For what promised to be the final QP of 2025 (for real this time!), the PM was once again absent in spite of being in town. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and after claiming that his was the party of “hope,” he denounced the “hidden taxes” increasing the cost of food and demanded they be repealed. Steve MacKinnon replied that nobody calls the Conservatives the party of hope, but we wishes them a Merry Christmas all the same, and then reminded him that these taxes don’t exist. Poilievre took a swipe at Mark Carney’s absence, got his question taken away by the Speaker, and then he claimed the Liberals were blocking the attempts to pass crime bills. MacKinnon pointed out that the Conservatives have been the ones blocking except for the final day when they suddenly decided to want to move them ahead. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his first question on imaginary taxes, and Patty Hajdu stood up to remind him those taxes don’t exist, and then praised that the Canada Child Benefit cheques were going out early. Poilievre read about the Clean Fuel Regulations, and called them a tax, and Julie Dabrusin suggested he read the entire report, and pointed out that those regulations are good for canola farmers who can feed into the biofuel sector. Poilievre then returned to his horseshit assertions about the Liberals “blocking” their bail bill. MacKinnon accused Poilievre of living in a parallel universe and listed the crimes the Conservatives have been blocking the Liberals from fighting.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and she said that under Carney, Canada has become a business which no longer cares about climate change, and took a swipe at Carney’s French. Dabrusin insisted that they have committed to strengthening the price on carbon and methane regulations, as clean electricity. Normandin went further on her analogy, calling Carney the CEO of Canada Inc., who needs to be reminded he is in a democratic Parliament. Joël Lightbound praised all of the measures the government is taking, and the things the Bloc voted against. Patrick Bonin took over to again lament the abandonment of climate, and this time Nathalie Provost said that they will meet the goal but needed to change their strategy because of changing circumstances.

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan gave his insult comic shtick in reading the food insecurity/imaginary taxes script (along: Here we go with imaginary taxes), Sukhman Gill read the housing script (Robertson: Hooray our announcing with Ottawa), Michelle Rempel Garner scapegoated immigrants (Diab: Boilerplate answer), John Brassard raised private sector companies lending staff to the Major Projects Office (LeBlanc: This is a conspiracy theory and we are glad people want to serve Canadians; I remember when people from Bay Street were recruited to Harper’s PMO), and Michael Barrett tried to again (MacKinnon: This is a big wind-up about nothing; Hodgson: It’s easy to dream up conspiracies if you’ve never built anything).

Poilievre waves to everyone as he leaves after the leaders’ round is over. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-12-11T19:38:01.319Z

Marilène Gill worried about cuts to federal supports for homelessness in Quebec (Michel: We have put into place the dental care plan), and Andréanne Larouche pressed on the same issue (Lightbound: Homelessness is concerning, which is why we have a homelessness strategy, which you voted against in the budget),

Pierre Paul-Hus tried to raised the scandal with the Quebec Liberal Party, and the Speaker warned him it was not about government business. Paul-Hus tried again, got a second warning, and he pivoted to the Century Initiative nonsense (LeBlanc: You have challenges with the facts), and Dominique Vien gave the French version of the food insecurity script (Lightbound: Conservatives live in another universe: Your votes speak louder than your words).

Round three saw questions on bail laws (Fraser: You are citing revisionist history after filibustering the entire fall; Sahota: That member has been one of the biggest obstructions in committee), food insecurity (van Koeverden: A Grinch parable; Turnbull: You won’t help us feed children or deliver affordable housing; Thompson: Those are imaginary taxes and you should help us build this country; Belanger: Like any serious disease, we will respond to it), the Stellantis contract (Bardeesy: Stellantis broke the contract, so we will get the money back; Sidhu: We have made a record investment in the SNR project in Darlington), Health Canada buying crack pipes (Michel: We don’t fund any publicly distributed crack pipes), the Cowichan land rights decision (Alty: We will work collaboratively with all parties), and violence around “man-camps” (Alty: We are taking action on MMIW without federal action plan).

There should be a Standing Order against Grinch and Scrooge references. Make it stop. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-12-11T20:00:59.376Z

Overall, it was a bit of a scattershot day in terms of which scripts got deployed, or as I like to think of it, the ABBA Gold of Question Period, and jus like any greatest “hits” package, there was a new track, being this complaint about people being recruited to the Major Projects Office in a way they claimed was corrupt, which the government had a ready answer for to dismiss it. I note that the exchanges around what was happening at the justice committee (which were not really the domain of QP because committees are not a ministerial responsibility) were getting increasingly toxic, and what I’m hearing about what has been happening at that committee is also worrying because it’s antithetical to how our Parliament should be operating.

I will also note that the Speaker was quick to take away a question after Poilievre once again broke the rules in trying to call out Carney’s absence, so that’s good to see, but the Pierre Paul-Hus in particular keeps trying to bring up the issues with the Liberal Party of Quebec, which have nothing to do with the administrative responsibility of government (meaning Cabinet and not members of the Liberal caucus), and he got shut down on that again today, after the Speaker already delivered a ruling about why these questions are out of order earlier in the week. QP is not a free-for-all. There are rules and limits that need to be respected, and it’s good that the Speaker is taking a firmer hand on this.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Peter Fragiskatos for a tailored dark grey three-piece suit with a pink shirt and pocket square, and a darker pink paisley tie, and to Christine Normandin for a grey plaid jacket over a black top and slacks. Style citations go out to Tamara Jansen for a blue jacket with pink and white florals over a black top and slacks, and to Ernie Klassen for dark grey windowpane-patterned suit over a fluorescent pink shirt with dark grey tie.