the Economic Action Plan™ to create jobs. So really, an edifying start to the day. For her last question, Turmel switched to English and lamented the Service Canada wait times, to which James Moore – apparently the part-time back-up PM du jour – responded that just because they were doing things differently it didn’t mean it was worse, or something that effect. Megan Leslie was up next and denounced this call for ideas as a PR stunt to cover cuts. Leitch responded that they were trying to let local communities tackle local problems. Leslie then switched to ski trails being on the receive end of cuts, but Peter Kent assured her that they were protecting natural spaces, and that they were working with volunteer groups. Bob Rae was then up for the Liberals, demanding to know what caused the government to settle with Ashley Smith’s family in their lawsuit, and what other videos or evidence they had in possession, not only with this case, but with other prison deaths concerning the mentally ill. James Moore repeatedly stood up – despite Toews being in the Chamber – and said that all kinds of information was being provided to the inquiry, but Toews remained in his seat, no matter Rae’s efforts.