After searching question period records, True North researchers were able to find 138 different occasions where Justin Trudeau decided to blame either Stephen Harper, Andrew Scheer, or conservative premiers instead of answer for his own mistakes.
By far Trudeau’s favourite target has been former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The latest instance of Trudeau throwing the blame on Harper was on June 19, 2019, where he mentioned the former prime minister’s name four times in one question period. In total, Trudeau has spoken the name “Stephen Harper” 192 times in the House of Commons since being elected, and has put the blame at Harper’s feet on 102 different occasions.
Next on the list is Conservative opposition leader Andrew Scheer, who was blamed for 27 different things and mentioned by the Prime Minister on 55 different occasions.
The last but not least favourite target for the prime minister when avoiding questions about his own shortcomings were the provincial conservative premiers throughout Canada, including Ontario’s Doug Ford, and Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe, among others. Conservative premiers were targeted by the prime minister in nine different answers to questions.
Several responses were omitted from this list due to either repetition or irrelevance. All records were obtained by searching names or titles of the people included in this report from the publicly accessible openparliament.ca. There are likely more instances found in interviews, in the media or on another medium which were not included in this article for consistency sake.
Stephen Harper
June 19, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for not having balanced the budget in 2019
June 19, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for Mark Norman file
June 19, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for having destroyed Mark Norman’s reputation
June 19, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for not having begun construction on the TMX pipeline
June 12, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for loss of lumber jobs in 2019
June 12, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for not listening to fellow MPs and funding the auditor general
June 12, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for Phoenix pay system problems
June 12, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for veterans homelessness
June 12, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for failing to get pipelines built
June 12, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for anti-pipeline bill C-69
June 11, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for his bad relationship with premiers
June 11, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for the current threats to national unity
May 29, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for high taxes among seniors
May 29, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for bringing back Philippines garbage
May 29, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for breaking promises to veterans
May 29, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for his weak trade relationship with the US
May 29, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for not having secured an end to steel and aluminum during NAFTA negotiations
May 1, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for not being able to stand up for Canada in NAFTA negotiations and with regards to China
April 10, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for interfering in SNC-Lavalin
March 20, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for not being transparent on SNC-Lavalin
March 20, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for having three women leave his caucus
March 20, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for not allowing Wilson-Raybould the opportunity to complete her testimony on SNC-Lavalin
February 27, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for prosecuting SNC-Lavalin
February 27, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for putting a gag order on Jody Wilson-Raybould
February 20, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for not allowing Gerald Butts to testify under oath before the justice committee
February 20, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for Gerald Butts’ resignation
February 6, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for Canada’s poor climate performance
February 6, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for people paying too much taxes
January 30, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for a loss in oil sands jobs
January 30, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for the Liberal government’s deficit
January 29, 2019: Blamed Stephen Harper for tax hikes on Canadians
December 12, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for giving Donald Trump concessions
December 12, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for ensuring no future pipelines will be built
December 12, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper, Doug Ford and Andrew Scheer for the carbon tax
December 12, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for not having balanced the budget yet
December 11, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for Canada being in debt
December 10, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for poor road safety for pedestrians and cyclists
December 5, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for inviting Raj Grewal to India trip dinner
November 28, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for not getting construction started on the TMX
November 28, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for not paying down the national debt
November 21, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for buying used jets from Australia
November 20, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for the CRA’s preferential treatment of the wealthy
November 20, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for the Liberal’s $20 billion a year deficits
October 31, 2018: Blamed Stepher Harper for taxing commuters on carbon
October 31, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for giving big businesses an exemption from the carbon tax
October 30, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for statistics Canada data breach
October 3, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for Donald Trump’s aluminum tariffs
October 3, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for putting Terri-Lynne McClintic in a indigenous healing centre
September 19, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for low US investment in Canada
September 19, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for Canadian job losses to the US
June 20, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for not meeting UN obligation for people with disabilities
June 20, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for spending $1.5 million on his “dancing” trip to India
June 20, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for spending tax dollars to fix his summer home
June 18, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for not taking action on returning ISIS fighters
June 13, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for funding organizations that promote hate through the Canada Summer Jobs program
June 13, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for the costs of the carbon tax
June 12, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for buying the TMX pipeline
