The PM was back in town after his Asia trip, but opted not to come to QP for whatever reason. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he immediately worried that tomorrow would be another “costly” budget that would “skyrocket” the cost of living, and said that they would vote for it only if it lowers the cost of living, and demanded an “affordable” budget. Steve MacKinnon took this as good news, and that Poilievre would order his MPs to vote for it because it will be an affordable budget. Poilievre then took swipes at the finance minister and blamed the government for the cost of housing, and again demanded an “affordable budget.” MacKinnon again repeated that it would be an affordable budget and would “open the door” to opportunities. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his first question and the claim he would vote for an affordable budget. (Spoiler: He won’t). MacKinnon repeats that he took this as good news that Poilievre would order his troops to vote for their “affordable” budget and listed the tax cuts they were promising. Poilievre then called on the government to scrap the industrial carbon price under dubious pretexts, and MacKinnon noted that farmers are largely exempt from any of those prices, and again insisted not to call an election. Poilievre again listed things the price applies to and tried to tie it to food prices, and this time Wayne Long got up to deliver the “generational budget” lines. Poilievre mocked along calling the government “new,” and made another appeal of falsehoods about the industrial carbon price. Long tried to mock Poilievre’s tenure in return, and said that in 20 years, Poilievre has only voted against any help for Canadians.

Christine Normandin rose for the Bloc, and said it was curious that 24 hours before the budget, that the government isn’t negotiating and just threatening an election instead. MacKinnon first congratulated the municipal election winners in Quebec, and then raised their discussions so far. Normandin tried again, and MacKinnon praised what is in the budget and the investments that would benefit Quebec. Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay took over and wondered why the priority in the budget wasn’t help for Quebeckers, and listed their demands. Mélanie Joly said that they are still in negotiations with the U.S., and that they have support for sectors in the meantime. 

Round two, and Melissa Lantsman gave a denunciation of the “hidden food taxes” (Turnbull: Here is a list of investments in the budget; The head of the IMF is praising our plans), Rosemarie Falk read another script on the same imaginary taxes (Long: We are focused on affordability starting with cutting taxes; Gainey: You are focused on imaginary taxes while we are focused on solutions like the school food programme), Carol Anstey read the same script with more Karen energy (Dabrusin: You are making up taxes that don’t exist and you should be honest with citizens; Thompson: There is no fuel tax, it’s imaginary, but yay child care), and Gabriel Hardy gave the same script in French (Joly: These taxes don’t exist, but we are protecting the social safety net).

Conservatives are going hard on their imaginary “hidden taxes” today, and at least the government is more strongly refuting them today. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-03T19:38:39.687Z

The term “laser-focused” needs to be banned. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-03T19:48:54.745Z

Gabriel Ste-Marie returned to the accusations that the government is not negotiating with other parties and only threatening an election (Guilbeault: Twenty-thousand people participated in pre-budget consultations and we had consultations with members of all parties; Will you support Quebec and work with us, or go to an election?)

Jasraj Hallan demanded a lower deficit in the budget (Olszewski: As a fellow Albertan, I know Albertans want the opportunities we are creating; You talk about affordability but vote against help for families), Kelly McCauley worried about consultant spending (McLean: Seniors accessing benefits through automatic tax filing helps fight food insecurity), Pierre Paul-Hus gave the same script in French (Lightbound: You can talk about imaginary taxes while we have concrete measures).

Round three saw questions on the Supreme Court decision on Friday (Sahota: Child abusers should face the toughest penalties, and we introduced sweeping reforms, and you refused to support our bill to protect kids online; Lattanzio: They need the toughest sentences, and we will introduce new steps in the coming weeks), more scripts about the budget (Belanger: Some nonsense that was attempting to be funny; You haven’t done anything for Saskatchewan; Hajdu: Canadians expect us to invest in them; 400,000 children have been lifted out of poverty since 2015; More imaginary taxes, but you voted against help for Canadians; Dabrusin: It’s tiring that they are against fighting climate change and helping Canadians; These are imaginary taxes so let’s focus on reality; Joly: This budget will be about protecting jobs), and Indigenous housing funding (McKelvie: Build Canada Homes will help build at scale including Indigenous partners).

Larry Brock just accused the government of protecting pedophiles after Friday’s #SCC decision. For. Fuck. Sakes. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-03T19:51:01.646Z

It’s quite obvious no Conservative read the decision, and no one on the government benches will actually point out what the Court actually said. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-03T19:56:03.955Z

Overall, most of it was pretty bog-standard, from the false promise that they might support the budget (they won’t and never will because they’re the official opposition), and their slogans about an “affordable budget for an affordable life,” or their ever-growing list of “hidden taxes” which are not taxes at all. Members of the government have been getting slightly better are pushing back against this “hidden tax” nonsense, but they still have a way to go before they are actually effectively dismantling this nonsense, though I despair that they will never actually do so, because of Carney’s edict that if they can’t say anything nice they’re not supposed to say anything at all, which is not any way to communicate if you ask me.

That said, I am going to rain scorn down on Larry Brock and Dominique Vien for their absolutely revolting questions in the third round, where they lambasted the government for the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision on Friday, as though the government had anything to do with it (it was a Conservative law they struck down). Brock in particular crossed a line saying the government protects pedophiles, and while it’s clear he either didn’t bother to read the decision on Friday or is just going to lie about it to score points, it’s the kind of thing that should be absolutely off the table for an attack in Question Period. The government’s responses were not exactly great either, as they neither stood up for the Court, actually explained what the decision said, or even said something to the effect of “We are considering what the Court wrote and will draft a legislative response in due course,” or anything like that. No, it was mostly patting themselves on the back for their bail and sentencing reform legislation, and (rightfully) hitting back that the Conservatives didn’t support their bill to protect children online in the last parliament. But again, they’re not only letting lies fester, they’re letting scurrilous attacks go unanswered, and those just get magnified over social media, which was the point of this attack, and they need to learn how to punch back over this kind of thing. Absolutely unacceptable on both sides.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Doug Eyolfson for a tailored navy suit with a light blue shirt and a pink tie and pocket square, and to Anita Anand for a black jacket with brass button detailing over a black turtleneck. Style citations go out to, and to Tamara Jansen for a black and pink floral-print dress under a brown suede-ish jacket, and to Scott Anderson for a medium grey suit with a bright blue shirt and a tan and maroon striped tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Rebecca Alty for a mustard jacket over a white v-necked top and black slacks.