An hour before things got underway, it was announced that Chrystia Freeland was leaving Cabinet (but not her seat) to take on a special envoy role for Ukrainian reconstruction, meaning the front bench got shifted one day into the new sitting, and the gender balance skewed just a little more male. The PM was not present, as he was off to meet with Scott Moe, but other leaders did show up.
Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and decried that a budget had not been delivered yet, and claimed that the deficit had been doubled—higher than Trudeau’s. He claimed that inflation was fifty percent higher than the target (it’s not), and worried about people relying on food banks; if people were to judge Carney based on food prices, then what was the verdict? François-Philippe Champagne said that Canadians chose a government that would focus on change, and that they were going to be rigorous in spending and ambitious in investment. Poilievre worried that empty promises led to empty stomachs, to which Champagne again praised their tax cut, which was going to help the Middle Class™. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his faux concern that deficits cause food price inflation, and the empty promises/empty stomachs line. Champagne recited the “spend less to invest more” line, before praising their tax cut and the elimination of the carbon levy. Poilievre said this government’s failure led to human suffering, and this time, Tim Hodgson stood up to praise their pledge to expand the LNG terminal in BC. Poilievre said it was insulting that nobody would answer a question on the price of food, and Gregor Robertson said that while they were concerned about the cost of food, they were taking action on housing. Poilievre again pounced on the fact that the question was about food, and this time Adam van Koeverden got up to chide Poilievre for voting against school food programmes, and that Poilievre voted against the other measures in the Food Banks Canada report, like strengthening the social safety net.
Yves-François Blanchet rose for the Bloc, and he worried about the state of talks with the U.S. Dominic LeBlanc assured him that the talks continue, and that they are preparing for the review of the New NAFTA. Blanchet said that he heard in Washington that there is disappointment that Carney is not in Washington more often, and LeBlanc agreed that the U.S. is an essential economic partner, and that with the trade relationship changing they need to work to get the best deal. Blanchet wondered if Carney would speak to Trump on the summit circuit, or go to Washington, and LeBlanc again reiterated that we treat the American relationship with great respect, but we are also diversifying out trade relationships.
Round two, and Jasraj Hallan blamed government spending for food price inflation instead of climate change (Champagne: You vote against measures to help Canadians; Hajdu: You vote against measures to help Canadians), Stephanie Kusie made the same accusation with added melodrama (Joly: We did already cut taxes and for first-time homebuyers, as well as the carbon levy, and we have cut costs for broadband services; Champagne: Canadians told us to reduce the cost of living, which we did with our tax cuts), Marilyn Gladu gave her own recitation of the same script (Hajdu: Hooray for our school food programme), Eric Lefebvre gave the French version of the script (Joly: We cut taxes and got rid of the carbon levy).
Rhéal Fortin worried about a judicial appointment who objected to Quebec’s discriminatory laws in his previous role (Fraser: The process for appointment was rigorous and we will keep it; same again but more eloquently in English).
Scot Davidson returned to the scripts blaming deficits for food price inflation (Hajdu: You keep opposing things that help people like dental care), and Carol Anstey and Rosemarie Falk read the same scripts (Hajdu: Canadians chose a government that will invest in them; You just want to cut the things Canadians rely on while we cut taxes and the carbon levy).
Round three saw questions on housing starts (Robertson: We are investing $13 billion in housing, and those initial 4000 homes will be on Canada Lands; When I was mayor, we had no support from the federal government; Guilbeault: We are working with provinces and municipalities instead of insulting mayors; You can’t just rely on the private sector for this), the spectre of “bogus” asylum claims (Diab: Our levels plan to reduce targets is working, and asylum claims are down one third), worries about the size of the deficit (Champagne: Now that you have the budget date, are you prepared to tell people about our generational investment?; van Koeverden: The hypocrisy from the other side is outrageous, because when your leader lost his job, he didn’t lose his government-subsidised housing, but he opposes it for everyone else; Long: Canadians don’t trust your leader with the economy because he’s never worked in it), unpaid work in the airline sector (Hajdu: This is being examined), and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories being given a contract to an American company (Hodgson: The contract was selected at arm’s length, 95 percent of the spending will be in Canada, as will the senior management be).
The spectre of Jason Kenney is back in #QP with horror stories about “bogus asylum claimants.”The Liberals are useless in response, with Diab unable to respond and MacKinnon praising Bill C-2, which will violate rights.
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-09-16T19:01:58.643Z
Conservatives keep saying core inflation is 50 percent above target. No. 3% is still in the target range. But will the Liberals correct this disinfo? Of course not.
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-09-16T19:10:53.104Z
Overall, it was a gob-smacking terrible day for the government as they proved to be absolutely useless in responding to any and all questions, and walked into trap after trap laid by the Conservatives that they knew were happening. The questions were on food-price inflation. There is an answer to what is causing it, and they can actually give an answer that can show the Conservatives are asking in bad faith before they pat themselves on the back for the programmes they have done to help Canadians. But no, it was self-congratulation after self-congratulation over their tax cut and their housing programme. The Conservatives stated time and time again that deficits are causing food price inflation, which is complete and utter bullshit. The Liberals could easily point that out, but did they? Of course not. That would interfere with their back-patting. The Conservatives even trotted out a bullshit line about how he Build Canada Homes $13 million budget would just produce 4000 homes, which is again, not actually true, but did the government refute that even once? Of course not. They just kept patting themselves on the back, even when Poilievre was standing there, rightly, calling them out for not answering the questions he asked. Question that they had answers for. But no, they decided to stick to these useless, self-congratulatory talking points, and it’s absolutely enraging to watch. These are not stupid people. They know that there are answers. They know that they can correct the record rather than let the lies fester like a turd in a sandbox, but will they? Nope. Un-fucking-believable.
Meanwhile, Yves-François Blanchet’s insistence that Carney spend more time in Washington is frankly bizarre, because we are not a vassal state. Carney does not need to attend Trump’s court like a supplicant, and hey, it would be great if Dominic LeBlanc could make that point too, but nope. The Conservatives are also ratcheting up the anti-asylum-seeker rhetoric, and I felt like I was having Jason Kenney flashbacks, but did the Liberals call them out on it? Nope. Lina Diab has proven utterly useless at answering questions, and Steve MacKinnon praising Bill C-2’s anti-asylum-seeker provisions is a very bad look because that is an odious bill that deserves to go down to defeat. The Liberals are making a mockery of themselves, both in refusing to actually answer questions, and in bringing forward legislation that they used to oppose, and there is a real Harper-era vibe seeping into the front benches. And this was day two of the fall sitting. Day two, and this is the best they have to offer. We are so utterly boned as a country.
The second #QP of this session, and the entire Liberal front bench has proven to be absolutely useless.
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-09-16T19:49:51.481Z
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to David Myles for a tailored dark grey suit with a crisp white shirt and a black skinny tie, and go Mélanie Joly for a white suit with black piping over a black top. Style citations go out to Patty Hajdu for a ruddy red-floral patterned dress under a bright maroon jacket, and to John-Paul Danko for an orange-tinged brown suit with a white shirt, grey striped tie and bright green pocket square.