Fresh from his trip to Armenia and his announcement of Louise Arbour as the next Governor General, the PM was present for QP today. Pierre Poilievre also showed up, and he led off in French, and he immediately started taking swipes at the immigration minister, and demanded that the prime minister fire her. Mark Carney ignored the question, and praised Arbour as the next GG in French. Poilievre raised the visa for the Iranian official who got on a plane to Canada, and again demanded he fire her. Carney stated that Iranian officials are not allowed in Canada, and that they are taking steps to ensure it doesn’t happen. Poilievre repeated the question/demand in English, and Carney repeated his same answer in English, before reciting his Farge-esque line about taking back control of the immigration system. Poilievre listed a bunch of misleading statistics about Iranian officials already in Canada, and again demanded the firing, and Carney rattled off the number of investigations, cancelled visas, and removals. Poilievre then switched to the Cowichan decision, recited some misleading nonsense, and claimed the government wasn’t defending homeowners. Carney said that they respect private property rights, which is why they appealed the decision, and then noted that it was Red Dress day. Poilievre claimed this was just an illusion, and cited the government’s litigation directives on Indigenous rights, and again claimed the government was not defending rights. Carney hit back that the only illusion was whether this makeover of Poilievre’s would work more than his previous attempts, and then repeated his same response. 

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and demanded to know why the government wasn’t not implementing wage subsidies for businesses in peril from tariffs. Carney said that he wanted to thank the member across the way for his support for the new measures announced. Blanchet was not satisfied, and tried again. Carney pointed out that the new measures will flow immediately, and it also goes to small businesses. Blanchet was still not mollified, and said that these small businesses could not go deeper into debt and demanded a wage subsidy again. Carney responded with praise from Quebec business groups for the new support measures. 

Round two, and Poilievre got back up, and blamed gasoline prices on “taxes, inflationary deficits, and environmental programmes,” and demanded they all be scrapped (Champagne: There is a conflict in the Strait of Hormuz and we have given excise tax on fuel a break; We implemented targeted relief; Hodgson: The head of the International Energy Agency points to the unprecedented crisis in oil prices, and we are helping the world with nuclear and clean energy; You should spend less time on your social media clips and we are building new pipelines this summer; Danielle Smith says she is optimistic about working with us; Hajdu: You say families don’t want help, but when we support the skilled trades, you fight against that as well).

Poilievre seems to think that the government sets retail gas prices, and that prices are high because of “inflationary deficits.”This is beyond ridiculous. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-05-05T18:35:27.848Z

Sébastien Lemire worried about farms being affected by the high-speed rail (MacKinnon: We are working to with communities to reach agreements with these farmers), and Jean-Denis Garon complained about consultations happening in a way he doesn’t like (MacKinnon: This is all sackcloth and ashes from you guys).

Joël Godin got back to the “national credit card” script in French (MacKinnon: Hooray for our skilled trades programme; Gainey: We are giving young people hope for good jobs), Luc Berthold read the same script (Lightbound: Young people want jobs and opportunity, which is what we are providing), and Jacob Mantle quote the PBO to give a more tortured version of the credit card script (Champagne: The PBO confirmed we are on track to reduce the deficit and that our finances are sustainable; Long: Despite your best efforts to mislead about the economy, the PBO says the economy demonstrates resilience).

Round three saw questions on gasoline taxes (Thompson: Listen to your constituents, who support what we’re doing; Olszewski: You say you are standing up for Alberta but you are off-side with the Alberta business community; Hajdu: You should support our skilled trades programmes), blaming the government for an increased number of people washing out of basic training in the military (McGunity: Recruitment is up and we have reinvested), taking swipes at the immigration minister (Diab: We have a plan and it’s working; I didn’t sign off on that special visa), RCMP detachments operating at a shortage (Anandasangaree: We support the RCMP and are giving them the tools they need), inequality (Champagne: We are here for people with our programmes), and MMIW action plan progress (Alty: We are taking action at every stage). 

Conservatives now complaining that the dollar is devalued because of “Liberal taxes” and not the fact that we’re in a trade war and the floating dollar is a shock-absorber.But hey, Poilievre is an economic genius who is never wrong. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-05-05T18:56:21.324Z

Apparently the minister directly oversees basic training in the military. Come on, guys. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-05-05T18:59:22.842Z

Oh, wait. It’s the fault of immigration. But can the minister call this out as being racist? Of course not. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-05-05T19:01:33.412Z

Overall, it wasn’t as much of a raucous day as it was yesterday, however it featured an extended suite of Poilievre making himself the main star while he tried to goad Carney into responding during the second round, not that Carney took the bait. By gods on Olympus, the economic illiteracy is off the scale. Gas prices have nothing to do with government deficits. The fact that the dollar is weak has nothing to do with “Liberal taxes” and everything to do with the fact that we’re in a trade war and a floating dollar acts as a shock absorber, which is helping with our economic resilience. The clean fuel standard is not a “renamed carbon tax,” and is not even a charge at all, but was an estimation of what it might cost refineries to meet that lower emissions standard for their product. It’s just lies all the way down, and Carney and members of the Cabinet just let them all fester in the public consciousness.

I’m also absolutely alarmed by just how close many of the questions approached gutter racism, with the references to stories about a higher rate of recruits washing out of basic training in the military, and references to the government somehow preferring non-citizens to Canadians in order to “meet quotas,” and that those recruits were “bringing conflicts from their countries” into Canada, and that they have problems with female authority (which let’s face it, a good number of the Conservatives’ voter base also does). The whole framing was pretty gross, and the minister didn’t call any of it out, merely reciting some talking points about how much recruitment was up, with back-patting on reinvesting in the Forces. I also want to point out that for as much as Conservatives are howling that the minister doesn’t track exits for expired student visas or temporary residents, that has never existed, largely because we’re not a communist country. They didn’t institute exit controls when they were in government, so why they think they’re needed now is also suspect.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Doug Eyolfson for a navy suit with a pale blue shirt and a pink tie and pocket square, and to Maggie Chi for a medium-grey short-sleeved button-up dress. Style citations go out to Élizabeth Brière for a faded pastel floral top under a black suit, and to Clifford Small for dark blue jacket with a pink windowpane pattern over a medium blue shirt, navy slacks, and a dark pint tartan tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Roman Baber for a black jacket, white shirt, grey slacks and a yellow tie.