The first day back from summer break, and the PM graced us with his presence for the only time in the next two weeks, before he jets off to New York. Pierre Poilievre led off by asking about the shooting at the Belleville synagogue last night, and asked for “prayers and love” for the Jewish community and the injured contestable, and a condemnation of violence. Mark Carney, haltingly, with Shatner commas, offered thoughts and prayers for the officer, the community, and condemned all forms of violence. Poilievre turned to French, and spoke to the camera about the Conservatives “fighting for you,” before turning to Carney to accuse him of increasing inflation by “doubling deficits.” Carney, in French, said that they would work “tooth and nail” to make lives more affordable and listed tax cuts they have undertaken, and benefits they have enhanced. Poilievre switched to English to do the exact same thing, and Carney this time staged when the next benefits cheque is coming and listed things Poilievre voted against. Poilievre relayed a sob story from a constituent that was totally real about how hard she has it, and Carney noted that there are three wars affecting how much Canadians pay, before repeating when the next benefit cheque is released. Poilievre then spouted a tonne of bullshit about supposed “Liberal taxes” and Carney listed how those items don’t affect prices. Poilievre then read another sob story from “Justin” and Carney said that the government is working for the “Justins and Justines” around the country, and patted himself on the back for trade talks. 

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he suggested the government bring back the digital services tax so that the web giants can pay their fair share. Carney, en français, patted himself of the back for the highest contributions in history, and that they don’t need new taxes that would hurt Canadians. Blanchet disputed this, and in the interests of working with Europe, wanted the same tax. Carney simply said no. Blanchet again called for these taxes on web giants, who are richer than some countries, and Carney said it was the Americans who failed to bring constraints on the French language and culture while his government protects them.

Round two, and Luc Berthold demanded the government adopt the Conservative Action Plan™ (Champagne: We have acted to help Canadians with a generational budget), Domique Vien made another attempt at the demand (Champagne: We are in a transition period and we have been prudent with public money), Sandra Cobena read the same script in English (Champagne: We will take no lessons, and we already cut taxes; MacKinnon: Only Conservatives could be against a project that helps 40 percent of the population), Brad Vis read the same script with a mention of small taxes (Joly: Many businesses will be able to benefit from the mega deduction announced last week) and raised low acceptance rates by the women entrepreneur programme (Ménard: We have been consulting on this).

Sébastien Lemaire raised the plans of partial airport privatisation and whether the government consulted the government of Quebec (MacKinnon: Investing in our travel hubs is essential, and we are moving ahead with a model where investments will be possible).

Rhonda Kirkland wanted the GST removed from Canadian-built vehicles and demanded the government adopt the Conservative Action Plan™ (Hodgson: rather than scare Canadians we are giving them hope with the Pickering refurbishment; I know you had a scripted question to read and look at all of the billions we are investing in Ontario), Jacob Mantle worried about housing starts and demanded the government adopt their plan instead (Robertson: We are absolutely focused on building houses for young people and average rents are down), and Connie Cody worried that seniors are going back to work (Hajdu: Benefits are indexed to inflation and his member votes against his interests).

Round three saw questions on tariffs affecting companies and the cost of counter-tariffs (LeBlanc: We pursued an agreement in good faith and the agreement was no longer possible, so we stood up for our sovereignty and I am surprised you are not supporting that; Counter-tariffs are also necessary to protect our workers; Joly: We are protecting jobs, and we have supports; Let’s work together to ensure businesses know about our supports; Apparently your strategy would be to capitulate and accept a bad deal; MacKinnon: I hope this session won’t be marked by more Blame Canada hissy-fits; LeBlanc: We worked with Quebec companies and unions and you would have accepted any deal and don’t want us to defend our workers), the Stellantis plant in Brampton (Joly: We have been in contact with all parties and we expect them to continue negotiating; Your “auto strategy” didn’t include auto parts, and if the company doesn’t have a new model at that plant, we will get our money back), and more Conservative Economic Plan™ demands (MacKinnon: We are looking forward to how you feel about regulatory reform; Hodgson: Why don’t we talk about shovels in the ground and Pickering, Darlington, the Port of Montreal, and BHP Jansen?), and attacks on labour rights (Hajdu: We will always respect the constitutional right to strike, and we are investing in trades and training).

Conservatives don’t seem to believe that the government spent the summer negotiating in good faith. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-09-21T18:52:31.373Z

Trade didn’t even come up until the back third of #QP.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-09-21T18:53:55.552Z

MacKinnon: I hope this session of Parliament won’t be marked by more “Blame Canada” hissy fits. Conservatives: SHAME ON YOU! #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-09-21T18:59:17.004Z

Overall, as a first day back, it was fine—there was nothing overly dramatic that happened, and in many ways, things were just like they’d never left for the summer. After the fairly empty sentiments on both sides about the synagogue shooting, Poilievre’s direct-to-camera interventions were both bizarre and frankly problematic because that’s not how this should work, and in those, he continued to spout a whole bunch of utter horseshit (i.e. no, inflation has not been fuelled by deficit spending—headline inflation is only at the upper band because of gasoline prices thanks to Trump’s Iran misadventures, while core inflation is on target). I will note that Carney did address some of those at one point, but in a rapid-fire manner, but as with any of these kinds of exchanges, they were largely past one another. And it did not go unnoticed that after Poilievre and his caucus wailed over social media for a month that they needed Parliament recalled to asked about the trade war, they didn’t bring it up until the back third of QP.

Otherwise, I will note that the constant demands that the government adopt the Conservative Economic Action Plan™ were back to the worst clip-harvesting instincts of the opposition, because of course it was. I was also particularly struck by the heckling during the trade questions and responses, where some of the Conservatives seemed to be of the opinion that the government should have just made a “deal” with Trump (even though there is no deal to be had) and that we shouldn’t have any retaliatory measures, which the Liberals are going to increasingly make hay about, as they started today. I will also note that the three new Liberal MPs from the summer by-elections all got backbench suck-up questions today, which Carney did stick around to watch (but not answer), before he took off and headed for the airport.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Jagsharan Singh Mahal for a dark three three-piece suit with a crisp white shirt, navy and red and blue striped tie, and a navy turban, and to Sandra Cobena for a light navy suit with a white collared top. Style citations go out to Anna Gainey for a long-sleeved brown dress with lighter tan border along the front button-line and patterns throughout, and to Dane Lloyd for a navy suit with a light blue gingham shirt with no tie.