The PM was in town but not at QP today, while Pierre Poilievre was also absent. That left it up to Michelle Rempel Garner led off, bringing up their Supply Day motion on stripping health benefits from asylum claimants, claiming that the government enabled “hundreds of thousands of bogus refugee claims,” and that this was costing billions of tax dollars. Lina Diab insisted that they have already made changes to asylum claimant benefits, and that they still respect their obligations. Rempel Garner insisted that wasn’t enough, and again demanded their “common sense” motion. Dian said that they have already introduced co-pay and thanked the Conservatives for their support on Bill C-12. Dan Mazier took over and read another script on the so-called “deluxe benefits,” and cited a PBO report on the cost of these claims. Diab said that the in the report don’t take into account for changes that were already made and were coming in C-12. Mazier tried again, and Diab reminded him that the Supreme Court ruled that the removal of benefits by the Conservatives in 2014 was unconstitutional. Pierre Paul-Hus took over in French to make the same demand, and Diab responded with more of her bafflegab in French. Paul-Hus tried again, again with the PBO numbers, and Diab repeated that the projections don’t take changes already made into account. 

Christine Normandin led off for the Bloc, and for the fourth sitting week in a row, asked about the problems with the pension system, and Stephanie McLean reminded them that they know about the figures because they were on the committee that approved them, and that the figures are contingency funds, not cost overruns. Normandin tried again, and Patty Hajdu read her standard response about the transformation of the system. Sébastien Lemire tried again, and McLean repeated her same response about their not being cost overruns.

Round two, and Brad Redekopp returned to the same inflammatory questions on “deluxe health benefits” (MacKinnon: The majority are legitimate asylum claimants, not bogus, and when they arrive from war-torn countries, and their children need healthcare, Canadians would insist they get help; Harper’s removal of benefits were struck down), Helena Konaz read the same script (MacKinnon: if they are legitimate refugees they can stay and if not they are asked to leave; Michel: We have a compassionate system), Burton Bailey also read the same script (Fraser: You would have more credence in your concerns if you didn’t always fight against better healthcare), Fred Davies read again (Anadansangaree: Failed claimants are removed from the country, and we are going to remove even more), Matt Strauss tried the same (Hajdu: We are not trying to tear down people).

The Conservatives are spending #QP demanding that asylum seekers not get “deluxe health benefits,” and it’s so gross. Even worse is that the government isn’t calling out how racist and MAGA this is.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-02-23T19:37:12.590Z

Davies: Bogus asylum claimants get better benefits than Canadians! Liberal backbencher: Talk to Doug Ford! #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-02-23T19:39:23.154Z

Alexis Deschênes worried about a claim that refugee claims were accepted without verification (Diab: Officers carefully examined every asylum claimants before they were accepted; Anandasangaree: The IRB is the gold standard internationally).

John Barlow accused “red tape” of choking out agricultural businesses (MacDonald: We are supporting farmers, and the industrial carbon price is not a factor; blaming farmers for the cost of food is not appropriate), Lianne Rood read the same script (Sidhu: Our agri food exports just reach a new high; We are opening new markets for our farmers), and Ned Kuruc asked about food insecurity (Hajdu: You vote against every measure to help people and create jobs).

Round three saw questions on the size of the debt and deficit (Champagne: I have good news about the second-fastest growth in the G7), pensions (MacKinnon: We transitioned to a new system and there were a few cases of problems, and you have not forwarded any in your riding; You are shouting about nothing because this was a success; McLean: We did this transformation under budget, and over seven million seniors are now getting benefits; When the Auditor General warned the Harper government that the old system was at risk of failure, they did nothing; Hajdu: The initial programme authority was about kick-starting a phased transition and it came in under-budget), food insecurity (Champagne: Our plan will strengthen supply chains; Blois: Your platform had nothing for farmers while we have the GST credit and a plan to strengthen supply chains; Long: Your party are missing in action on affordability, while we have cut taxes and have this enhanced benefit), some absolute dogshit about censorship (MacKinnon: There is no censorship and convoy was an illegal occupation), expanding pharmacare (Michel: I am having conversations with each province and territory). 

Overall, it was an absolutely gross day, between the scapegoating of asylum claimants on the Conservatives’ side, and the complete lack of pushback on the government’s side. The content of the questions were undeniably racists and MAGA, particularly in their framing that these asylum seekers were all “bogus,” and that they were literally stealing the healthcare of other Canadians who can’t even get family doctors, which is not the problem of the federal government. In fact, there was a lone Liberal backbencher who would occasionally yell “Talk to Doug Ford,” which was the correct answer, not that any member of the government would say so. In fact, the strongest condemnation on the government side came from Sean Fraser, who did at one point call these questions shameful, but that was it. Lina Diab remains an absolute disaster in her attempts to answer these questions, and her responses essentially validated the Conservatives’ claims, while only tepidly pushing back at the PBO numbers that the Conservatives were using to justify this attack on asylum claimants. Yes, Steven MacKinnon did dispute the notion that all of these claimants are “bogus,” and yes, the government did insist that the reports claiming the IRB granted status to a group of claimants with no verification was false, but again, nobody actually pointed out that this whole line of questioning is about pandering to the far right and should be considered vulgar to any sensible Canadians. Everything about these exchanges should make everyone ashamed of their conduct, because this is where the slippery slope to authoritarianism starts, and they should all know that.

The only other notable exchanges were the fact that the Conservatives have decided to fully commit to the questions about the new OAS software, putting up nearly all of their Quebec MPs to ask about it and the supposed “scandal” of cost overruns that the government insists were not overruns, but allocated contingency funding that have not been used. Also of note was the fact that this question was finally asked in English for the first time in four sitting weeks, with Anna Roberts asking it in her usual booming condemnation, not that it merited a different response. 

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Chi Nguyen for a dark grey silk blouse with a black skirt with a jewelled belt, and to Gregor Robertson for a tailored charcoal suit with a crisp white shirt and a dark purple tie. Style citations go out to Randy Hoback for a dark grey jacket over a white shirt with blue jeans and no tie, and to Madeleine Chenette for a beige jacket with pink and yellow florals over a lavender top with black slacks. Dishonourable mention goes out to Annie Koutrakis for a bright yellow over a black top and slacks, to Rebecca Alty for a faded yellow jacket over a black top with polka dots and black slacks, and to Ginette Petitpas Taylor for a darker yellow jacket over a black collared shirt and matching slacks.