A Tuesday in June, and the prime minister was present today, as were the other leaders. Even though Andrew Scheer was present, but stayed seated, and left it up to Dan Albas to lead off, who crowed that the House voted last night to make the government table a spring budget (the motion doesn’t actually require, it merely “urges”) and went on to mischaracterise how the Budget and Estimates work, and gave the nonsense quote about how people need a budget before they spend, before demanding that the “minority” government table a budget immediately. Mark Carney praised the London Knights hockey team, and patted himself on the back for his successful meeting with the premiers. Albas listed supposed “facts,” and demanded to know when a spring budget would be tabled. Carney listed a bunch of other non sequiturs, also punctuated by “fact.” Kelly McCauley read another demand for the spring budget, and Carney noted that Canadians deserve the transfers in the Main Estimates. McCauley said those things would be in a budget, and again demanded one. Carney said that he knows the difference between the Main Estimates and the budget, unlike the members opposite, and there was an uproar. When things calmed down, Carney repeated the line and said that they know how to grow the economy without spending money. Joël Godin took over in French to read the same demand for a budget and falsely called the Estimates a “blank cheque.” (It has line items for departmental spending, for fuck sakes). Carney said in French they took note of the vote, but they stand with the premiers of Quebec to have one Canadian economy. Godin trotted out the nonsense line about people needing a budget before spending, and Carney said that they would be a budget, but in the meantime they would boost growth with a bill to build a strong economy.

Yves-François Blanchet rose for the Bloc, and wondered about the potential project to create a pipeline to Hudson Bay. Carney said that they had plenty of projects around infrastructure and green energy. Blanchet wondered whether they were trying to find markets in Europe or refine heavy crude in western Canada. Carney said they hadn’t come to any decisions, but the projects need to have environmental standards and have a big impact. Blanchet demanded that the prime minister respect Quebec’s environmental agency. Carney said that they discussed the possibility with the premier, and that they need to have commitments around environmental standards.

Round two, and Greg McLean read a script to demand a spring budget (Champagne: There is another vote coming up about the tax cut, and we are watching the Conservatives), Bob Zimmer read the same before demanding a plan on mines in the Northwest Territories (Champagne: We are attracting talent to build industries and we have what the world needs), Gaétan Malette haltingly read another script on a budget (Champagne: There are provincial transfers in the Estimates), Cheryl Gallant read an overwrought script about the budget (Freeland: We have a plan, which we discussed with the premiers, and we all agree that now is the time to build Canada), Marilyn Gladu demanded a budget and gave the twist about the $20 billion in counter tariffs (Hodgson: In the word of premier Ford, when Canada is under attack we stick together) Ned Kuruc read another script of the same (Joly: We are standing up for our steel and aluminium workers), and Luc Berthold read the same in French (Joly: We are there to support workers in the industry).

The Conservatives keep saying that the Estimates without a budget is a “blank cheque.”The Estimates have departmental line items with dollar amounts, for fuck sakes. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-06-03T18:32:50.847Z

Mario Simard said that the prime minister should have been talking support for aluminium with the premiers (Joly: I met with stakeholders and the Quebec industry minister, and we will be there to help companies and workers), Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay demanded more direct assistance to the industry (Joly: Same again).

Rosemarie Falk demanded the government approve and build a pipeline (Hodgson: The prime minster and premiers agreed to accelerate certain projects while respecting Indigenous rights), Cathay Wagantall demanded environmental legislation be repealed (Hodgson: You weren’t listening to the premiers yesterday, and we support new pipelines if there is a national consensus), and Gérard Deltell claimed Quebec was now in favour of pipelines and tried to call out Steven Guilbeault (Champagne: We had a great meeting with the premiers yesterday and Quebec has a great deal to offer the rest of Canada; We can develop our natural resources in a fair manner).

Round three saw questions on the more pipelines and repealing environmental legislation (Hodgson: We made a grand bargain), expiring visas for temporary residents (Metlege Diab: Our border bill will give new tools; Anandasangaree: Strong borders mean safer streets; Your numbers are being mis-cited, and our new bill gives law enforcement new tools), home ownership (Robertson: Hooray for our GST cut), repealing crime bills (Fraser: We have new measures to strengthen the bail regime; We all care about the safety of Canadians, but you haven’t even read the legislation you want to repeal; Anandasangaree: Support our border bill), relying on the private sector for housing (Robertson: We are very focused on affordable housing), and postal workers (Hajdu: The best deal is the one the parties arrive at themselves). 

Rempel Garner is veering dangerously close to blaming immigrants for the failures of the premiers. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-06-03T18:52:27.814Z

In the same question, Baber says housing prices are too low for sellers, as he berates the minister for saying housing prices don’t need to go down.SUCH LOGICAL CONSISTENCY THERE, SPOCK! #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-06-03T19:00:51.850Z

Valdez commits to renewing security funding for Pride celebrations. #QP #canqueer

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-06-03T19:06:12.581Z

Overall, it was another heavily repetitive day, with the new script being about the motion on the budget, which the government didn’t commit to, merely saying that they “take note” of the vote. They kept up with the same false talking points, claiming the Estimates are some kind of “blank cheque” when in fact it is broken down by line-items for departments (which the Conservatives could force votes on if they wanted, as they have in the past), so they know their own points are bullshit, but that won’t stop them. I will note that at one point, Carney did make the quip that at least he knows the difference between the budget and estimates, but the rest of his performance was mediocre, and consisted mostly of back-patting and name-checking premiers. Tim Hodgson continues to be one of the absolute worst front-bench performers for QP, where he exasperatedly read scripts today that the Conservatives didn’t listen to the premiers who were happy with the meeting yesterday. Come on.

I would also note that the language the Conservatives were using around immigration was getting dangerous, particularly the talk about those whose visas are expiring by the end of the year, where they weren’t outright saying “mass deportations,” but were implicitly calling for them. The government did themselves no favours by patting themselves on the back for their big border bill tabled earlier, especially as saying things like “stronger borders mean safer streets” could easily be implying that the problems of crime are coming from foreign criminals getting across the border—something particularly American—rather than specifying that they were doing something specific like more interdiction of firearms or drugs.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Sandra Cobena for a tailored white collarless jacket with a single zip over black slacks, and to Sean Fraser for a tailored dark grey suit with a crisp white shirt and navy tie. Style citations go out to Simon-Pierre Savard Tremblay for a black sit over a light grey waistcoat, off-white shirt and comically oversized teal scarf/tie, and to Cathay Wagantall for a black and light blue mottled jackets with half-sleeves over a black top and slacks.