The PM was present today, unusually for both a Thursday and a second day in a week, while he took a break from entertaining the president of Vietnam. Pierre Poilievre led off, and noted the death of a civil servant, and invited the prime minister to share condolences, and Mark Carney did, and hoped that the perpetrator would be caught.

Poilievre then turned to French to decry the rising cost of diesel, and demanded the government cut taxes and costs to bring the price down. Carney noted that it is a difficult situation, and noted that this is a result of the wars in Iran and Ukraine, and that the government has responded by cutting the gas excise tax and giving help to households who need it. Poilievre switched back to English to decry a full “diesel price crisis,” and dismissed that this was because of “foreign factors,” and demanded the government do more. Carney noted that they had cut the excise tax and then stated that they are working with refiners to increase supply. Poilievre complained that diesel is more expensive in Canada than elsewhere, and Carney reminded him that the provinces put their own taxes on diesel and gasoline, and that was a difference between Canada and the US, and then said that the Build Canada Act could help build new refineries. (No, that is never going to happen). Poilievre demanded other taxes be cut to lower prices, and Carney hit back by intimidating that Poilievre has been here twenty years and done nothing while he has done a lot in a little over a year. Poilievre demanded an emergency diesel price reduction plan, and Carney reminded him that they need to pass C-38 on fuel excise taxes. Poilievre repeated the demand in French, and Carney said that it’s not the federal government’s job to remove provincial taxes, and patted himself on the back for major project legislation. 

Carney says that the Build Canada Act could see a new diesel refinery built. Oh, no. No, no, no. Nobody is going to build a new refinery and he should know that. #QP cc @aleach.ca

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-09-24T18:33:36.680Z

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he decried the “special economic zone” portions of Bill C-39, which would intrude on provincial jurisdiction. Carney denied this, and said the bill was about more efficient reviews so they are done under a year. Blanchet wanted an amendment to the bill to affirm provincial jurisdiction, and Carney insisted this was solely about federal regulations, and they have agreements with six provinces to use their provincial assessment tools. Blanchet worried that this could suspend the rule of law or sidestep the constitution to benefit foreign corporate inserts, and Carney again accused him of dreaming this up.

Round two, and Poilievre got back up to decry the clean fuel standard and the costs it imposes, and Carney denied that, and said what the standard does is raise the price of canola for farmers in Poilievre’s own riding. Poilievre denounced this (Champagne: We suspended the federal excise tax on diesel), Poilievre pilloried Carney for not answering (Champagne: Canadians know the prime minister is working hard for them every day), he then moved to the sob stories of supposed constituents (Hajdu: You voted against measures we have taken to help people like her; Gainey: You voted against the national school food programme; van Koeverden: Let the record show that he said the hundreds of thousands of kids who got meals were just bureaucracy; Long: You are in your third decade in this House and have produced nothing).

Patrick Bonin denounced Bill C-39’s environmental assessment changes (Dabrusin: We are not cancelling anything, and we are building the biggest clean energy projects in the country), and decried the end of the five-year sunset clause on the government’s Henry VIII powers (Dabrusin: Same answer).

Pierre Paul-Hus worried about a violent robbery in Montreal (Anandasangaree: We are passed bills; Housefather: We passed these tough on crime bills), Jonathan Rowe worried about rural crime in Newfoundland and Labrador (Anandasangaree: We put forward comprehensive legislation; Thompson: We are moving forward with legislation that you voted against), and Sukhman Gill gave another crime anecdote (Sahota: We passed comprehensive legislation).

Round three saw questions on cost of living (Hajdu: You voted against all measures to help; Olszewski: Here are the things we’re doing; Robertson: We have a plan to deliver affordable housing; Gainey: We are investing in families with our benefit programmes), diesel prices (Dabrusin: Your leader’s riding has a biodiesel facility that helps raise canola prices; MacDonald: We are standing alongside farmers; Thompson: There is a list of things we are doing make transform the economy), French fishers on the Canadian continental shelf (Thompson: We negotiate with other countries and we are working collaboratively with France), airport privatisation (MacKinnon: Port lands are federally-owned and they lease it to private operators, and it has been that way for ever), and residential school denialism as a crime (Alty: Denialism is cruel and it undermines truth and reconciliation, and we are moving forward with an investment in education and awareness).

Lowering the federal debt will do fuck all to lower rent or make food more affordable, but this is what Conservatives insist the government needs to do. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-09-24T18:58:33.195Z

Teachers have NOT asked for AI training courses. FFS, you guys. You are useless on this. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-09-24T19:10:57.021Z

Overall, it was a it of an odd start from Poilievre, before heading into absolute histrionics about diesel prices, while Poilievre absolutely refuses to believe that this is the result of global forces, and furthermore just talks absolute nonsense about clean fuel standard, and yes, Carney did make some points in response to the nonsense, but then he also spouted his own complete nonsense, both in terms of claiming that his major project legislation could see another diesel refinery built (and nope, that’s never going to happen unless a government wants to shell out billions upon billions of dollars that they’ll never see recouped because refining is a low-margin exercise), and he kept finding excuses to talk up his latest omnibus bill rather than trying to talk sense about the diesel issue. Poilievre did get him to give an additional response during the second round, before Carney stopped getting up and Poilievre howled about his not responding. 

Otherwise, the Bloc remain the only party that are doing any significant pushback on the latest omnibus legislation, while the Conservatives continue to ignore it because they can’t come to a coherent position on the legislation. We also got another round of bog-standard tough-on-crime questions that relied on demands that are blatantly unconstitutional, for what it’s worth, while the government continues to refuse to push back effectively, because that always works out so well for them.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Tamara Kronis for a black jacket over a white scoop-necked top with a blue tartan skirt, and to Peter Fragiskatos for a tailored navy three-piece suit with a crisp white shirt with a matching pocket square and a lavender tie. Style citations go out to Blaine Calkins for a powder blue jacket over off-white slacks with a white shirt and the palest of pink ties, and to Dominique Vien for a black jacket with rolled sleeves over a black dress with a loud pink floral pattern.