The PM was present today, as were the other leaders, and it remained to be seen what Carney would be grilled on. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, where he immediately took aim at Marc Miller being appointed to cabinet, blamed him for “ruining” the immigration system and increasing the cost of living (huh?) and then took aim at comments he’d made about being tired of the decline of the French language, while Poilievre claimed he wanted to defend it. (That would be news to much of Poilievre’s base). Mark Carney stood up to declare that the government has immigration “under control,” and that the number of asylum seekers have dropped by one third, and that they will defend the French language with the greatest investments in the cultural sector. Poilievre needled on Miller’s statement about being tired of the debate over the decline of French, and he wondered why Miller got appointed. Carney said that he was for his new minister and against Poilievre being against their investments in language and culture. Poilievre then switched to English to raise the lack of consultations with First Nations about the “promised” pipeline to the Pacific, and that the Assembly of First Nations condemned his plan, and demanded that Carney make it clear to them that they will build the pipeline and do the “consultations to make it happen” (without actually apparently getting their consent). Carney said that Hansard showed Poilievre wanted to ram a pipeline through while the government would consult to get free, prior and informed consent with First Nations, and work with the province of BC, because they know how to consult and respect. Poilievre took another swipe at Miller, and quoted Miller taking a few shots about the lack of consultations, and wondered why Carney didn’t start consultations eight months ago. Carney said that there needs to be a project and a proponent, and in order to do that, they needed to create the conditions to do so, which they have now done. Poilievre switched to the PBO’s report on housing, declaring it a “broken promise” go get housing built, and that it showed they would only get one percent of their promised houses built. Carney responded with a swipe that as a life-long MP, he’d never built anything, and then pointed out that Poilievre didn’t actually read the report, and listed the housing numbers contained therein. Poilievre hit back that Carney created the housing crisis in the UK after being governor of Bank of England (huh?), and insisted that he wouldn’t fulfil the promised housing, and pointed to the modular partial house that was used for a photo op and then dismantled. Carney pointed out that house was sent to Nunavut, and that it’s a place where people live and not just fly there for a photo op without meeting with the premier.
Yves-François Blanchet rose for the Bloc, and worried about BC’s rights around the possible pipeline. Carney insisted that they will work with the province and that everything will be done in cooperation. Blanchet argued that provinces need to be respected, and decried this particular “contract.” Carney insisted that this wasn’t a contract, but a memorandum of understanding that lays out a pathway in conjunction with the province and First Nations. Blanchet insisted that it was a contract, and worried about the tanker ban, and that all parties should sign it with free, prior and informed consent. Carney again insisted that it was an MOU that obligates Alberta to make environmental investments.
Carney then got up and left, to much Conservative consternation and chanting, and the Speaker had to deliver another warning.
Round two, and Poilievre got back up to demand the prime minister debate him about housing numbers (MacKinnon: He’s off to go meet with the Assembly of First Nations, not doing clips for Twitter—and got warned by the Speaker for it), and he returned to quotes from the PBO report (Robertson: If you read the report, the PBO said it would build 86,000 homes with the initial investment, and there will be more phases; You won’t vote for housing, which matches your historical record; Hajdu: Thunder Bay just turned over city lands for housing; MacKinnon: You have systematically stood in the way of housing and supports), and tried to tie housing prices to the industrial carbon price (Hajdu: You voted against tax cuts), as well as food prices (MacKinnon: Here we go again with the imaginary taxes while you voted against income tax cut).
Poilievre is directing questions to an empty chair for clips. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-12-02T19:35:02.196Z
Mario Beaulieu railed about Marc Miller’s past comments dismissing the decline of French (Miller: I went to school in French, got my degree in French, and I raise my children in three languages including French), and Martin Champoux worried that there are fewer outlets for people to listen and read in French (Miller: I deplore politicising this, and we have invested in more French).
Scott Aitchison listed off housing start decline (Robertson: We are facing challenges in Ontario and the GTA, which is why we are taking action but you are stalling it), Jonathan Rowe read more selective quotes from the PBO report (Thompson: You voted against every measure to help Canadians), Vincent Ho read from the same script (Zerucelli: We are making the largest infrastructure investments in Canadian history but you voted against it), Gabriel Hardy read the French version of the same (Lightbound: In all of my years, I have never heard a housing organisation praise a Conservative plan).
Round three saw questions on the Algoma steel layoffs (Joly: We are helping them transition their entire business model; Without our supports, the business itself would have been in jeopardy; The member may have forgotten that we are in a trade war; Lightbound: We are supporting affected sectors and you voted against supports for these families), food insecurity (van Koeverden: We invested in co-op housing which you derided), major project Indigenous consultations (Alty: All consultations and accommodations will be required and there is no project currently to consult on), the tanker ban (Hodgson: We are in a trade war), immigration numbers and scapegoating (Belanger: Conservatives from Saskatchewan haven’t accomplished anything; Diab: We have brought in a generational budget that includes a sustainable in in immigration plan; Anandasangaree: We have a robust system of removals of those not eligible to remain in Canada), Miller’s comments about the decline of French (Miller: I’m tired of your hypocrisy as you voted against investments in French across Canada), implementing environmental racism legislation (Dabrusin: We take the concerns of Indigenous communities around the tailing ponds seriously, and there are studies underway), and doctors complaining about their administrative burden for the Disability Tax Credit (Hajdu: It’s historic that we have this benefit, and we have supports for doctors).
The Conservatives are once again treating Trump like a rational actor that Carney is the one who is unable to get a deal with. The mental gymnastics to make that make sense… #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-12-02T19:56:16.794Z
Overall, it was another day of bifurcated French/English questions, with Poilievre’s French questions and those from the Bloc all focused on Marc Miller’s appointment, but each had different swipes. Poilievre nonsensically declared that Miller “broke” the immigration system when he was minister, though he previously and declared that it was Sean Fraser who had done so (consistency, guys), and that he had somehow driven up the cost of living? That made no sense, nor did Poilievre saying that Carney created a housing crisis in the UK. Seriously, do they actually listen to themselves? As for the Bloc, their questions were thinly-veiled attacks that Miller is not actually Québécois, despite being born, raised and educated in Montreal, but *gasp!* he’s an anglophone Quebecker, which just will not do given that they are for all intents and purposes ethnic nationalists.
Otherwise, we saw another case of Poilievre trying to goad Carney into answering for a second round, as Carney took off immediately after the leader’s round began, to which Poilievre once again started directing questions to an empty chair and pretending that Carney was present and being too cowardly to debate him—because the “debate me, bro!” shtick is back, and it’s just so very tiresome.
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Shelby Kramp-Neuman for a dark grey short-sleeved v-necked dress, and to Doug Eyolfson for a navy suit with a light blue shirt and a pink tie and pocket square. Style citations go out to Blaine Calkins for a burgundy suit with a white shirt and a mint green tie, and to Rhonda Kirkland for a dark green jacket over a blue dark blue shirt with small patterns across it and black slacks. Dishonourable mention goes out to Linda Lapointe for a mustard yellow jacket over a black dress.