It was a rare PM-less Wednesday, as Mark Carney had a full day planned of meeting with industry leaders in South Korea, while back at home, the rest of the party leaders were all present and ready to go. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he lamented “ballooning” debts and deficits, tied this to food bank usage, and wanted the government to work with them on an “affordable budget.” Steven MacKinnon said that Poilievre was demanding things he couldn’t even put in his own budget, and worried they wanted a Christmas election. Poilievre said that people shouldn’t have to choose between an expensive budget or an expensive election, and then falsely tied the industrial carbon price to food price inflation. MacKinnon said that they have affordable measures like the school food programme which the Conservatives voted against. Poilievre switched to English, to falsely claim that deficits caused inflation, and demanded the government eliminate the imaginary “hidden taxes on food.” MacKinnon assured him it would be an affordable budget and wondered if Poilievre would order his “troops” to vote for it. Poilievre repeated his claim to “positive collaboration” with the falsehood about the industrial carbon price. MacKinnon jibed that Poilievre’s imaginary taxes were only matched by his imaginary friends in caucus. Poilievre concern trolled about the Food Banks Canada report and re-read the anecdote from it, and again demanded an “affordable budget.” Patty Hajdu read a competing quote from the CEO of Food Banks Canada in support of federal programmes. Poilievre claimed that these programmes only feed bureaucracies and lobbyists and that things got worse, and repeated his “affordable budget” line. Hajdu said that it was clear that Poilievre was aiming for a Christmas election rather than help for Canadians.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, even though Yves-François Blanchet had delivered a member’s statement moments before, and accused the government of preferring an election to consulting with the opposition on the budget. MacKinnon listed off members of the Bloc he’s met with, and offered to meet with her as well. Normandin listed off Bloc demands and said this was preferable to an election. MacKinnon wondered why the Bloc was trying to negotiate with non-negotiable demands. Gabriel Ste-Marie blamed the federal government for the housing crisis, and scapegoated immigrants, before demanding more unconditional transfers to Quebec. Gregor Robertson responded that they were focused on homelessness first and foremost.

Round two, and Scot Davidson read a script that falsely claimed spending causes inflation (Long: While you are focused on your leader, we are focused on Canadians; Here are things we are offering for affordability), Cheryl Gallant falsely claimed the clean fuel standard was driving up food costs (Gainey: You are focused in imaginary taxes rather than real programmes to help people; Turnbull: Here are things we are helping Canadians save money on), Michael Guglielmin read another script of the same (Zerucelli: Hooray our programmes), and Gérard Deltell read the French version of the script (Lightbound: Hooray for the school food programme).

Bexte Sr. apparently feels the need to heckle in a barking tone to every response, but the Speaker has yet to smack him down. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-10-29T18:41:26.600Z

Mario Simard demanded help for the forestry sector immediately (Joly: I am willing to meet with the sector, and we will support them; The funds have been released and are available).

Connie Cody read another script on the imaginary “hidden taxes” with the ludicrous claim that Canada can no longer feed itself (McLean: A poorly scripted Halloween-themed response), Kelly DeRidder haltingly read another script of the same (Hajdu: Families are benefiting from our child care programme which is saving them thousands of dollars), and Dominque Vien read the French version of the script (Gainey: You keep talking about imaginary taxes rather than concrete help for children; Lightbound: It’s fascinating to hear Conservatives talk about imaginary taxes instead of real things like dental care or school food).

Round three saw more slogans about an “affordable budget” (Long: Automatic filing will help vulnerable Canadians get benefits they need; You are focused on a revolt in caucus while we are focused on the upcoming budget; Lightbound: We are ensuring we get the best value for Canadians; Turnbull: Inflation has been in the target range for 21 months and the Bank of Canada cut rates again today). There were also questions on the gun buyback (Anandasangaree: We have a pilot project underway; We have a range of projects to stop crime), tariff relief for farmers (Noormohamed: We have been opening new markets for Canadian producers), softwood lumber (Joly: I share your anger and I share it, and we have supports for the sector), “radical DEI” (van Koeverden: Food Banks Canada recommends our supports continue), allegations the PM is abusing off-shore tax havens (MacKinnon: We have one of the strongest ethics regimes in the world and the PM has gone above and beyond), affordability (Hajdu: We have been taking steps for years, like the CCB we will stand with workers and families).

Overall, if the rest of the week focused on one or two items per day for the sake of harvesting clips, today was a bit more scattershot, but even then, the Conservatives tried hard to wedge everything into the “affordable budget for an affordable life” slogan, and let me tell you, it was a real stretch in many instances. The government’s responses to the “hidden taxes” nonsense hasn’t improved because while they can say “there are no taxes on groceries,” they won’t actually refute the bullshit points about the industrial carbon price or the plastics regulations, so they wind up coming off as evasive instead of looking like they know what they’re talking about, and showing that the Conservatives have made it all up in the process. They could also have shut down those mocking questions about the money sponge on “gender-just rice” in Vietnam by explaining the programme of helping women in a sustainable industry, rather than just ignoring the mocking and the implication that the government is wasting aid dollars on “radical DEI,” and turning it back on the Conservatives in the process if they don’t believe these women deserve a chance at employment.

The other thing I found interesting was the fact that the Liberals kept up references to whispers of discord in the Conservative caucus, whether it was references to Poilievre’s “imaginary friends,” or the supposed “revolt in caucus” (which Stephanie Kusie misheard as “revolting caucus” and gave a melodramatic clap-back). I get that they are trying create their own narratives about Poilievre’s unpopularity, but it comes across as looking undignified and childish, which is the last thing this parliament needs.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Sandra Cobena for a fitted white jacket over black slacks, and to Eric Melillo for a tailored light grey suit with a white shirt and a pink tie. Style citations go out to Clifford Small for a brown jacket with a pale blue windowpane pattern over a light blue shirt and navy slacks with a dark blue tie, and to Tamara Jansen for a high-necked long white dress with pale blue florals under a white jacket.