The PM was in town, back from one set of travels and before the next, while the day felt both like Monday as no one had sat for the previous two days, while the post-caucus Wednesday energy still suffused the Chamber. Pierre Poilievre led off in English for a change, and he lamented job losses across various sectors, and blamed the prime minister. Mark Carney offered his sympathies for families affected, and touted their actions to protect industries. Poilievre quoted the hyperbolic statements of the interim PBO, accusing the PM of killing jobs, to which Carney said that Poilievre was ignoring the effect of U.S. tariffs, and offered his “spend less, invest more” line. Poilievre went on a tear about the deficits, to which Carney offered a “fiscal lesson,” which consisted of our AAA credit rating and the lowest deficit in the G7. Poilievre accused Carney of being worse than Trudeau, and Carney chanted that the country is building industry, houses, the country, etc. Poilievre switched to French to once again quote the PBO, and Carney again cited our strong fiscal position in the G7. Poilievre returned to English, to return to the issue of food price inflation, blaming “taxes” on groceries. Carney cite that there’s no GST on food, there’s no carbon levy, there is no carbon price on farms, and that real wages are growing.
Yves-François Blanchet rose for the Bloc, and accused the government of meddling in the Canada Post labour dispute, and considered it a “provocation.” Carney stated that Canada Post is an essential service and it needs to be viable, but they need to take action to stop it from losing millions of dollars. Blanchet said that if it was an essential service, why radical cuts would be made, and that workers learned about the cuts TV. Carney stated that he just became PM, and that they have needed to make changes for a long time. Blanchet accused Carney of being a conservative, and demanded “serious experts” to reform Canada Post. Carney said that the corporation and union need to come to an agreement between themselves, but that they also needed more flexibility.
Round two, and Melissa Lantsman again quoted the PBO on the deficit (Champagne: We are going to spend less and invest more, because we have so much going for us; Champagne: Canadians told us to bring affordability, so we cut taxes), Stephanie Kusie read the same script with added drama (Hodgson: We are retooling the economy), Philip Lawrence read the same script (Joly: Interest rates are down, wages are outpacing inflation, and we are an attractive place to invest), and Gérard Deltell gave the same script in French (Joly: Same answer; Champagne: We have talent through this country).
Marie-Hélène Gaudreau accused the government of causing the Canada Post labour crisis by not consulting (Lightbound: This conflict has been going on for 20 months, and I wasn’t minister then but we did get the industrial commission report and are giving room for them to reform; Hajdu: We have a plan for people who might have a passport stuck in the mail).
John Barlow quoted the risible “food professor” in blaming the industrial carbon price for food prices (Hodgson: The industrial price is essential for our economy; Hajdu: You voted against help for families), Carol Anstey read a bullshit script about taxes on groceries (Long: We cut taxes for 22 million Canadians; McLean: It’s National Seniors Day and we have supported seniors), Gabriel Hardy read the same script in French (Gainey: Child care means more women get to be in the job market to provide for their families).
Barlow is quoting the “food professor,” which essentially means he has no credibility and his question is bullshit.And hey, Hodgson actually defended the industry carbon price. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-10-01T18:43:24.315Z
Round three saw questions on the deficit versus inflation (McLean: We are empowering seniors; MacKinnon: I remember when you voted against supports for seniors; Zerucelli: We are fighting food prices with policies to create jobs, and good union jobs; van Koeverden: We supported Canadians by cutting their taxes, and Canadians know there are not taxes on groceries; Long: Canadians chose a leader with business and economic experience over one who has none), the gun buyback (Anandasangaree: The compensation programme launched today, and Canadians are registering; Sahota: Getting assault-style rifles off our streets is important; MacKinnon: Firearm tragedies are preventable is we get rid of assault-style guns; a Northern Ontario paper mill not getting supports in time (Joly: We are at the table and willing to help, but the province needs to come back to the table, and we are meeting this afternoon), and Canada Post (Lightbound: We are putting it back on a path to viability).
Overall, it was another day where we had about three topics, and that was it, which is not only repetitive, but is ignoring a whole lot of issues that the government should be answering for. Nevertheless, the Conservatives have returned to their complete falsehoods that “taxes” are driving up grocery prices, and their broad definition of what those “taxes” included. Only once did Carney say that there are no taxes on groceries, and that there are no carbon prices on them, but that was once, when the accusation was made over and over and over again, and no other minister or parliamentary secretary made this refutation (save Adam van Koeverden, who said that Canadians were smart enough to know that there are no taxes on food). In addition, Poilievre decided to make “Carney is worse than Trudeau” one of his new attack lines, while pretty much every single one of his MPs started reading the line “Every dollar the prime minister spends comes out of Canadians’ pockets in higher taxes and inflation.” It’s stupid, it’s wrong, but this government can’t do anything but pat themselves on the back, because those are Carney’s orders.
Meanwhile, it was National Seniors Day, so that became the frame for several of these same scripted questions, and were the subject of the backbench suck-up questions, and the Liberals responded entirely with more back-patting, and the odd reference to the Conservatives trying to raise the eligibility for OAS/GIS. Again, none of this is edifying, and if anything, it just denigrates everything.
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Sandra Cobena for a fuchsia jacket over a black top and slacks, and to Michael Ma for a tailored navy suit over a crisp white shirt with a white pocket square and purple tie. Style citations go out to Yves-François Blanchet for a dark grey jacket over a light blue top, tan khaki slacks, with a dark blue striped tie, and to Zoe Royer for a long-sleeved leopard-print top under a red sleeveless sweater with black slacks.