Broken record

First, it was, “Mr. Speaker, Minister Penashue has done the right thing under difficult circumstances and he is prepared to take his record and be accountable to the people of Labrador, everything from defending the seal hunt to promoting the Lower Churchill project. This is the best member of Parliament Labrador has ever had.”

Then, it was, “Mr. Speaker, I know the truth hurts over there, but the fact is, as I have said, the minister has been doing important work, working to scrap the long-gun registry, to bring federal funding to the Trans-Labrador Highway, defending the seal hunt against the attack of the NDP and Liberals. As I said, he is the best member of Parliament Labrador has ever had.”

After that? “Mr. Speaker, the minister resigned and is prepared to run again in Labrador. In our democratic system, voters are the ones who make the decision in such a situation. I am convinced that minister Penashue is the best member of Parliament that this riding has ever had.”

And that’s just the prime minister answering questions about Peter Penashue in the House of Commons on Tuesday. Not a bad claim about an MP and minister who’s had less than a year and a half in office — and most of that, firmly gagged.

Also on Tuesday in Parliament? Pierre Poilievre, a parliamentary secretary to the transportation minister, also lining up to defend Penashue: “Mr. Speaker, the people of Labrador had a big-talking Liberal who delivered nothing for far too long. Like Elvis, they asked for a little less conversation and a little more action, please, and that is precisely what they got from Peter Penashue.”

Poilievre followed that up with the strikingly similar “Mr. Speaker, the people of Labrador saw how futile it was to have a big Liberal talker who delivered absolutely no results. That is why, instead, they opted for a hard worker with a record of results, a man whose hard work has led to the paving of the Trans-Labrador Highway, the thousands of jobs in the Muskrat Falls project, the elimination of the wasteful Liberal long-gun registry and the protection of the seal hunt.”

And then, with the now-familiar “I think that our friends in Labrador will agree. They will vote, I believe, for a hard worker with a record of results, a man who has delivered for the TransLabrador Highway, who has created thousands of jobs with the Muskrat Falls project, and who helped to eliminate the long-gun registry and protect the rural way of life.” The message? That the federal Tories will stick to a message no matter how foolish it sounds, just like they’ll stick to a candidate who was caught accepting illegal donations and wildly overspending federal electoral limits. Someone we should all keep in mind? Joseph Goebbels, the father of propaganda, and this quote of his: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

Maybe we won’t all believe that Peter Penashue has been transformed into the best thing since sliced bread.

But it sure does tell you something about those who keep insisting that he is.