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Government Accountability

This was question period on the topic of government accountability. The Conservatives said ministers could not answer basic questions in the House and that Canadians were unhappy with the government’s performance. The Liberals replied that the Leader of the Opposition faced problems with his own backbench MPs, and said the Prime Minister was representing Canada at the G7 and trusted all 174 Liberal MPs. The remainder of the exchanges consisted of the two sides trading criticism of each other’s leadership and caucus rather than discussion of a specific measure.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

Official text

2 statements

Andrew Lawton

Conservative

Linked statement

“Government ministers cannot answer basic questions in the House. They are not doing their jobs well, and Canadians are unhappy with them.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, what a mess this is. I actually feel bad for the Prime Minister that this is the cabinet he has to deal with. The fisheries minister shrugged because she did not even know what a question was about, before winging it anyway with a non-answer. The foreign affairs minister just said she is consulting to cover up three years of inaction. The public safety minister is refusing to listen to Canadians’ concerns on Bill C-22 and is hell-bent on ramming it through. I thought we actually had an overperformer with the treasury board president’s finding his notes today, but then the Liberals did not let him answer a question anyway, because he did not have the answer. Is the Prime Minister happy with his front bench? Canadians sure as heck are not.

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Steven MacKinnon

Liberal
“The Leader of the Opposition is having trouble with his own MPs. The Prime Minister is representing Canada at the G7, and he trusts all 174 of our MPs.”

  • Government answer in Question Period

    Signal 34 of 100

    Much of this statement went to praise, blame, greetings, routine procedure or general stories rather than reasons, requests or specific points.

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, well, it is pretty obvious that the Leader of the Opposition has an issue on his backbench. After all, the colleague sat down at a small desk in a cabin somewhere and wrote out the biography of the leader of the opposition, longhand, and look where he got. I can tell the House that the Prime Minister, from the G7, from representing us proudly on the world stage, has confidence in the entire team of 174 MPs— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

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