With the House of Commons not sitting this week, one can expect the drama of the Conservative ranks to continue to reverberate this week, seeing as the government’s big budget roll-out has been ringing a little bit flat, in part because they already announced everything ahead of time, but also the fact that it’s missing the mark in some key places. Regardless, MP Chris d’Entremont is now speaking to media a bit more now that he’s crossed the floor, and it’s revealing.

d’Entremont told the CBC over the weekend that he hadn’t been 100 percent on board with crossing the floor until his remarks were published in Politico, and Andrew Scheer and Chris Warkentin barged into his office to yell at him and call him a snake, which was the point he knew it was time to go. And frankly, that’s not a surprise, but my dudes, this did not work for Erin O’Toole when he was in the dying days of his leadership, so why do you think that bullying your caucus is going to work for you? And for Poilievre’s office to respond by saying that d’Entremont is a “liar” for “wilfully deceiving his voters, friends and colleagues” is rich coming from known liars like Poilievre and Scheer. And d’Entremont also said that it wasn’t just Poilievre, but his entire leadership team who are running the party like a frat house, which sounds about right because there are no adults in the room.

I will add that something that has come up a couple of times online but not in the media was the fact that d’Entremont has been a pro-life voter throughout his political career and time in Parliament, which was something that would have mattered in the Trudeau years, but looks like Carney has dumped (possibly because he is more devoutly Catholic than Trudeau was). That wasn’t to say that certain pro-life Liberals weren’t still in Trudeau’s caucus, likely under some kind of promise extracted from them not to vote in certain ways on those issues, but there has been no discussion as to whether any similar promise was extracted from d’Entremont, or if being resolutely pro-choice is no longer a requirement for the Liberal caucus.

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2025-11-09T15:08:04.404Z

Ukraine Dispatch

Over the weekend, Russia targeted the power sub-stations to two nuclear power plants, killing seven, along with other strikes on cities like Dnipro. Ukrainian strikes have apparently disrupted power and heat in two Russian cities near the border.

Good reads:

• Cuts to foreign aid in the budget are creating more uncertainty when there is already chaos globally following the cuts at USAID.
• Media still can’t get an interview with Chrystia Freeland, but she seems to be looking to identify Canadian businesses looking to help invest in Ukraine.
• Here is a look at the upcoming COP30 summit in Brazil, and what role Canada could be playing (seeing as we’re just giving up on our 2030 targets).
• Michael Kovrig warns that if we make China the core of our economic diversification strategy, they will weaponise any dependence on their markets (like canola).
• Saturday was Indigenous Veterans Day, and here is a look at struggles they faced both at home and abroad.
• This year’s Silver Cross Mother talks about her son’s death in Afghanistan.
• Here is a look at a copper mine in Norway, facing pushback for environmental concerns, and the lessons that Carney should take from it.
• The NDP are “very confident” none of their MPs will cross the floor.
• Nova Scotia’s Chief Justices are defending the decision to ban poppies from judges and court staff, as current and former premiers are making it a new culture war.
• Kevin Carmichael posits that what’s in the budget may not be enough to restart our sluggish economy because our bigger problem is the need for culture change.
• Dan Gardner also muses about Canada doing things because it’s easy since the end of WWII, and why that means we now punch well below our weight overall.
• Philippe Lagassé offers a reality check on what the Defence Industrial Strategy needs to include, as it will come at a political cost.
• Susan Delacourt delves into the early polling data on the budget, and it’s not landing with Canadians, meaning the sales job needs to change.
• Shannon Proudfoot ponders what the last week ultimately means for Poilievre and his continued leadership.
• Althia Raj also looks back on the week that was, and wonders if there aren’t some other warning signs for the Liberals amidst the Conservatives’ drama.
• My weekend column laments the normalization of governments now reaching for the Notwithstanding Clause at first instance rather than as a last resort.

Odds and ends:

For National Magazine, I look into the confusion caused by Friday’s Supreme Court of Canada decision, and not the clarity it was aiming for.

New episodes released early for C$7+ subscribers. This week I'm talking about floor-crossings, and how that interacts with our system of government #cdnpoli

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-09T22:51:58.148Z

Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.