After more than a week away, the PM was not present, despite being in the building, while Pierre Poilievre was also in the building but absent from QP. Andrew Scheer led off, and he railed about the industrial carbon price and the clean fuel standard, and demanded the government scrap them. Tim Hodgson pointed out to him that our energy production reached a record high, and that the government is fast-tracking projects to “solve the world’s affordability problem.” Scheer tried again, and this time François-Philippe Champagne reminded him that they already cut taxes and we are projected to have the second fastest growth in the G7. John Brassard took over, and he recited the same talking points with added sanctimony. Patty Hajdu hoped that he was not referring to things like the Canada Child Benefit or school food when he talked about “ideological programmes.” Brassard considered the government’s supposed anti-development laws are “hate-driven,” and Champagne again reminded him of the growth potential. Eric Lefebvre tried again in French, and Champagne praised the enhanced GST credit. Lefebvre railed about the things the government was doing to make things expensive, to which Mélanie Joly suggested he was basically reading the government’s game plan, except to toward the end, and invited him to cross the floor.
*hate-driven. Stupid auto-correct.
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-03-09T18:58:38.122Z
Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and yet again, decried the pension software system, and Patty Hajdu reminded her that twenty countries use this system, and that they are working through the backlog of cases. Normandin claimed the government didn’t listen to any of the concerns before it went live, and Hajdu reminded her that 7.7 million seniors are already getting benefits with no problem, and wondered if Normandin wanted them to stay on a sixty-year-old system in danger of failure. Sébastien Lemaire gave the same again, and Joël Lightbound repeated Hajdu’s same points en français.
Round two, and Sandra Cobena again read the script about the fuel standard and industrial carbon price (Champagne: Hooray for our generational budget; The world wants what Canada has to offer), Carol Antsey read the script with added Karen energy (Thompson: Let me praise the Bay Du Nord project; We have actual supports for people in need), Marilyn Gladu read the same script with some added drama (Solomon: You talk the economy down while we build it up), and then Gérard Deltell got up to worry about the government asking Laval write a cheque to the former mayor who was found guilty of embezzlement (Champagne: I summoned the commissioner of the CRA to find a solution; The situation is far more complex than you are suggesting, and we are focused on solutions).
Jean-Denis Garon worried about the possibility of expropriations with the high-speed rail line (Louis: Hooray for working together on this project).
Shannon Stubbs demanded the government ram through new pipelines (Hodgson: We approved two pipeline projects and TMX applied for three optimisation projects; The province of Alberta is excited about working with us), Laila Goodridge demanded the same (Hodgson: Get on board with Alberta; We have seen record production this last year), and Glen Motz gave the same again (Hodgson: Same answer).
Round three saw questions on LNG exports to Europe (Hodgson: We are moving ahead on Bay Du Nord; Sidhu: we are there to export LNG), shootings against synagogues (Anandasangaree: I have met with many members of the Jewish community and we condemn these acts and we are working with the province and municipalities; We have funded 108 Jewish community projects since November, and you should support Bill C-9), deporting members of the IRGC in Canada (Anandasangaree: There are removals happening right now; here are some facts and figures; The CBSA is working to ensure those inadmissible to Canada are removed; Dabrusin: Shame on you for not supporting Bill C-9; Anand: Iran is the principal source of terror in the region which is why we listed the IRGC as a terrorist entity, and all parties need to abide by international law), a child killer getting parole (Anandasangaree: The Parole Board is independent and you should pass lawful access), and the PM’s endorsement of the Iran conflict (Anand: Our support is not a blank cheque, and all parties must respect international law).
On a question about a child killer getting parole, Anandasangaree made a pitch for the Conservatives to support lawful access. FFS! #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-03-09T19:09:34.853Z
Overall, I knew going into it that this was going to be a stupid day, and I was right. I joked with a colleague at the start that with Scheer leading off, we would reach a 9.5/10 on the stupidity scale, and well, they didn’t disappoint. Which was, in itself, perpetually disappointing. Regardless, in spite of the very relevant questions that could and should be asked about the prime minister’s shifting positions on the Iran conflict, that didn’t happen until nearly the end of QP, where the first half was spent trying to wedge get more condemnations of the clean fuel standard and industrial carbon price as prices are set to rise as a result of this conflict in Iran, and while the Conservatives want to put everything in an affordability lens, this was really pushing credulity, particularly that they keep trying to manufacture domestic reasons for why prices are rising, no matter how much it can be proven that these particular programmes have little to no connection to food price inflation.
The answer is "Liberal anti-development laws."
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-03-09T02:29:07.600Z
Let me say that I called it—the Conservatives are blaming Liberal “anti-development laws” for high oil prices. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-03-09T18:46:17.241Z
This being said, the Conservatives did decide to go to town on the issue of Toronto-area synagogues being shot-up, and the Conservatives concluded that this was the work of Iranian agents and declared that there are “terrorists on our streets” that the government is apparently refusing to do anything about. This got compounded by a whole lot of “deport them!” nonsense, because apparently there’s no such thing as due process, and things got increasingly loud as the yelling back-and-forth on this got worse as the questions went on. I’m also going to single out Gary Anandasangaree for making a pitch for (unconstitutional) lawful access during his response on a parole issue, because it’s just so exhausting to have to constantly deal with this level of dishonest rhetoric from the government, when they opposed this for so long.
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out Laila Goodridge for a light grey belted dress with a black panel under a black jacket, and to Gregor Robertson for a tailored black suit with a crisp white shirt and a lavender tie. Style citations go out to Randy Hoback for a taupe jacket with a subtle grid pattern over a light blue shirt and blue jeans with no tie, and to Andréanne Larouche for a black collared dress with a bright and busy red, yellow and orange floral pattern, and puffy sleeves.