The PM was in town, but conveniently occupied on a Zoom meeting with the other premiers, while Pierre Poilievre was present, and in French, he led off by mentioning that his MP Bernard Généroux had a cardiac incident in the morning and is in hospital in stable condition, and offered the government a chance to offer their best wishes, to which Steven MacKinnon took the opportunity to do. Poilievre then got back to news, and he launched immediately into the “recession” talking points, cherry-picked statements that the Governor of the Bank of Canada and outright ignored that he said we weren’t in a recession, while also citing a United Way report. François-Philippe Champagne read the OECD growth projections, and that Canada was the second-highest. Poilievre asked his same question in English, and Champagne repeated his same response in English. Poilievre pointed out again that the Governor of the Bank said the economy was “weak” nine times, and demanded the government overturn their policies. Tim Hodgson pointed out Macklem’s statement about our economic resilience, and pointed to projects that got approved. Poilievre read about anxiety Canadians were having per the United Way report, while complaining that the PM was not answering, while Mélanie Joly insisted that the PM is a “serious person” who is working with the premiers, before mentioning the latest job numbers and our growing trade surplus. Poilievre kept insisting that we were in a recession, and demanded the government eliminate the industrial carbon price, the fuel standard, and capital gains taxes that are reinvested in Canada. David McGuinty said that Poilievre has no plan, he cherry-picks data, and then he cherry-picked his own data.
Poilievre says that MP Bernard Généroux had a cardiac event at caucus this morning and is now in stable condition in hospital. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-06-10T18:35:37.500Z
Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and panned the government backing off on streaming levies, and worried about what else was being demanded. MacKinnon got up to gloat that the Bloc had a bad day when the mayors of Quebec’s biggest cities denounced their opposition to the high-speed rail project. Normandin led capitulations that are benefiting American companies, to which MacKinnon went on a paean about building things. Martin Champoux lamented that the biggest victim of these capitulations is Quebec culture, and accused the PM of being the “gravedigger” of their culture. Marc Miller shrugged this off as the Bloc in their fourth decade of doing nothing in Parliament, and that they are spitting on the support the government is giving to the sector.
Round two, and Aaron Gunn read the economic woes script (McLean: Your constituents deserve facts, and here are some good news talking points), the very masculine Jacob Mantle called himself “simple” before yelling the recession script (Solomon: You are gleefully running down the economy; Here are projects you opposed), Marc Dalton read the same script (Robertson: You oppose all our measures), and Rachael Thomas recited the recession script with her particular brand of disdain (Thompson: Let’s talk about the investment in Five Wing Goose Bay and small craft harbours; Twelve million Canadians are benefiting from the enhanced GST credit).
Jean-Denis Garon denounced the high-speed rail project (MacKinnon: I don’t need you to meet with farmers, and I am in constant contact with farmers and producers, and we will carry out this project with them in mind).
Jacques Gourde repeated the same denunciation (Lightbound: We respect farmers and producers, but you want to keep up decades behind the times; Joly: We can create jobs and growth with this rail link), Pierre Paul-Hus read the day’s economic woes script before pivoting to denouncing the trail (Provost: Transit that will promote trade in a sustainable way is a positive way forward), and Dominique Vien returned to the “recession”/United Way script en français (Ménard: We have concrete measures for Canadians).
Round three saw questions on abolishing environmental laws (Hodgson: We don’t need any lessons on how to build; The CEO of shell is investing in Canada), the United Way report (Valdez: Affordability is at the centre of everything we do; Hooray for our trade surplus; Blois: We know people are struggling which is why we have the need enhanced GST credit; You voted against all supports for Canadians; Belanger: Some complete nonsense; Chartrand: Canadians voted for us because we have a plan; Olszewski: Why are you so disappointed by positive news?), claims the military raises have not happened and they are cutting housing differentials (McGuinty: You haven’t been on any bases or talked to anyone; When you were in power, spending was below one percent; We are building housing for troops), and the Billy Bishop expansion (MacKinnon: We will listen to concerns in the GTA).
The Conservatives keep up the “recession” talking points. The government refuses to say that the Governor of the Bank of Canada said clearly we are not in one, because that would mean actually having to use the word “recession.” #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-06-10T19:01:55.222Z
Overall, it was a somewhat lacklustre day, where it was mostly just more cherry-picked economic doom numbers, punctuated by this United Way report about the anxiety Canadians are feeling about their economic situation, all of which was countered by the cherry-picked good news economic data. The economic data is genuinely mixed, and the release from the Bank of Canada this morning gave a good overview of the various risks that are facing our economy, but this kind of thing is apparently too nuanced for either the government or the opposition. And to be frank, the Conservatives’ narrative selectively quotes the Bank of Canada governor to the point of mendacity, while the government didn’t put anything into context, nor did it challenge the “recession” talk with them act that Macklem this morning quite explicitly said we are not in a recession. That might be a message the government might want to amplify, but nope—that would involve actually saying the word “recession,” and they absolutely will not do that (and to be fair, the Conservatives did not either during the economic downturn in 2014 when oil prices crashed).
Once again, the Conservatives tag-teamed with the Bloc to denounce the Alto high-speed rail project, and once again, it was only in French, which remains one of those interesting dichotomies about which issue they highlight in which particular language (or linguistic solitude, as it were). It remains increasingly odd that this practice is as regularized as it is, whether it’s on issues like pensions, temporary foreign workers, or now high-speed rail. It’s very interesting (and telling) what the priorities are between the two solitudes, and just how much the Conservatives are willing to expose themselves to charges of hypocrisy in how they navigate the two.
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Peter Fragiskatos for a tailored dark-grey three-piece suit with a crisp white shirt and matching pocket square, and to Rachel Bendayan for a tailored three three-piece suit with a crisp white collared shirt. Style citations go out to Anna Gainey for an off-white floral print short-sleeved button-up dress, and to John Williamson for a tan suit with a light blue shirt and red striped tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to James Bezan for a black suit with a light blue shirt and a yellow striped tie with a bright yellow pocket square.