The PM was on his way back from France, while Pierre Poilievre was also absent. That left it up to Andrew Lawton to lead off, bafflingly, and he dutifully recited the latest round of “recession” talking points that the party has put up. Steven MacKinnon responded with the assertion of just how proud Canadians are of the prime minister and the accomplishments at the G7 meeting. Lawton continued to rail about people using food banks, and tied in some mention of “surveillance pricing,” to which François-Philippe Champagne retorted that while the Conservatives are busy making videos, the prime minister was signing deals. Pierre Paul-Hus took over in French, and he decried that companies have stopped investing in Canada, and that everything has ground to a halt. Champagne disputed this characterisation, and insisted things were going great, Paul-Hus tried again, and Champagne accused him of running down the economy, while the government was proud of the economy. Michael Guglielmin took over and read the script about so-called “inflationary spending.” Patty Hajdu accused them of voting against supports for families that need them. Guglielmin trotted out the in-flight catering talking points, and Tim Hodgson responded by listed countries who are investing in Canada.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and she raised the Liberals abusing their majority to ram through bills that were contentious or offensive. Champagne said he was happy to talk about Bill C-30 and that the Bloc should want to help build the Quebec economy. Normandin (correctly) pointed out the abuse of Parliament, and Joel Lightbound patted himself on the back for the fact that there are more Quebec Liberals than Bloc MPs, and accused them of taking orders from the PQ. Claude DeBellefeuille also called out the abuse of Parliament, including retroactive deadlines, for C-22, and MacKinnon said that Quebeckers are also concerned about crime and that these were tools law enforcement asked for (which is not something you should give them).

Round two, and Brad Vis accused the government of driving away foreign investment (Hodgson: We just announce $5 billion in new investment in the country; Valdez: We are diversifying trade and SMEs will benefit), Jason Groleau read the same en français (Provost: Canada is resilient in spite of everything we are facing; Lightbound: Look at the measures for companies in our budget), Raquel Dancho read the same script again in English (Valdez: In spite of economic headwinds we are coming from a place of strength; Bardeesy: We are investing and have super-deductions), Dalwinder Gill haltingly read the same script (Long: I have run small businesses unlike your leader).

Xavier Barsalou-Duval raised an increase in accidents with heavy trucks and blamed shady hiring practices (MacKinnon: Road safety is a shared jurisdiction and we have showed up), and accused members of the Liberal Party being in the pocket of a particular low-cost trucking association (MacKinnon: Same answer).

Eric Lefebvre recited the “recession” script in French (Leitão: We created jobs and the trade surplus increased over the last two months; There is a trade war with the U.S. and we are helping companies to pivot), Richard Martel read yesterday’s GoFundMe script mashed with the in-flight catering script en français (MacKinnon: Is healthcare inflationary spending?), and Scot Davidson gave a more insulting framing of the GoFundMe script (Solomon: You voted against every support for people; Diab: Canadians know this government is focused in building a stronger economy with tighter immigration).

Round three saw questions on the “recession” (Fragiskatos: Your only contribution is to go after Tim Horton’s for paper lids; Fraser: When you see a vulnerable Canadian, you see an opportunity to exploit while we see someone who needs help, and we passed bail reform; Belanger: Let me talk about agriculture and we have Saskatchewan’s back; Your economic plan is voodoo), asylum seekers coming through St. Pierre and Miquelon (Diab: We have reduced numbers and our plan is working; Hodgson: We have good news about critical minerals); health committee meetings (Michel: We have blocked nothing, while you are filibustering; MacKinnon: The minister has asked that question several dozen times), splitting the lawful access bill (Sahota: Think of those shootings in Toronto!; Where are the Conservatives who used to care about protecting Canadians; The Chiefs of Police want these powers), and First Nations drinking water (Gull-Masty: First Nations need to set regulatory standards in conjunction with provinces and territories).

The government’s answers on lawful access are arrogantly dismissive. No, metadata collection is not a conspiracy theory or tinfoil hat materials! FFS. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-06-17T19:14:35.714Z

Overall, it was a much more usual day after yesterday’s ask-everything stunt, and it was clip-gathering as usual. The choice of Andrew Lawton to lead off was, well, a choice. The The government’s responses were back to their typical back-patting, but where things went off the rail were at the end, where Conservatives tried to ask the Health committee chair a question and two different ministers stood up instead (reminder: You can ask committee chairs questions in QP, but largely with regard to issues like scheduling), and then the rightful complaints over how the government has been treating the lawful access bill were met with some absolutely arrogantly dismissive responses that were a throwback to the Vic Toews era. This is the kind of thing that gets Liberals into trouble, and they seem to just not care, and that’s going to be a problem for them.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Dominique Vien for a dark grey jacket over a white collared top and black slacks, and to Burton Bailey for a dark grey three-piece suit over a lightning blue shirt and a navy spotted tie. Style citations go out to Randy Hoback for a taupe jacket with a grid pattern over a light blue collared top, blue jeans and no tie, and to Pauline Rochefort for a black-and-white patterned smock top under a white jacket. Dishonourable mention goes out to Shannon Miedema for a dark yellow jacket over a black dress.