The PM was still in New York at the UN, with a long schedule of meetings, while back home, the Bloc had their Supply Day motion about the federal government’s factum at the Supreme Court of Canada on the Law 21 case under debate. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he offered theatrical disbelief that the government was moving ahead with the gun buyback in spite of the minister’s private comments on tape, and demanded the government sack the minister. Gary Anandasangaree praised the pilot project moving ahead in Cape Breton in English. Poilievre, still in French, was incredulous that they were still moving ahead and listed a litany of sins from the minister, real or imagined, and Anandasangaree said that public safety is not a binary, that people can turn over their guns while the governor moves ahead with “smart” criminal justice reform. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his first question, and Anandasangaree was incredulous in turn that “Grandpa Joe” is using an AR-15 for hunting. Poilievre ratcheted up his histrionics about the government going after the wrong guns. Sean Fraser took this one and pointed up out that when Poilievre was in government, they cut CBSA and made it easier for guns to cross the border. Poilievre took some swipes at Fraser and said the government was doing nothing about hiring more RCMP and CBSA, and Fraser pointed out that it was an election promise that people voted on. Poilievre held up a document saying the department was “breaking their own promise” on the hiring—and got chided for using a prop—and Anandasangaree said that he didn’t understand the hiring process, before saying that Poilievre should get his security clearance. 

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and decried that federal factum at the SCC, and made a bunch of ludicrous claims about it. Fraser said they have had the same stance for decades, that the government weighs in when an issue is at the SCC. Normandin kept up with her denunciation of this factum, and Steven Guilbeault responded that she was the one laying it on thick, as courts cannot change the constitution. Mario Simard took over, and invited the government to reopen the constitution, to which Fraser said they are not looking to change the constitution, merely for the Court to clarify it.

Round two, and Andrew Scheer returned to the swipes at Anandasangaree (Provost: The programme is buy back assault weapons, which will not affect hunters) and that the money should be used elsewhere (Provost: Same again in English), Michael Barrett gave the same again (Anandasangaree: What you said is factually incorrect, and we will get prohibited weapons off the street), Rachael Thomas decried the “surge” in gun crime (Belanger: This is not about hunting), Dominique Vien gave the same denunciation in French (Provost: Our programme is not about hunters; 35 years ago I was in a hospital bed not understanding of how this could happen in Canada, and have always called for the removal of assault weapons from the street).

Rhéal Fortin decried the federal factum to the SCC, once again (Guilbeault: This is false, we are standing up for Charter rights, and courts should be able to tell citizens that their rights are being violated; Quebeckers voted for twice as many Liberals and Bloc MPs because they know we stand up for their rights).

Larry Brock returned to the gun buyback scripts (Anandasangaree: I am puzzled why you think hunters need AR-15s; I invite you to say those words outside), Jamil Jivani recited the script with more sanctimony (Sahota: Mass shooting are a crime, and they use these assault-style rifles), Pierre Paul-Hus gave the script in French, with added reference to the alleged “African Mafia” (Provost: It’s important for us to finish this action and respect the commitments we made; Anandasangaree: Your language is borderline racist).

Round three saw yet more questions on the gun buyback with swipes at Anandasangaree on other issues (Fraser: We are introducing more legislation on bail reform but we disagree on assault weapons; Sahota: Pass our border bill; Anandasangaree: We are starting with a pilot project; We had a record level of removals; CBSA is doing their jobs; I invite you to have a serious conversation about guns; Provost: Canadians want to live in a safe environment and they know assault weapons can cause mass shootings, and it happened to me). There were also questions on extortion (Sahota: The RCMP is combatting the Bishnoi gang; We have created a national security task force), the government abusing section 107 of the Canada Labour Code (Hajdu: I met with building trades unions, and we talked about major projects), and a sovereign aerial firefighting fleet (Olszewski: We are working with provinces and First Nations about capacity and tools they need). 

Apparently the government could have hired 1000 Mounties over the summer, if you believe the extremely repetitive questions put forward by Conservatives #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-09-23T19:07:03.963Z

Overall, it was an extremely single-minded day, with the Conservatives solely focused on Anandasangaree and the announcement of the gun buyback pilot moving ahead, with call after all for him to be fired, base on a bunch of moved goalposts and dubious assertions of “failure” because apparently you can hire 1000 new Mounties and CBSA officers over the course of the summer. No, really, that was their assertion. We also saw Nathalie Provost used a little more effectively today, and the fact that she can point to the fact that she was shot by a “law-abiding gun owner” is a good counterweight to the Conservatives’ “Grandpa Joe” narrative, which the minister just can’t help but trip over himself repeatedly with. 

Meanwhile, the Bloc were singularly focused on their Supply Day motion and increasingly hysterical assertions about what they claim the federal government is asking in their factum to the Supreme Court. The government has only been tepid in countering this, and could actually point out that nowhere in their factum does it say the province can’t use the Notwithstanding Clause, nor does it say the Court should be able to strike it down, only to weigh in and say whether the law shielded by its use is constitutional or not, which will then let voters decide if they want to support that government or not. Of course, the Bloc doesn’t want to hear that racist legislation is racist (nor do Danielle Smith or Scott Moe want to hear from the courts that they are harming vulnerable gender diverse youth), so they will make up wild accusations about this factum instead, and the government needs to do a far better job of countering the disinformation, which of course, they have proven time and again to be utterly ineffective at. Of course.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Ben Carr for a grey suit with a lavender shirt and a bright purple tie, and to Dominique Vien for a light grey jacket over a white collared top and black slacks. Style citations go out to Marilène Gill for short-sleeved black dress with loud green and yellow florals, and to Clifford Small for a blue jacket with a pink windowpane pattern over a white shirt with a blue pattern, navy slacks, and a maroon, yellow and purple patterned tie.