“Mr. Speaker, if the Liberals had their way, they would continue to spread the kind of misinformation and scare-mongering that they have been doing in recent days. Their health critic had to of course apologize earlier for making some rather regrettable comments and trying to make light of a public health emergency. We have an important responsibility. The Minister of National Revenue makes important pronouncements with respect to the tax credits available to Canadians. The Minister of Finance reports back to Canadians, as mandated by this House, on our economic stimulus plan. We are working hard to create jobs and opportunities. We are working hard to get that job done.”
However, search as you might, it's hard to find a convincing answer hidden in there. Who cares what John Baird thinks the Liberals would do if they were in power? That is not the question and he knows it. The Liberals are not the government and they are not the ones that have abused of public money repeatedly for partisan purposes. It is very easy to build up this straw man based on conjecture, and then seemingly defeat it.
As for what the Liberal Health Critic said, I have not seen the comment. Nonetheless, I do know that even if it was offensive, she apologized. However, what I am even more sure of is the total irrelevance of this comment. Once again, is it important to know whether a Liberal made a comment they had to retract? As far as I know, she did not use public money to issue this comment.
Finally, Baird mentioned two ministers who require money for their announcements. Once again, he addresses a completely new question, one that no one would dispute. All agreed on public money being used to make announcements, but not partisan ones. The question was concerned instead with partisan ads that have appeared on radio and television.
FOR JOHN BAIRD: THE QUESTION WAS ON PARTISAN ADVERTISING, NOT HYPOTHETICAL MUSINGS ON LIBERAL BEHAVIOUR IF THEY REGAIN POWER. IT WAS NOT ON THE APPROPRIATENESS OF LIBERAL MP COMMENTS. NEITHER WAS IT CONCERNED WITH GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS ON REAL POLICY, BUT WITH PARTISAN ADVERTISING.
If only based on Question Period responses, one would have enough evidence of Conservative incompetence on which to base a refusal to vote Conservative. Recommend this Post at Progressive Bloggers If you liked this post, please vote for my blog at Canadian Blogosphere
"As for what the Liberal Health Critic said, I have not seen the comment."
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't actually a comment YL. Bennett had sent out a 10%er with pics of a body bag & a young native child suffering. First Nations Chiefs & peoples were offended by it. That's what she apologized for.
If kids in high school answer questions the way the Cons do in QP, I suspect they would not be getting very good grades.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it the job of the Speaker of the House to point out when a question has not been answered?
I guess the only good thing that perhaps can be said is that things would likely be worse with a Cons speaker