Time for a Question Period reality check before John Baird’s spin spins him out of his front bench seat.
For the second consecutive day, the public sparring session was dominated by questions (and no answers) about allegations of Afghan detainee torture and calls for a public inquiry into the situation.
And for the second consecutive day, the Transport Minister, who is standing in for an absent Prime Minister Stephen Harper, misrepresented and misquoted the Liberal defence critic Ujjal Dosanjh to fit the Tory narrative that the Liberals are anti-military.
Mr. Baird said the Vancouver Liberal MP had said “this general, this Canadian war hero was weak and flimsy.”
He added: “Shame on him. Shame on the Liberal Party.”
The war hero is retired lieutenant-general Michel Gauthier, who testified last week before the parliamentary committee investigating the torture allegations.
Today and yesterday, Mr. Baird accused the Liberals of being against the troops, backing up his statements by liberally quoting and interpreting from a statement made by Mr. Dosanjh on CTV’s Question Period Sunday.
This is what Mr. Dosanjh said on the television show: “I believe the situation now is the issue is not about who knew what and when. I think they all admit that they knew and the generals’ defence, as someone said, was morally weak and legally flimsy.”
The “someone” Mr. Dosanjh is referring to is Toronto Star columnist James Travers, who wrote in a column on Saturday: “For all its sound and fury, the counter-attack that politicians, bureaucrats and generals mounted this week was morally weak and legally flimsy.”
Mr. Baird used the column by Mr. Travers, which Mr. Dosanjh quoted from, to accuse the Liberals of being anti-military, anti-soldier, anti-war hero and by extension, anti-Canadian.
But the Liberals weren’t having any of it. At one point, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said his party “holds General Gauthier in the highest respect.”
Mr. Ignatieff wants a public inquiry into the issue because the documents that have been made available or leaked out are so redacted as to “be useless.”
NDP Leader Jack Layton wants an inquiry, too. His party put forward a motion today, during its opposition day, calling on the government to launch an inquiry. The motion, which is non-binding, is expected to pass in a vote later today.
“Why will the government not just simply support a public inquiry,” Mr. Layton asked. “There is a vote today on this. Is the government going to vote against making the truth... [at this point he was cut off].”
Mr. Baird did not answer his question.
And while he was under fire from the opposition, the government attack dog had an easy time answering a lob ball from his colleague, Rodney Weston. The Saint John MP noted that today is the first anniversary of the “reckless coalition” that tried to “overturn” the election results from just two months before.
“Could the Minister of Transport … please remind the House of all the measures that we have introduced to help Canadians?”
Mr. Baird had no trouble with that one: “When Canadians saw the leader of the Liberal Party sign a pledge, a letter to the Governor-General supporting a coalition, they went to the streets and protested.
“Thank goodness that did not happen. We have Canada’s economic action plan,” he said.
As Mr. Baird answered the question, former Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, the would-be head of that coalition, listened with his head in hand before giving a dismissive wave and a mock “blah, blah, blah.”
With a report from Bill Curry
(Photo: Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
