The QP clip: Parliamentarians traded fish puns

 

This week, Question Period has been consumed largely by questions about the government’s move to make changes to the General Preferential Tariff Regime. The opposition charges that the feds are hiking tariffs across the board on consumer goods, and they say it’ll cost Canadians $300 million a year.

The Liberals, led by new leader Justin Trudeau, have pushed hardest on the issue, relentless in their condemnation of the tariff changes. Today, the NDP’s John Rafferty, an MP from northern Ontario, got in on the action. He called the new tariffs, which could raise prices on fishing gear, a “bass tax.” Ted Menzies, the minister of state for finance, replied that Rafferty had it all “bass ackwards.”