An unusual bit of political theatre played out during Tuesday’s Trent Hills council meeting when our Member of Parliament Philip Lawrence made a presentation billed as an update.
He and an assistant arrived just before the meeting started. Lawrence was greeted by Councillor Rob Pope who jokingly, perhaps, said: “Did you bring any money?” Lawrence laughed and said: “Maybe in a year and a half.”
Lawrence could have declared Mission Accomplished right there and gone on to his next event, since clearly his message was that he is a cabinet-minister-in-waiting and things will change when the Conservatives take power in late 2025.
His update, which lasted the better part of half an hour, started with a slip of the tongue that others with a psychology background can puzzle over.
“I am going to tell you a little bit about what the plan will be if in fact we are honoured to form government in the next election,” he said. “Just a little bit about what's going on in Ottawa currently in the House of Representatives, my apologies in the House of Commons.”
Lawrence has been an MP for almost five years, so it was an odd error, since he clearly knows what building he works in. I worked at the Toronto Star for 17 years and never accidently told anyone that I was from the New York Times or the Toronto Sun.
He started by acknowledging that the whole idea of an update was a bit odd. “I'm in the opposition party, so that puts me in the awkward position of reporting on what the government is doing as someone who whose job it is to be at His Majesty's loyal opposition.”
In fact, no surprise, he didn’t talk much about what the Liberal government is doing. Lawrence did say that he has written several strongly worded letters on behalf of Trent Hills and other municipalities asking the government to increase the size of infrastructure grants it provided during COVID. The problem is that municipalities found costs skyrocketed during the pandemic due to shortages of labour and material and they want Ottawa to go back and increase the funding for projects that went over the budgets set in 2018-19.
Lawrence said his pleas for action have been ignored, but suggested at least he gets a response, which is more than Liberal backbenchers often receive.
But Trent Hills may have trouble extracting more money from a Conservative government as well, since Lawrence said a Pierre Poilievre government will freeze spending and any increase in one area would have to be offset by a cut elsewhere.
Lawrence, who was a tax lawyer before turning to politics, launched into a lengthy explanation of the fact that Canadian productivity has declined under the Trudeau government and is a problem that needs fixing.
This is all true, but he neglected to mention that productivity also declined under the Stephen Harper government, so it appears the problem is structural, not political.
Lawrence also promised that a Poilievre government will help boost the supply of housing and get tougher on crime by ensuring repeat offenders are locked up longer, both themes we will hear lots about over the next two years.
In the end, it was a congenial chat among folks who hope better days are ahead.