May 30, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for the Liberal criminal justice bill
May 28, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for the influx of illegal border crossers
May 23, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for energy investments leaving Canada
May 22, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for electoral changes that benefit the Liberals
May 22, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for giving grants to foreign funded anti-oil organizations
May 22, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for higher gas prices
May 9, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for failing to deliver electoral reform
May 9, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for restrictions on political parties during the pre-writ period
May 9, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for allowing ISIS terrorists to live freely in Canada
May 9, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for jeopardizing Canadian oil and gas
May 9, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for the high cost of doing business in Canada
May 9, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for Kinder Morgan demanding $10 billion in compensation for lack of approval for the pipeline
May 9, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for not supporting seniors in Canada
May 9, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for high gas prices
May 1, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for the Liberal approval of the Kinder Morgan pipeline
May 1, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for wanting to put a carbon tax on goods
May 1, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for hiding the cost of the carbon tax from Canadians
April 25, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for the illegal immigration crisis at the border
April 25, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for funding campaigns against Canadian energy
April 25, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for funding professional protestors against the Kinder Morgan pipeline
April 25, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for giving government grants to an anti-pipeline group
April 24, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for doing nothing about illegal immigration at the border
April 23, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for harming the economy with a carbon tax
March 28, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for hiding $7 billion in the Liberal’s deficit
March 28, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for Jaspal Atwal’s presence in India
March 28, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for the $50 a tonne carbon tax
March 28, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for not delivering on pay equity for women
March 28, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for gagging media on Trudeau’s trip to India
March 27, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for not providing classified information about Trudeau’s trip to India to the house
March 27, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for accepting a gift from the Aga Khan
March 20, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for blaming the Indian government for Jaspal Atwal’s presence
February 28, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for an $18 billion budget deficit
February 13, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for not making the CRA accountable
February 5, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for letting Netflix off the hook on taxes
December 13, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for insulting Japan and Australia after Trudeau skipped a meeting with them
December 13, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for begging China for a free trade deal
November 29, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for Bill Morneau’s shady finance activities
November 29, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for Bill Morneau’s violation of ethics laws
November 28, 2018: Blamed Stephen Harper for not taking returning ISIS fighters seriously
June 14, 2017: Blamed Stephen Harper for wanting to end a public child sex offender registry
June 12, 2017: Blamed Stephen Harper for handing out partisan commissioner appointments
May 3, 2017: Blamed Stephen Harper for appointing a partisan ethics commissioner investigating Trudeau
May 2, 2017: Blamed Stephen Harper for attacking the parliamentary budget officer
May 1, 2017: Blamed Stephen Harper for not delivering on electoral reform
October 17, 2017: Blamed Stephen Harper for failing to deliver on healthcare
Andrew Scheer
June 19, 2019: Blamed Andrew Scheer for giving $12 million to Loblaws
June 19, 2019: Blamed Andrew Scheer for the carbon tax
June 12, 2019: Blamed Andrew Scheer for a loss of 160 forestry jobs
June 12, 2019: Blamed Andrew Scheer for the lack of universal pharmacare
June 12, 2019: Blamed Andrew Scheer for threatening national unity
May 29, 2019: Blamed Andrew Scheer for high gas prices
May 29, 2019: Blamed Andrew Scheer for including Jerry Diaz in the media bailout commission
May 1, 2019: Blamed Andrew Scheer for $110K donation from SNC-Lavalin to the Liberal Party
May 1, 2019: Blamed Andrew Scheer for suing Andrew Scheer
May 20, 2019: Blamed Andrew Scheer for yelling at Celina Caesar-Chavannes
May 20, 2019: Blamed Andrew Scheer for blocking witness testimonies about SNC-Lavalin
January 30, 2019: Blamed Andrew Scheer for waiting to fire John McAllum
January 30, 2019: Blamed Andrew Scheer for the high cost of the carbon tax
December 12, 2018: Blamed Andrew Scheer for not securing an end to aluminum and steel tariffs
November 28, 2018: Blamed Andrew Scheer for phasing out the energy sector
November 26, 2018: Blamed Andrew Scheer for cuts to Francophone education in Ontario
June 20, 2018: Blamed Andrew Scheer for using taxpayer money for personal expenses
June 6, 2018: Blamed Andrew Scheer for making concessions on supply management
March 26, 2018: Blamed Andrew Scheer for not allowing the national security adviser to testify about the India trip
March 26, 2018: Blamed Andrew Scheer for not briefing media on India trip
March 27, 2018: Blamed Andrew Scheer for releasing classified information about the India trip to the media
March 28, 2018: Blamed Andrew Scheer for receiving illegal gifts from the Aga Khan
April 23, 2018: Blamed Andrew Scheer for the potential negative economic effects of a carbon tax
November 29, 2017: Blamed Andrew Scheer for Bill Morneau selling stocks before law change
October 4th, 2017: Blamed Andrew Scheer for foreign oil tankers coming into Canada
September 26, 2017: Blamed Andrew Scheer for high tax on middle class
June 6, 2017: Blamed Andrew Scheer for cutting Canadian armed forces and abandoning the fight against ISIS
Conservative Premiers
May 29, 2019: Blamed Doug Ford for aluminum tariffs on Canada
June 11, 2019: Blamed Conservative Premiers for threatening national unity
June 12, 2019: Blamed Conservative Premiers for anti-pipeline Bill C-69
June 12 ,2019: Blamed Conservative Premiers for not caring about the environment
June 11, 2019: Blamed Conservative Premiers for his bad relationship with them
April 10, 2019: Blamed Conservative Premiers for making families poorer
December 12, 2018: Blamed Conservative Premiers for why he criticizes them
November 28, 2018: Blamed Doug Ford for not defending francophones
October 24, 2018: Blamed Conservative Premiers for not fighting climate change
