What's the deal with question period? Poilievre, MacKinnon trade Seinfeld-related barbs
Regular question period viewers got a little more than the usual "yada, yada, yada" on Thursday as Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Government House leader Steven MacKinnon traded Seinfeld-related jabs.
Seinfeld references dominated opening round of Thursday's session
Darren Major · CBC News
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Poilievre, MacKinnon trade Seinfeld-themed blows in question period
27 minutes ago|
Duration
0:37
Kicking off Thursday's question period, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Government House leader Steven MacKinnon exchanged Seinfeld references in the House of Commons.Regular question period viewers got a little more than the usual "yada, yada, yada" on Thursday as Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Government House leader Steven MacKinnon traded Seinfeld-related jabs.
Poilievre kicked off the reference contest with a question about the Canada-EU summit taking place in Montreal this week.
"Is this just another Seinfeld summit? A meeting about nothing?" Poilievre asked, referencing the '90s sitcom that was billed as a show "about nothing."
MacKinnon shot back at Poilievre by riffing on a line from the hit show, saying that the opposition leader "lives the same recurring nightmare every single day."
The cast of Seinfeld poses at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in 1995. (Reuters)
The Conservative leader kept the references going by arguing that Prime Minister Mark Carney acts like Jason Alexander's character George Costanza, "running around the office trying to look busy while achieving nothing at all in the real world."
MacKinnon then tried to cast Poilievre as another character, Cosmo Kramer, suggesting that the Conservative leader "just walks into the room every time and says something weird."
The sitcom went off the air in 1998 after nine seasons.
The back-and-forth comes as Carney is meeting with representatives of the European Union in an effort to strengthen ties with the 27-member bloc.
WATCH | Names for EU partnership don't matter, Carney says:
EU agreement 'names or nomenclature' don't matter, says Carney
October 27|
Duration
0:42
Prime Minister Mark Carney says what 'matters' at the EU summit set to take place later this week in Montreal is 'Canada as a whole becoming a more independent, more sovereign nation so we can live our lives as we choose.'While the prime minister has insisted that the substance of a new agreement with the EU is what matters, questions have swirled around what the label of the new alliance will be.
CBC News reported on Wednesday that words "associate membership" were removed from a joint statement expected to be released at the summit, but that hasn't stopped European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen from using that branding.
Conservatives have continuously raised questions about what a closer relationship with the EU would mean. Poilievre says Carney should focus on getting nine laggard countries to ratify the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Darren Major is a senior writer for CBC's parliamentary bureau in Ottawa. He previously worked as a digital reporter for CBC Ottawa and a producer for CBC's Power & Politics. He holds a master's degree in journalism and a bachelor's degree in public affairs and policy management, both from Carleton University. He also holds a master's degree in arts from Queen's University. He can be reached at darren.major@cbc.ca.
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