With the PM still in Abu Dhabi, other leaders opted not to show up as well, nor did Pierre Poilievre did show, so it was up to Andrew Scheer to lead off in English, where he breathily recited the script about things get worse every time Mark Carney travels. Maninder Sidhu read a response about Carney signing a Foreign Investment and Promotion Agreement with the UAE. Scheer then pivoted to the tanker ban on BC’s northwest coast, and wondered if American tankers were included. Tim Hodgson read a non-response about working with stakeholders about a potential pipeline. Scheer then answered his own question and railed that American can still travel those waters, and said the government was hampering its own industry. Hodgson dismissed this as empty anger. Pierre Paul-Hus took over in French to repeat the same snide remarks about Carney’s travels, to which Dominic LeBlanc said that his colleague across the way might be confused, and praised the agreement signed in the UAE. Paul-Hus claimed that the government was elected on false pretences, before pivoting to the CRA and the problems with the call centres. Joël Lightbound assures him that they are well on the way with their 100-day plan, and things were getting better. Paul-Hus noted the cuts that were made by the previous minister, and demanded that the government treat this like an emergency. Lightbound insisted that it was what they were doing, and the online portals were now working.
Christine Normandin led for the Bloc lambasted Carney for choosing travel to a petro-monarchy instead of the COP30 conference in Brazil. Stephen MacKinnon said that he chose to be in Ottawa to vote for the budget. Normandin accused the government of setting the country back ten years on climate, and MacKinnon assured her that the UAE is one of top ten investors in renewable energy. Patrick Bonin repeated the same accusations, to which Julie Dabrusin assured him that she was at the conference and that they were Building Canada Strong™.
Round two, and Stephanie Kusie read a script about the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s remarks (MacKinnon: Earlier in this chamber, you questioned the prime minister’s loyalty to Canada and you should take that back; I will again invite you to retract those comments), Warren Steinley read another script of the same (Long: People chose our experienced leader over your leader who has nothing to show for his 20 years in Parliament), Kyle Seeback accused the investment in the European Space Agency was about enriching Brookfield (Bardeesy: It’s too bad you don’t recognise the importance of space to our economy), and Gérard Deltell returned to the CRA question (Lightbound: Our reforms are working).
It is astounding just how provincial the Conservatives’ questions are. No understanding of the global economy at all. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-20T19:37:55.596Z
Martin Champoux demanded governments support for private media (Guilbeault: You are acting like a firefighter who set fire we to put them out, while we invested in local media around the country; You voted against support for media).
Luc Berthold decried food insecurity and blamed it on imaginary “hidden taxes” (Lightbound: You make up imaginary taxes but voted against a tax cut), Gabriel Hardy read another script of the same (Provost: We need to give Canadians back their purchasing power, and are supporting them in a number of ways), Andrew Lawton read the English version of the same script (Church: We cut taxes and are building houses to bring down prices).
Church: This is rich coming from Poilievre’s biographer…Lawton: Thanks for plugging my book. Maybe if you read books and not talking points we’d be better off.Lawton then proceed to read a script. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-20T19:50:20.307Z
Round three saw questions on the F-35 procurement (McGuinty: We are procuring a new fleet of aircraft and we are committed to procuring what the Air Force needs), a Syrian national who is a financier of Hamas to claim refugee status (Fragiskatos: Think twice before putting unverified reports from anonymous sources on the floor of this House; We take security threats seriously, and you know there are checks before anyone is allowed into the country), the foreign interference commissioner appointment (Anandasangaree: We are moving ahead in short order), extortion (Anandasangaree: Support our lawful access bill; MacKinnon: Pass C-2), the prime minister’s travel (Sidhu: Here are conservative premiers praising the PM’s efforts; Here is a list of deals signed; Solomon: Support the budget; MacKinnon: Here is another outrageous quote from a Conservative that needs to be retracted), and the UAE supporting one of the sides in the Sudan civil wars and could be funnelling Canadian arms to the conflict (Fortier: Canada condemns the atrocities happening in Sudan, and everyone must protect civilians and allow access to humanitarian aid), and government inaction on funding for First Nations children (Gull-Masty: We are working on the principle of self-determination, and we need to find that path forward).
Doing just what the military wants is not civilian control, guys. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-20T19:52:10.713Z
Sidhu: Now is not the time to retreat behind the curtains like some of your members did. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-20T20:04:02.809Z
Overall, There wasn’t much to recommend today, other than the fact that we got a few different questions by the third round, which was blessed relief. That said, the government is now berating the opposition for not supporting their lawful access bill, which is testing my gods damned patience. The Supreme Court has twice ruled against lawful access and said that it is unconstitutional. You would think that the Conservatives might actually mention this to push back against the government talking points on this, but they don’t, because they have their same stale scripts that have Poilievre’s five slogans, and they just repeat those over and over instead, which is frankly a dereliction of duty.
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Arielle Kayabaga for a well-cut long navy jacket over a navy top and slacks, and to Ryan Turnbull for a dark grey suit with a pale blue shirt with a light blue tie and pocket square. Style citations go out to Mona Fortier for a maroon dress with black and cream patches under a tan brown jacket, and to Clifford Small for a light brown jacket with a pale blue windowpane pattern over a light blue shirt and navy slacks with a sealskin bow-tie.