The first day back, and absolutely everyone was salivating for prime minister Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre’s first face-to-face since the election. As Members’ Statements were underway, Carney and Poilievre met in the centre aisle and shook hands before the show got starter. When it it, Poilievre led off by praising the people of his new riding, and wanted to see if Carney agreed that they were united in believing in…a list of his slogans. Carney said that he spoke for everyone in welcoming him back, and noted a few things changed he was last here, including the largest women’s caucus in history, and a sprit of collaboration in passing legislation. Poilievre repeated the thanks for his constituents in French before listing those slogans again and seeking agreement for them. Carney said he agreed with the sentiments expressed. Poilievre returned to English, to give a few swipes at Trudeau, and then applied those to Carney, demanding real change. Carney patted himself on the back for their tax cut and eliminating federal barriers to internal trade. Poilievre again returned to French, said that they would simply insist on Carney listening up to his promises, decried food price inflation, and demanded a budget that would address this. Carney repeated his back-patting in English, including a new point about supporting the CRTC in bringing broadband prices down. Poilievre switched back to English to repeat his same points, and Carney insisted that they were undertaking the biggest investment in the Canadian military, and promised more to come. Poilievre railed about deficits and debt, and Carney insisted that they were still going to build the strongest economy in the G7, which means being clear about the size of the challenge ahead of them.

Yves-François Blanchet took over for the Bloc, and lamented that there was still no resolution to the trade war, and wanted a commitment to ending tariffs. Carney responded that we currently have the best deal with the Americans worldwide, and that counted as a success. Blanchet contested such an assertion, and wanted the trusted relationship re-established (as though Trump was a rational actor). Carney said that he spoke with Trump over the weekend about the situation with Russia, Ukraine, and China. Blanchet demanded that Carney made it a priority to go to Washington, and Carney said that we need to diversity trade with Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America.

Round two, and John Barlow got up to lament food price inflation (Robertson: We have taken action to make housing more affordable with Build Canada Homes), Melissa Lantsman blamed the Liberals on food price inflation (Robertson: The number one cost is housing and we are making it more affordable; Champagne: We did something the Conservatives didn’t do, which is listen, and we lowered taxes), Luc Berthold gave the same script in French (Guilbeault: We launched Build Canada Homes!; Champagne: Same answer as before), and Gabriel Hardy gave more of the same (Champagne: The best thing we can do is to build a strong economy for all Canadians).

Lantsman railing that Canadians are getting “fleeced” at the grocery store as if the problem wasn’t climate change affecting food-producing regions. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-09-15T18:39:34.606Z

Patrick Bonin lamented that the government was taking a step back on the environment (Dabrusin: Everyone wants low-carbon products, which we will build).

Scott Aitchison lamented the lack of home building and was incredulous at the aims of Build Canada Homes (Robertson: We are leveraging private investment and capital; We believe in investing in affordable housing), Doug Shipley painted the image of the country as a lawless hellscape (Anandasangaree: We are partnering with law enforcement to tackle organised crime and will hire more RCMP and CBSA officers), Tamara Jansen returned to the incredulity about housing (Robertson: We focus on building affordable housing with our partners), and Jason Groleau repeated the script in French (Guilbeault: We need to work together on this with municipalities and provinces).

Round three saw questions on crime (Fraser: These incidents are tragic, but the bill you want to repeal actually makes it harder for people accused of domestic violence to get bail; Anandasangaree: I was also in Vancouver to talk about fentanyl, and the programme the city has put into place is working; Sahota: We will table legislation to make bail tougher and make sentencing tougher), temporary foreign workers (Hajdu: Use of TFWs are down by 70 percent across the country, and there are rigid rules including serious penalties), asylum claims (Diab: The numbers are down with the asylum system, and our border bill will help with this), immigration levels (Diab: We are focused on our levels plan), TFWs and deporting criminals (Hajdu: TFWs are less than one percent of the workforce, and if you feel there has been abuse, up can report it to officials), food inflation (Robertson: Hooray housing plans!; Champagne: We cut taxes), the Chinese-built ferries (Robertson: It was unfortunate no Canadian companies bid on this contract), and youth unemployment (Hajdu: We stood with building trades unions who are training the next generation, as we invest in skills training).

Conservatives demand that the government should have brought down food prices. How, exactly? Price controls? #ZapYoureFrozen #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-09-15T19:08:52.511Z

Overall, it was not an acrimonious day, but one where the civility and friendliness was perhaps slightly more cutting than it appeared on the surface. Carney was gracious enough in welcoming Poilievre back to the Chamber, and Poilievre repaid it by saying that Carney is just like Trudeau. It was a day where the message tracks were laid out well in advance, and each side knew it. The Conservatives have been telegraphing for months that they will be trying to pin food price inflation on Carney, because he (stupidly) said that his effectiveness would be measured by the cost of groceries, and so they hammered that question over and over and over today, so that they could get clips of it. And how did the Liberals respond? Not by talking about the causes of food price inflation (mostly climate change), but rather by saying that housing was the biggest cost item in a household and they were bringing down those costs (and patting themselves on the back for it. They could have driven the point home with the Conservatives that climate change is the primary driver of those prices, and that’s why there is an economic cost to climate change, but they didn’t do that (maybe because that would force them to actually come up with a real climate plan after Carney has been dismantling what is in place). Suffice to say, it was weak as a response, and they just walked into the plainly obvious trap that was laid for them, so good luck with that.

Otherwise, it was just a bunch more slogans and tag-lines (“He’s just another Liberal prime minister,” “broken promises,” etc) because everything was about getting clips. As usual. Only one Liberal minister actually bothered to call bullshit on the question he was asked, which was Sean Fraser on the bail laws. Patty Hajdu also provided some context on the Temporary Foreign Workers figures, but contrast that to Lina Diab? She completely fell apart while trying to answer and the journalists sitting next to me in the gallery muttered about how cringe-worthy it was. Carney himself largely didn’t respond in French to French questions from Poilievre, and he didn’t hit back at Blanchet’s ridiculous notions that he’s simply not trying hard enough to get a deal from Trump. Seriously? There remained so little substance in all of those exchanges today that it feels like consuming so many empty calories, and feeling a little bit gross at the end.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Chi Nguyen for a black top and slacks under a pink Chanel-style jacket with black trim, and to Doug Eyolfson for a faded eggplant suit with a crisp white shirt and a bright purple tie and pocket square. Style citations go out to Patrick Bonin for a black suit and shirt with a teal blue and grey striped tie, and to Pauline Rochefort for a floral smock top under a fuchsia jacket with black slacks. Dishonourable mention goes out to Chris Malette for a black suit with a white short and a bright yellow tie.