The PM was present today, fresh from the Pride flag raising on the Hill, and Pierre Poilievre was present as well. He led off in French, worrying that in the midst of the “worst recession in the G7,” he lamented that the government planned to spent $90 billion on the high-speed rail that would “destroy farms in Quebec.” Mark Carney listed the jobs that this was expected to create. Poilievre dismissed these as “jobs for Liberal friends,” and again lamented the projected cost of the project. Carney praised that this would be the biggest infrastructure project in the country’s history, and we need to build. Poilievre switched to English to worry about the rise in bankruptcies and worried the government’s spreading was making it worse. Carney praised the number for jobs created in the past month. Poilievre countered with even more cherry-picked dismal numbers, and Carney dismissed this as Poilievre not believing in Canada. Poilievre insisted it was his patriotic duty to fight for the people who are suffering, and that he would make no lessons on patriotism from a guy who stashes his funds in a tax haven. The Speaker noted that there wasn’t a question, and so they moved onto the next one, and Poilievre cited delinquency rates, and blamed the PM for driving the country into recession, to which Carney insisted they are growing a stronger and more independent economy.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and she accused the government of abandoning Quebec culture in the face of tech giants and Donald Trump, in exchange for absolute nothing. Carney responded that the question is why the Bloc keeps voting against investments in Quebec culture. Normandin listed the cancellation of policies and the abandonment of the flight against climate change, and that he is deregulating things like pesticides, all for the benefit of American corporations. Carney shrugged this off by listing things the Bloc voted against. Martin Champoux also accused Carney of abandoning Quebec culture for bargaining chips, and Carney said it was sad that the Bloc didn’t read the previous budget and the investments for culture therein.

Round two, and Poilievre got back up to claim Carney was wrong on every economic issue for the past decade and gave a sob story of an electrician met at the airport. Carney read praise from Danielle Smith for their efforts on a new pipeline. Poilievre gave some theatrical indignation that Carney didn’t address this electrician (MacKinnon: The largest electricians union has praised our projects; We believe we can transform our economy with high speed rail), a return to Superintendent of Bankruptcies question en français (Champagne: We created 88,000 jobs last month; You’ve done nothing but sit in this House for ten years) as well as the rise in the delinquency rate (Joly: You seem to be rejoicing in bad economic news, but here is some good news), he returned to English to again claim that Carney was “wrong” on every economic issue and that it created a recession, and this time he raised the sob story of a hair stylist in the Byward market (Joly: We created 88,000 new jobs last month led by young people). 

Poilievre just referred to the board of Alto as “Liberal insiders and sleazebags.” The Speaker gave a gentle caution about his choice of language. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-06-09T18:33:48.691Z

Patrick Bonin decried the government’s abysmal environmental record (Provost: We will work to respect our climate targets; Guay: We are responsibly developing the economy and resources).

Pierre Paul-Hus worried about the uncertainty from NAFTA delaying investments (Joly: We recently announced $1.5 billion in supports for steel and aluminium; Lightbound: We will always defend our industries, and exports to non-U.S. countries have been increasing), Jason Groleau read the same again (MacKinnon: You voted against high speed rail when that would help steel producers; Joly: We are helping our people and we are always working to protect the steel sector), and Bernard Généroux read the same script yet again (LeBlanc: We regularly meet with sector stakeholders).

Round three saw questions on the “dire” state of the economy (Long: Canadians will take no advice from a leader who has never worked in the economy; Hooray for 88,000 jobs; McGuinty: You need to get your facts straight; Look at the jobs our military procurement will create; Belanger: We are building in Saskatchewan; McKnight: Youth employment was up), temporary foreign workers (Lightbound: Your Quebec colleagues say we need more, not fewer; MacKinnon: There is abject hypocrisy from your side of the aisle; TFWs are down by over 50 percent and your Quebec colleagues are asking for more), IRGC members in Canada (Diab: They are inadmissible in Canada; Anandasangaree: We are taking decisive action), agricultural research (MacDonald: You know what took place at that research facility), forced labour in supply chains (Oliphant: We have some of the most rigorous laws and import controls), and pesticide deregulation (Michel: We can walk and chew gum at the same time).

Overall, it was a bit of an odd day, where Polievre backed off on the constant “recession” narratives personally (though some of his MPs certainly picked on it later), but the fact that he led with the Alto high speed rail project in French, and didn’t really return to it in English other than to deride it in response to a comment from Stephen MacKinnon was one of those instances where the message is very different in French than it is in English. What is even more curious is that Poilievre chose to lead on that in French because the leader of the Parti Québécois said that he would cancel the project in the province if he formed government, and there’s Poilievre, one day after pronouncing himself a fighter for Canadian unity (conditional that they do everything his way) making common cause with a separatist leader.

I will also note that the Liberals did punch back on the temporary foreign worker questions, because it’s another instance of the Conservatives’ messages being different in French (where their Quebec MPs are demanding more TFWs, particularly for rural areas) than in English (abolish the program!) MacKinnon was right to call out the hypocrisy, and they need to do more of that, while also calling out the racist framing of those questions. Another example of the different messages in French and English were all of the French questions on the uncertainty over NAFTA renegotiations around steel and aluminium, which didn’t get any play in English, and I will also note seemed to once again be premised on the false notion that Trump will be a rational actor and that there is a deal to be made, when we all know that is not the case.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Anna Gainey for a white jacket over a black dress, and to Michael Ma for a navy suit with a crisp white shirt, and a dark purple tie and pocket square. Style citations go out to Darren Fisher for a teal-green jacket over a black top and blue tie, and to Rebecca Alty for a navy blue and white button-up gingham dress. Dishonourable mention goes out to Linda Lapointe for a bright yellow jacket over a black top and slacks.