In spite of being in the building and preparing to make an announcement, the PM was not at QP, but Pierre Poilievre sure was. He led off in French, lamenting that there haven’t been any wins in tariff relief, no matter the concessions made, but nothing has come of it other than a contract for Brookfield, and he wondered if Brookfield was the only one getting wins. Dominic LeBlanc reminded Poilievre that Canadians didn’t place their trust in him, and the government was trying to find a good deal, while taking more measures to help Canadian industries. Poilievre switched to English to declare that David Eby has no constitutional authority to block a pipeline, but that the prime minister has the authority authorize one, and demanded that a pipeline to the Pacific be approved today. Tim Hodgson suggested he buy a ticket to Calgary tomorrow so that he can see how to work with provinces to Build Canada Strong™. Poilievre suggested that Carney stand up to his own caucus to build this pipeline. Hodgson suggested Poilievre ask Danielle Smith why she was working with the federal government. Poilievre again gave a jejune constitutional lesson and demanded the PM use his powers to approve a pipeline today. (What pipeline? What proponent? What route?) This time, Steve MacKinnon got up to praise Carney’s leadership. Poilievre intimated to Carney’s absence and got warned by the Speaker, said that if Carney is not there, he doesn’t care, and suggested Carney get up to show he cares. Hodgson repeated his line about buying a ticket to Calgary. Poilievre then pivoted to the Brookfield contract with the White House, intimating Carney had something to do with it, and LeBlanc reminded him that we have the best deal available as it is.
Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, repeated the accusation of yesterday that the federal government “cheated” in the 1995 referendum, but then pivoted to a question about trade. Lina Diab said that she’d not focused on the past, but on working to make the immigration system strong for Quebec and Canada. Blanchet then asked Steven Guilbeault if he was comfortable with Carney trying to do an end-run around emissions laws, to which Guilbeault hit back with Blanchet’s record as a provincial environment minister. Blanchet then needled Guilbeault again to demand a promise the no project would get approval without the consent of the provinces of First Nations. MacKinnon said that the answer was yes.
Round two, and Pierre Paul-Hus tried to asked about someone’s involvement in the Quebec Liberal leadership race, and was cautioned by the Speaker that this was not a federal matter. Paul-Hus tried again, and got a second warning, and Paul-Hus accused him of a cover-up before the Speaker moved to next question. John Brassard made another accusation that Carney was making deals for Brookfield but not Canada (Hajdu: We have stood up for workers and companies; Zerucelli: In just a few minutes, the prime minister will again stand up for Canadian steel), Michael Barrett made the same accusations (Robertson: He is standing up for the country; Hodgson: Instead of conspiracy theories, the prime minister is standing up for the country in a trade war), Raquel Dancho read the same script with more emphasis (Long: Get behind our measures).
The Speaker is at least holding a tougher line on questions that are not relevant to the federal government than his predecessor did. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-26T19:35:59.718Z
Patrick Bonin decried the possibility of a second pipeline to the coast (Dabrusin: How about our other projects to Build Canada Strong™ in Quebec?; MacKinnon: The Bloc just wants to destroy the country).
Gabriel Hardy read today’s script on Brookfield in French (Leitão: When the prime minister makes a decision, it’s in the interests of all Canadians; The PM travels to find new markets for our companies), Pat Kelly read the script in English (Turnbull: “Conservative cares” is like an oxymoron), and Michael Cooper said that Pathways has ties to Brookfield (Hodgson: Pathways is owned by six oil companies, not Entropy; We are focused on working with Alberta to develop resources in a responsible way).
Round three saw questions on the supposed “veto” for BC (Hodgson: Get a ticket to Calgary tomorrow; We expect proponents to work with the affected jurisdictions and First Nations; MacKinnon: Maybe he should talk to Danielle Smith; Are you really suggesting that the government should bulldoze without the consultation with the province or the First Nations?; Hajdu: We are supporting Canadians; Turnbull: We’re in a trade war and we are supporting Canadians; LeBlanc: Thank you for that manufactured indignation), the “who cares?” script (Long: We are announcing new support measures today; Turnbull: I just met with the local union at that Oshawa plant, and they support our measures; Zerucelli: Auto workers know we have their backs), layoffs at a truck plant in Quebec (Leitão: We are in a trade war, and we can’t just sign any deal with the U.S., and we are communications with this business), and the fate of the tanker ban (Dabrusin: The prime minister was clear that we make sure that any major projects work with provinces and Indigenous rights-holders).
Overall, the questions insinuating that the prime minister is going around making deals on Brookfield’s behalf are childish and tiresome, but that doesn’t seem to stop the Conservatives from pumping this out, question after question, so that they can blanket their socials with it. The government pushes back on this particular understanding somewhat better than they do with most other disinformation, but even then, it’s only a minimal effort. The least the government could have done was invite Poiliere and others to make these actions outside of the Chamber, where they don’t the protect of Privilege, and make him stand up to these accusations without that projection.
Otherwise, I wanted to just make mention of the Conservatives attempting to make political hay about the current woes of the Quebec Liberal Party and trying to draw members of the government into it, but the Speaker rightfully put a stop to it because it has nothing to do with the federal government. The Conservatives got pretty pissy about it at the end of QP when they raised points of order to complain, and one of them even declared that they have a right to ask these questions because they’re “in the news.” Nope. That’s not how this works. QP is about the administrative responsibilities of the government, meaning Cabinet. They answer on behalf of their departments, this is not about the individual MPs or the actions of the Liberal Party writ-large—government. Conservatives know this, but they’re going to try and push anyway because they want more clips to embarrass the government, but instead they got a clip of them making an ass of themselves and the Speaker needed to spank them. This being said, when Pierre Paul-Hus tried to insinuate that the Speaker was part of a cover-up, the Speaker should have immediately demanded a retraction and if not delivered, expelled him from the Chamber for disrespecting his authority. That he didn’t gives license for future such snide remarks.
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Ryan Turnbull for a tailored dark grey suit with a pale blue shirt and a dark red tie and pocket square, and to Linda Lapointe for a light grey Chanel suit over a black top. Style citations go out to Anna Roberts for a purple and fuchsia smock top under a black sweater with black slacks, and to Clifford Small for a dark blue jacket with a pink windowpane pattern over a pale blueberry shirt, navy slacks, and a red striped tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Kurt Holman for a black suit with a pale blue shirt and a dark yellow tie.