The PM was off in Halifax for his military announcement, while Pierre Poilievre was also absent, and attendance was down because this is essentially a Friday as the House is not sitting tomorrow. That left it up to Andrew Scheer to lead off, and he complained that the dollar was not rising with oil prices, and blamed the government’s “radical environmental agenda.” Mysteriously, Jill McKnight rose for the government,  to to answer the question, but to pat herself on the back for the government’s announcement that we have met the former NATO two percent spending target. Scheer said nothing about this, and kept on with his script about affordability, and blamed the industrial carbon price for declining productivity. (Seriously?!) this time, Sherry Romanado got up, and no, she didn’t answer the question either, but delivered the NATO back-patting en français. Rob Moore took over, and continued with the same script about the “radical environmental agenda” driving up the cost of living, to which Tim Hodgson got up to note that he received praise from members of the American cabinet earlier in the week for Canada’s record oil and gas production helping to keep prices down. Moore recited the lines about the industrial carbon price, to which François-Philippe Champagne got up to proclaim the “good news” of the NATO target, as well as their new bill boost home construction. Luc Berthold took over in French to decry the rising food and gasoline prices, and Champagne repeated his same response en français. Berthold then ranted about how everything was the same old Liberals, and this time Mélanie Joly pointed to inflation being stable while wages are rising at a faster rate.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and she denounced Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau, and claimed the government only helps anglophones in Quebec. Marc Miller reminded her that they have invested $4 billion in French across the country, and that the are disappointed by the CEO of Air Canada. Normandin took a swipe at the Anglo speech writers in the PMO and that they are just encouraging more Michael Rousseaus. Miller reminded her that the Liberals have a historic number of Quebec MPs, and the PM has done a lot of work to improve his French. Mario Beaulieu took over and made his own swipe at Rousseau, and Miller reminded him that anglophones do have rights in Quebec.

Round two, and Leslyn Lewis gave a sob story about grocery prices and blamed carbon pricing (MacKinnon: We understand that world events have impacted prices, which is why we have benefit programme; Champagne: Listing benefit programmes), Shelby Kramp-Neuman read another script of the same (Long: You keep changing leaders while we cut taxes and created benefits; Church: We have programmes to help people which you voted against), Jacob Mantle decried the supposed loss of business investment and blamed it on the industrial carbon price (van Koeverden: You keep voting against help for lower-income Canadians; Hodgson: The premier of Alberta was applauding our work on bringing investment), James Bezan denounced the NATO target being met as an illusion (MacKinnon: When you were in power, spending fell to 0.9 percent).

Rhéal Fortin once again tried to ask about Liberal party policy resolution (Lightbound: Nobody has used disallowance since 1943 and we won’t either), and denounced the challenge at the Supreme Court on Law 21 (Lightbound: This is a ridiculous question, while Quebeckers have a right to contest a law to the Supreme Court).

Gérard Deltell repeated the business investment script in French (Joly: Tariffs are impacting investments but we are not sitting on our hands; Housefather: We saw a $250,000 investment in my riding last week from Kraft-Heinz), Jacques Gourde read the same script (Joly: I don’t think you would win in a math test against the PM), Pierre Paul-Hus worried about rising costs of the Quebec City tramway (Lightbound: You are finally supporting this project, where you used to say you would withdraw support; You promised zero for Quebec, which is unacceptable).

Round three saw questions on immigration (Belanger: We have done more in ten months than you did in ten years; Fragiskatos: You know that immigration has benefitted us, and we are doing necessary transformation of the system; You are counting permits and not people, which double-counts those with renewals; Anandasangaree: Hooray C-12; Fragiskatos: Court decisions are not government decisions; Church: Hooray for our programmes for youth jobs), a health IT contract (Chi: They are obstructing and distracting at the committee), Pacific salmon allocations (Thompson: It will remain a shared public resource, and we are going over the consultations, and you are suggesting falsehoods), Uyghur forced labour in China (Naqvi: Forced labour is unacceptable and we have labour provisions in free trade agreements), dental care clawbacks (Chi: Hooray for the dental care programme, and we can work to resolve any issues), and the defence procurement strategy exposing Canada to undermining arms control treaties (Oliphant: We have the strongest export control regime, and we monitor every sale). 

We’re at the scapegoating migrants portion of the day. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-03-26T18:50:26.029Z

This is just gross. And Rempel Garner is the worst of the lot. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-03-26T18:56:26.961Z

Overall, it was not an illuminating day in any respect, and the current talking point about the so-called “radical environmental” agenda causing rising prices is not only laughable. Guess how much more food is going to cost as climate change continues to accelerate? This being said, it was the last third of QP, with a succession of questions that engaged in outright scapegoating of immigrants and asylum seekers was just gross, and when Brad Redekopp took exception to that interview where Sean Fraser pointed to provincial complicity really took the cake for me. It’s hard enough to hold premiers to account as it is, and it really does not help when you have members of the opposition blaming the federal government for things the premiers have done. Please stop making this crisis of civics worse, guys!

Otherwise, the Bloc continued their bizarre questions on Liberal party resolutions, phrased ever more delicately today to keep it within the rules around questions of government business, but again, this question and trying to weight in on this week’s Supreme Court of Canada hearing was just inappropriate writ-large, and the government needed to make it far more explicit that it was Quebeckers who are challenging the provincial law, not the federal government (and no, an intervention at the Supreme Court is not the same thing), because that point really needs to be driven home as this narrative is going around.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Ryan Turnbull for a blue-grey three-piece suit with a light blue shirt and a dark blue tie with a burgundy pocket square, and to Jenny Kwan for a black skirt suit. Style citations go out to Tamara Jansen for blue jacket with a bright floral pattern over a navy dress, and to Glen Motz for a black jacket over a light blue shirt, dark blue tie, and faded blue jeans. Dishonourable mention goes out to James Bezan for a black suit with a white shirt and a dark yellow tie and pocket square, and go Buckley Belanger for a black jacket over a white shirt, grey slacks, and a yellow striped tie.