While both Harper and Turmel were absent
from the House today, we did see John Baird take his seat for the first time in
2012, seeing as he’s been on the road the past couple of weeks. Not that we
heard much from him either today, seeing as he was relatively well behaved.
Leading off QP was Peter Julian, who demanded a new accounting for the F-35s in
light of an emergency meeting in Washington being called about their future,
but James Moore, in his capacity as back-up PM du jour, refuted this with an assertion that the NDP hates spending
money on the Canadian Forces. Julian and then Wayne Maston moved on to the OAS
issue, to which Moore told Julian about all the great things the government has
done for seniors, and Diane Finley told Marston that the program is
unsustainable – because Finley knows that, despite all expert evidence that
says the program is sustainable, if she keeps repeating that it isn’t,
eventually people will believe her. Bob Rae then asked about the growing gap
between the “two Canadas” – the prosperous one and the one falling behind – and
worked in how the government raised taxes in January, while Moore tried to
refute these charges and espoused all of the consultation the government has
been doing with Canadians.
Round two kicked off with Lysane
Blanchette-Lamothe asking about the OAS issue in French, before Brian Masse
returned to the F-35 question (Fantino: This isn’t an emergency meeting, it was
planned long ago); Olivia Chow decried the approval of an ethanol plant in
Oshawa by the new port authority there (Poilievre: the port authority is a
great thing!); Alexandre Boulerice asked about patronage appointments at the
Port of Quebec (Poilievre: There’s a process for appointments; Del Mastro: We
believe in open federalism!); and Manon Perreault asked about accessibility fund projects in Quebec (Finley: No government has done more for accessibility
than ours!). Judy Sgro got back to the OAS issue, for which Finley accused her
of misleading Canadians, and Sean Casey asked about the most recent case of a
veteran’s private records being improperly accessed (Blaney: We have a 10-Point
Action Plan™ to address this!). Mathieu Ravignat asked a rambling question
about government waste, the OAS and government cuts (Del Mastro: You don’t
support cutting inefficiencies), and Robert Chisholm closed the round with a
rant about backing off families, but none of us could detect a question in
there. Diane Finley nevertheless accommodated him by praising the virtues of
automating Service Canada processes.
Round three started off with questions
about backlogs in the court system potentially resulting in violent criminals being
released and funding for First Nations education, but then the bomb dropped.
When Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia asked about the forthcoming lawful access
bill – which would allow police to search your ISP and browser history without a warrant
– Vic Toews stood up to declare that “You can stand with us or you can stand
with the child pornographers.” Seriously, he actually said that. And then in
the supplemental, he talked about how the Liberals wanted this bill passed, and
how former MP Marlene Jennings kept urging them to pass lawful access
legislation. Except that Jennings wanted police to get warrants and respect
privacy laws. Seriously, check the quote. The rest of QP saw questions on
Toronto families, muzzling Canadian scientists, protecting orcas and unemployment in Quebec.
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Kirsty Duncan for her tailored black leather jacket with the intricate patterns
along the front fastens, and to Greg Rickford for a dark grey suit with a crisp
white shirt and a lavender tie and pocket square. Style citations go out to Cathy McLeod for a black turtleneck (wrong on her body type) and a burgundy jacket,
and to Patrick Brown for a black suit with a yellow shirt and tie. Stop with
the yellow and black!
Why you can trust Xtra
