While the PM was meeting with the president of Finland, Question Period got underway without him, in spite of the fact that he could have used it to take a victory lap after last night’s by-elections wins. Pierre Poilievre was also not present, leaving it up to Andrew Scheer to led off, and just like their Supply Day motion, he demand the government cut all gas taxes, not just the excise tax (even though the clean fuel standard is not a tax or a charge in any way). François-Philippe Champagne stood up go proclaim today’s “good news”—that the IMF projects Canada to have the second-fastest growing economy in the G7, and that they have already announced the suspension of the fuel excise tax. Scheer insisted this was just a half-measure, to which Tim Hodgson stood up to praise the excise tax pause along side their other affordability measures. Pierre Paul-Hus took over in French to make the same demand, and Champagne repeated his same response en français. Paul-Hus listed the other “taxes” they wanted cut, not all of which are taxes, and Joël Lightbound stood up to pat himself on the back for all of their affordability measures. John Barlow took over and returned to English to continue to decry just how much of a half-measure this was, to which Steven MacKinnon praised not only pause in the excise tax, but that it also applies to jet fuel on domestic flights. Barlow hit back on their hypocrisy over this given they used to decry how this would make the planet burn, but again demanded all taxes on gas be cut, which would increase consumption even More. Heath MacDonald praised how much this pause would help farmers.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and she decried how much the allocation of funding for Francophone news was reduced after Corus got access to the regional fund. Marc Miller praised their supports for French-language media. Normandin said that the digital services tax could funded all of these outlets, and Miller reiterated that they were looking at more options. Martin Champoux repeated the same question once again, and Miller repeated his same response.

Round two, and Scot Davidson repeated the tax cut demand (Hodgson: We have cut gas taxes 28 cents per litre since we took office; Champagne: Our pause will help all Canadians), Rob Moore read the same script (Long: While your leader is on his podcast tour, we are focused on Canadians; Hajdu: We can help with long-term sustainable affordability with programmes like child care), Warren Steinley tried again (Belanger: Some rambling nonsense about the Conservatives doing nothing about Saskatchewan; I watched your underperformance in the Saskatchewan legislature and I’m watching it here now), and Helena Honanz read the same script yet again (McKnight: Hooray for our excise tax pause).

Andréanne Larouche worried about the lack of reform to employment insurance (Hajdu: We have measures to ensure people have the support they need), and Marilène Gill tried again (Hajdu: Same answer).

Luc Berthold returned to the gas tax demand in French (Provost: We are not just doing one thing, we have measures to help with buying power; Bendayan: You have been obstructing our work in Parliament), Dominique Vien read it again (Lightbound: It would be so simple to support our programmes to help people in your riding; We eliminated the consumer carbon price, and she put in a price on pollution when she was in government in Quebec), and Jacques Gourde read the same script with added drama (Champagne: You are terrible with arithmetic).

Round three saw questions on the Cowichan ruling (Alty: We are appealing it; Private property is protected under the Haida agreement; Fraser: We are appealing the decision and we defended fee simple at the courts; Robertson: You are sowing anxiety and fear-mongering; McKnight: We are appealing the decision for greater clarity; Noormohamed: They are not interested in the answers, but in sowing confusing), the finance minister’s supposed ethical conflict (MacKinnon: We follow the most stringent ethics rules in the world; Let’s talk about the dream of high-speed rail; Your party wanted this at your policy convention three years ago), voting for Iran’s membership to a UN committee (Fortier: We are calling for international law to be respected), Danielle Smith privatising healthcare (Michel: We are working closing with all provinces, and my department is having conversations), and cuts to research (Bardeesy: We made record investments in research in the last budget). 

These questions on Indigenous treaty rights versus private property are really tip-toeing on the line… #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-04-14T18:56:14.752Z

Overall, the first two-thirds of the day was entirely predictable, with the constant back-and-forth about demanding even more gasoline taxes be cut, and rather than give economic reasons why that might be bad policy, the government didn’t do that, but just patted themselves on the back. Mind you, if they had, they would have had to justify their own stupid, populist move in “pausing” the excise tax, so that goes against their entire modus operandi. So back-patting it was, and it was so mindlessly repetitive.

As for the last third, the constant questions on the Cowichan decision, based on a poor reading of the filings, and in spite of having been given clear answers yesterday and today, the Conservatives nevertheless lined up pretty much every single one of their BC MPs to decry the decision and their false version of the government’s position, and have been clip-harvesting in a way that is not only borderline racist, but is sowing a bunch of needless panic and anxiety based on whole cloth falsehoods. Private property is not in dispute. Banks are not claiming mortgages are in doubt (and there was on news story where a guy claimed that and the bank responded and said that was not the case). All of this is not just bullshit, it’s deliberate disinformation that puts the affected First Nations in a poor light, and it’s outright irresponsible, but they have decided they want to ride this pony, and I cannot fathom why, other than they think it will get them outrage clicks. Everything about this is gross, and the government needs to be clear in what is happening so that they can explicitly call it out, more than they have been.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Ryan Turnbull for a grey three-piece suite over a dark blue shirt, with a matching pocket square and a grey paisley tie, and to Linda Lapointe for a light blue skirt suit with a white top. Style citations go out to Cathay Wagantall for a red and black floral top under a red jacket and black slacks, and to Bienvenu-Olivier Ntumba for a tan suit with a high-button cut over a light blue shirt and a navy tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Rebecca Alty for a mustard jacket over a cream top with black slacks, to Buckley Belanger for a black jacket with a white shirt, grey slacks, and a yellow striped tie, and to Cheryl Gallant for a bright yellow jacket over a black blouse with a pussy bow and black slacks.