A hot Wednesday in the Nation’s Capital, and everyone was fired up from their caucus meetings in the morning. Mark Carney was present, as were the other leaders, and Andrew Scheer actually stood up to speak today, when he didn’t earlier in the week. With that in mind, Scheer led off by denouncing the new Trump tariffs, and said that other countries got them removed while Canada had them doubled (not really true), said that Carney couldn’t get a deal, and then went on a tangent about the counter-tariffs being “secretly” removed (not true), and then demanded a budget. Carney called the tariffs, illegal, unjustified and illogical, and said they did have retaliatory tariffs on over $90 billion of U.S. goods, and they are undertaking “intensive” negotiations and are preparing reprisals if they don’t succeed. Scheer then tried to tie this to the fact that the PM won’t approve a new pipeline, and said that consensus can’t happen because BC premier David Eby is a “radical,” and tried to needle the divisions in Cabinet on energy projects, before he demanded an approval for a pipeline “today” (never mind that there is no pipeline being proposed). Carney said that everyone is agreed to build projects of national importance, and consensus includes Indigenous people, which the Conservatives don’t agree with. Scheer retorted that if photo ops and phoney rhetoric got things done, Trudeau would still be prime minister. He then pivoted to food price inflation, to which Carney patted himself on the back for their tax cut. Dominique Vien took over, and she demanded the government respect their motion to table a spring budget. Carney said that the bill before the House would reduce taxes for 22 million Canadians. Vien also raised food price inflation, and railed about the Estimates bill, to which Carney said that these estimates included things like health transfers and pensions for seniors. Richard Martel took over, and he gave the French script about counter-tariffs, and Carney repeated that the U.S. tariffs were illegal and unjustified, and that they are in negotiations with the Americans.
Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he too was concerned about the doubled steel and aluminium tariffs. Carney said that they need to do several things at the same time—building a single economy, negotiating with the Americans, and that they were going to win, just like the Oilers. Blanchet tried again, and got the same response. Blanchet demanded support for the sector, and wanted support for a wage support bill (which would be unvoteable). Carney again said they were negotiating.
Carney says they will win with US negotiations, “Just like the Oilers.”Sorry to be That Guy, but you know the Oilers famously choke at the end, right? #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-06-04T18:30:47.920Z
Round two, and Lianne Rood got up to read a script about the counter-tariffs (Champagne: We are fighting for Canada in Washington, and this is not theatre; We should stand united instead of talking down Canada), Fred Davis read the same script, but in a somber tone (Joly: I look forward to working with you to help the industries in your riding), Eric Lefebvre read the script in French (Champagne: We should be united), Melissa Lantsman turned to the food price inflation script (Champagne: You should support our tax cut bill; Lightbound: We have reduced the use of consultants, and we have a tax cut)m, and Sandra Cobena recited a sob story about constituents and blamed food price inflation on government spending (Hajdu: We have reduced child poverty thanks to our work).
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay blamed Carney for not stopping the new tariffs (Joly: We have been working with the sector; LeBlanc: We have been supporting workers even before these tariffs, and we are negotiating a new agreement with the U.S.).
Rachael Thomas gave a convoluted assertion about oil and claimed Carney was making us “beholden” to the U.S. (Hodgson: These are attempt to divide and block development; If you were listening to what happened in Saskatoon, we have a plan to fast-track projects), Clifford Small cited a radio poll about environmental legislation and demanded the government kill it (Hodgson: Sane answer), Warren Steinley also worried about pipelines (Hodgson: Look at the tapes, the premiers are on board), and Glen Motz read the same (Hodgson: Premier Smith said it was a grand bargain)
Shorter Consecutive questions: “Why won’t you repeal all environmental legislation and let the planet burn?” #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-06-04T18:48:10.305Z
Evan Solomon got a backbench suck-up question, and he was happy to support the Web Summit in Vancouver.I am slightly nauseous. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-06-04T18:50:10.865Z
Round three saw questions on housing (Robertson: I look forward to your supporting a GST for first-time homebuyers; We are going to build more housing), demands for a budget (Champagne: There will be a budget, and our first action was our affordability plan), overdoses (Anandasangaree: Our border bill will help keep drugs and guns off out streets; We are accelerating work to dismantle the fentanyl trade; Sahota: Our border bill is cracking down on fentanyl and illegal guns), a shooting in Toronto (Anandasangaree: We are partnering with police services to fight organised crime), food price inflation vs a budget (Champagne: You should vote for our tax cut; Hajdu: We have seen a significant decrease in poverty since 2015), businesses impacted by the tariffs (Joly: We are working to create supports), and enriching the disability support (Hajdu: We are moving ahead with the credit and working with provinces to ensure that money won’t be clawed back).
It would really great if a single minister could stand up and say that food price inflation is due to climate change and has fuck all to do with government spending. FFS#QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-06-04T19:07:41.046Z
Overall, the day was little-changed from how things have been the past week or so, with the bulk of time being spent getting clips from newbies, no matter how repetitive those questions are because they are all variations on the same script, but as we saw today, sometimes they were simply read in a different tone. And while Andrew Scheer did ask the first three questions today, they were convoluted, disjointed, and well, mendacious, but that’s his baseline. When you raise seven things in your preamble and then make a demand, well, it’s no surprise that he didn’t get much of a substantive reply. And that was the other thing—Carney really didn’t say much of substance, but he did stick around the whole of QP even if he only answered in the leaders’ round.
One thing that did annoy me to no end was the fact that in spite of the fact that food price inflation came up several times in QP, that the government refused to give a substantive reply (this is the result of climate change, especially beef prices), and at the very least didn’t disabuse the Conservatives of the cockamamie notion that government spending is what drove up food prices. I mean, come on. This should be the very basics, and they absolutely refuse, because they’re too busy patting themselves on the back for their tax cut.
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Eric Duncan for a dark blue suit with a crisp white shirt and a hot pink tie, and to Shelby Kramp-Neuman for a dark grey dress with a white panel along the side, under a pinkish-red jacket. Style citations go out to Lianne Rood for a pale pink dress with black, yellow and red patches under a bright fuchsia jacket, and to John Williamson for a tan khaki suit with a pale pink shirt with a grid pattern and a dark grey tie.