The PM was off at a construction site for a photo op before jetting off to Toronto to make an announcement, while Pierre Poilievre was present, and he led off in French, and demanded to know why Canada is the only G7 country in recession (and to be clear, most economists do not believe we are really in one). Mélanie Joly reminded him that we are in a trade war, and that our economy is very integrated with the Americans’, which he knows full well, before listing expected job creation at several approved projects. Poilievre then noted that Mexico, which is also highly integrated with the American economy, is not in a recession, and then noted the crisis facing food banks. Dominic LeBlanc repeated that we face unjustified tariffs from the U.S., and noted that they are trying to reach an agreement on them, but they are not waiting and are working to build Canada in the meantime. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his first list of G7 countries not in recession, and Tim Hodgson repeated the line that our economy is the most deeply integrated with the U.S., before listing projects that have been approved. Poilievre repeated the line about Mexico, and then listed job losses in the last several months, and again insisted that we are the only country in a recession. David McGuinty listed off all of the jobs being created by their procurements, and exhorted Poilievre to stop running down the economy. Poilievre then railed that the prime minister has not taken any questions since the news broke that we are in a recession (which, again, is debatable), and Patty Hajdu took this one, patting herself on the back for the support they are giving to skilled trades. Poilievre the returned to the latest Food Banks Canada report in English, and Hajdu suggested he read the entire report because it called for things that the government has already done as reason for optimism, which the Conservatives voted against.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and demanded the numbers on emissions reductions after all of the government’s setbacks. Julie Dabrusin decided not to give those, but to pat herself on the back for their methane regulations and the electricity strategy. Normandin demanded those numbers again, and listed the government’s walk backs on programmes, and Dabrusin offered to once again pat herself on the back, this time for international climate funds and electric cars. Alexis Deschênes took over to try again, and this time Joel Lightbound responded by patting himself on the back for their nature strategy. 

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan took swipes at Carney and the media before reading his recession talking points (Long: We are in a trade war and facing headwinds, but we are focused on building; We are investing and cutting taxes), Carol Anstey demanded to speak to the manager about the recession (Thompson: In our province, announcements made by our government are resonating with the people), Kyle Seeback read the recession script (Turnbull: Just because Conservatives say things with righteous indignation doesn’t are it true; The economy is becoming more resilient under our government), and Tamara Jansen read the same script (Anand: Canadian exports to non-U.S. markets grew over 17 percent and we are signing new deals because countries are choosing Canada).

Gabriel Ste-Marie decried the planned cuts to the Consumer Protection Agency (Joly: We will present a new vision for competitiveness and we will work with organisations to ensure they have funding; We will take a clear, aggressive approach to competition).

Pierre Paul-Hus read the recession script en français (LeBlanc: We have a mandate to build a more resilient economy; We will be happy to take suggestions about the economy), Gérard Deltell read the same script (Lightbound: Canadians know that our economy is most integrated with the American economy, and we are facing headwinds because of their tariffs; We have increased our exports outside of the U.S. by nearly 40 percent thanks to our good work), and Bernard Généroux read the same script again (Provost: There was a recent news story showing that our plan is working).

Round three saw yet more questions on the supposed recession (MacDonald: Hooray for agri-food investments; Anand: We have delivered real affordability measures; McGuinty: Hooray for the jobs created by our military procurements; Zerucelli: Hooray for LNG, nuclear and graphite; McKelvie: Hooray for our projects; Gainey: Hooray for our benefit programs; Long: The Bank of Canada Governor suggested we look at key indicators; Hodgson; We re building while they run down Canada), crime (Sahota: We have made more changes to the Criminal Code than any other government; Pass lawful access), and the police cooperation agreement with China (Anand: We have entered into MOUs with China since 2010, and I raised issues including foreign interference and transnational repression with China’s foreign minister last week).

Overall, it was an incredibly repetitive today, and we were back to the whole back-and-forth of the Conservatives repeatedly spouting mis/disinformation about the situation, the government giving a very soft correction/explanation on their first answer only, and then spending the rest of QP just patting themselves on the back for their various programmes or procurement projects. And thus, everyone is gathering clips on this, and nobody is actually being informed about anything, let alone any accountability being had, because it’s just the same script over and over again to just get clips with different faces. Just ridiculous.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Gérard Deltell for a dark grey three-piece suit with a crisp white shirt and a black and white patterned tie, and to Mélanie Joly for a long cream jacket with a high collar over matching slacks and a white collared top. Style citations go out to Ginette Lavack for a moss green blousey top with faded white and blue florals, and to Randy Hoback for a taupe jacket with a pale grid pattern over a light blue shirt and faded blue jeans.