QP: Grudging admission of belief in climate science

With so many issues on the headlines across
the nation, it’s always a guessing game to see which one will top off QP.
Today, Nycole Turmel led off with a question on Quebec’s proposed legal
challenge for long-gun registry data, to which Harper gave his usual assurances
about not targeting law-abiding duck hunters. Turmel then moved to the Kyoto
withdrawal, to which Harper assured her that they were pursuing domestic and
international policies to target all major emitters. Libby Davies then asked
about rumoured cuts to future health transfers, to which Leona Aglukkaq stood
up to assure her that they support the publicly-funded system and that they’ve
increased transfers to record levels already. Bob Rae got up to return to the

question of Kyoto and asked if Harper believed in climate science – and Harper
dodged on the first question but did answer in the supplemental a kind of
grudging acceptance. For his last question, Rae wondered what changed between
the time when a younger Stephen Harper used to think they should cap the number
of MPs in the House and redistribute the seats and now, to which Harper told
him that since 2004 they’ve been consistent about the need for more seats for
fairer representation.

Round two kicked off with Megan Leslie
asking about the Environment Commissioner’s report, to which Peter Kent
repurposed Auditor General talking points for the current issue – that they
accepted the recommendations and were taking action! Laurin Liu followed up
with some specific points from the report on the lack of monitoring for
dangerous chemicals being shipped, to which Denis Lebel read the same
repurposed Auditor General talking points. Philip Toone and Fin Donnelly asked
about cuts to scientists at Fisheries and Oceans (Ashfield: We have a solid
record on science), and Linda Duncan and Mylène Freeman asked about the UN
looking into missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada (Ambrose: There is
no UN investigation, just two civil society groups who made an application and
we’re working with the UN on this). Carolyn Bennett asked about First Nations
housing (John Duncan: We’re working with First Nations), Judy Foote asked about
those cuts to scientists at DFO (Ashfield: You guys were worse), and Hedy Fry
asked about people who can’t afford their medications for chronic illnesses not
taking them (Aglukkaq: We’ve increased transfers to the provinces). Chris
Charlton asked about the new US Steel agreement (Paradis: The mayor of Hamilton
likes this!), and Peter Julian asked about the lack of a jobs plan (Menzies:
You voted against our plans).

Round three saw questions on Quebec’s
challenge on the long-gun registry, the F-35 fighters, a patronage appointment

in Newfoundland and Labrador, the Lobbying Commissioner’s report on Rahim
Jaffer, an international kidnapping case with Canadians in Poland, and a rural
Quebec airport.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Randall Garrison for a dark grey suit with a purple shirt and striped tie, and
to Lisa Raitt for a lighter grey jacket and skirt with a striped pink and white
collared shirt. Style citations go out to Bal Gosal for a dull brown suit and
tie with a tan shirt, and to Christine Moore for a too-tight milk chocolate
jacket and skirt with a darker brown (with white polka dots) top.