The PM was once again away, off to Toronto for his big digital asbestos announcement, while Pierre Poilievre was also absent, leaving it up to the very masculine Jacob Mantle, who started listing countries, quoted Big Bird, and wondered which of them was in a recession. Steven MacKinnon noted that we are facing headwinds thanks to the trade war the U.S. launched, and wondered which of those countries he listed he would rather live in. Mantle reasoned that he would rather live in a Canada led by a Conservative government, before giving the “is this a recession or is this technical?” Talking point. François-Philippe Champagne listed the G7 countries and noted the OECD forecast of our having the second-fastest growth. Rhonda Kirkland tried to give Poilievre’s line about a recession or a technical recession, and Wayne Long listed countries that the government has signed agreements with. Kirkland made a Beetlejuice quip before repeating the same talking point, and David McGuinty lamented that the Conservatives have no plans. Gabriel Hardy read the script in French, and Mélanie Joly praised their recent announcements in Quebec. Hardy tried again, and this time Joël Lightbound wondered what Hardy would say to the people in his riding who are benefitting from programmes he voted against. 

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and lambasted the government for capitulating on the streaming levy, and Marc Miller considered it hypocritical that they weren’t supporting their new money for the cultural sector. Normandin noted that these funds were from taxpayers and not the web giants, and that in other countries, their levies haven’t raised prices. Miller repeated his same points. Martin Champoux gave the same again, and Joël Lightbound says the Bloc have voted against their cultural funding.

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan accused the government of “forcing” the country into recession, apparently because of his in-flight catering (MacKinnon: Every time the prime minister travels, he comes back with economic opportunities; Champagne: Hooray for all of the things we’re building), John Brassard delivered the same script with added sanctimony (MacKinnon: Here is a look at your leader spending $8.8 million in expenses; Long: Your leader spent $8.8 million and he’s never had a job outside of Parliament), Sandra Cobena read the same script yet again (McKelvie: We are doing the hard work of building), and David Bexte yelled the same script once more (Zerucelli: We’re building!)

Patrick Bonin raised Althia Raj’s column about Carey yelling in caucus, and that’s why they’re abandoning environment file (Provost: I’ve never been yelled at and we are protecting nature; Dabrusin: Hooray for EV sales and we are investing in public transit in Quebec).

Luc Berthold read the “recession”/in-flight catering script en français (Desrochers: You’re not talking about the enhanced GST credit going out tomorrow), Joël Godin read the script again (Guay: You are ignoring everything happening around the world and denigrating our country; Lightbound: Here are recent projects in Quebec), and Dominique Vien read it yet again (MacKinnon: Here are investments in Quebec).

Round three saw yet more questions on sob stories about the “recession” (McKnight: Here are programmes your constituent can access; Chartrand: Did you vote for the measures to help your constituents?; Fragiskatos: We won’t cut pensions like your party wants to; Long: I was just in your riding to announce millions for small craft harbours; Church: The enhanced credit goes out tomorrow; If your party was in charge, there would be families without child care or school food; MacDonald: Here is a food company moving to your riding), non-citizen criminals (Fraser: You are opposing efforts to speed our tough on crime, and you know there are no laws around sentencing discounts; Fragiskatos: You have stood in the way of criminal justice reform), in-flight catering (MacKinnon: Now we know what will get the Conservatives to change their scripts, and it involves calling out your Dear Leader), pushing back against digital asbestos (van Koeverden: Hooray for our digital asbestos strategy!) 

It’s nearing the end of #QP, so on cue, we get gutter racism dressed up as tough-on-crime concerns.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-06-04T19:08:44.492Z

Overall, I was reminded of the maxim that if the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce—it was mostly a bunch of backbench Conservatives repeating the very same scripts that Poilievre delivered yesterday, so that they could get their own clips of them delivering the lines. This included spending most of the third round recounting the sob stories of individual constituents who are so hard done by with the current economy—ignoring that in many cases, the problems they are complaining of are actually issues that they should be talking to their premier about and have little bearing federally. Of course, what did they take a break from these “recession” scripts for? The usual litany of gutter racist questions pretending to be concern about crime. Because that’s how things go these days.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Doug Eyolfson for a dark blue suit with a bright pink shirt and a navy spotted bow-tie and pocket square, and to Caroline Desrochers for a collarless off-white jacket over a white top and black slacks. Style citations go out to Rhonda Kirkland for a blue dress with giant white florals under a navy half-sleeved quasi-bolero cardigan, and go Chris Malette for a taupe jacket with a windowpane pattern over a light blue shirt, navy slacks, and a yellow tie.