The PM was off to Türkiye to advance trade talks, while Pierre Poilievre was present. Poilievre led off in French, and cited that Statistics Canada says that they undercounted the people in the country by 300,000, and wondered how this could mean we need more immigration. Curiously, Jill McKnight got up to say that they have been working on immigration since the start of the “new government.” Poilievre then tried to needle that the PM was abroad again, got warned by the Speaker, and then went into a question about food bank use. François-Philippe Champagne retorted that Poilievre has been here for twenty years and done nothing to help people. Poilievre switched to English to lambaste that the PM was signing an “unenforceable” agreement while people in Canada go hungry and unfocused. Champagne repeated his same response. Poilievre then repeated the question about undercounting immigrants, and Champagne stated that they have been getting immigration “under control” before he went on a paean about people who want to choose Canada. Poilievre tried again, and Patty Hajdu suggested he speak to his caucus about not demonising immigration because immigrants are hard workers who build businesses, and his own caucus members keep asking for more temporary foreign workers in their ridings. Poilievre kept at it, and insisted the system was “out of control,” and demanded provinces get more powers over immigration. Hajdu said that they have been working closely with provinces and territories to ensure that they have the flexibility they need, before tearing into the Conservatives for demonising immigration.

Patty Hajdu lambasted the Conservatives for demonizing immigration, which was met by howls of “shame on you!” from the Conservative benches. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-10-22T18:31:44.846Z

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and she cited 59 scientists from the Royal Society of Canada against Bill C-39, and wondered if the government would listen to science. Joël Lightbound trotted out the talking points about building more in Canada. Normandin then quoted Steven Guilbeault’s criticism of the bill, and Lightbound raised Churchill Falls as a need for the bill. Patrick Bonin repeated Normandin’s quotes into a single question, and Julie Dabrusin insisted they are building clean energy projects with that bill.

Round two, and Michael Barrett returned to the CRA contracting a firm with “ties to Trump and ICE” over the Corps of Commissionaires (Long: Veterans are prioritised for hiring at the CRA and their contracting is done independently of government), John Brassard gave the same again with added sanctimony (Long: Same answer; McKnight: Same answer as Long), Jeff Kibble read the same script more haltingly (McKnight: Same answer), and Pierre Paul-Hus read the same script en français (Champagne: You know full well we support veterans, and we expect departments to respect the Buy Canadian policy).

Martin Champoux returned to his previous questions on the unpaid royalties from the online Streaming Act (Myles: We made historic investments in last year’s budget, and you voted against it; The $600 million is on the way).

Jasraj Hallan raised the CBC story of the Sovereign Citizen CRA scam (Long: We can’t talk about specific cases but fraud is a crime and it can mean up to 14 years in prison; The CRA will always take enforcement action, and new controls have been implemented), Tako Van Popta returned to the food banks report (Champagne: We implemented the suggestions of Food Banks Canada), and Dominique Vien read the Quebec version of the script (Champagne: Same answer).

Round three saw questions on Stelco layoffs (Leitão: We are holding them to their commitments, and are following the process; We are signing trade deals to create markets; Champagne: We just signed an agreement with Ontario to support workers; Hajdu: Why aren’t you applauding the investment agreement with Ontario?; We’re standing up for jobs and not just criticising every idea that comes across; You are just voting against Canadians), a constituent who can’t get work (Hajdu: We have all kinds of supports for people; You should tell that mother you voted against every solution we have to help her), Lion Electric’s financial difficulties from a pump-and-dump scheme (Anandasangaree: The matter is being investigated by the RCMP), a “hot meat market” in Edmonton—as in, the resale of stolen meat (Anandasangaree: I appreciate the concern, but that’s a matter for the local police of jurisdiction), an Israeli company buying a Canadian firm (Oliphant: The situation in the Middle East is on our mind, and we will investigate that), and another denunciation of Bill C-39 (Kelloway: We disagree here, as this is the time to build). 

Overall, it’s been a bit weird to watch the Conservatives turning into the NDP over the past few days, with their questions on the CRA security contract constantly bringing up ICE deportations (which they would seem to be in favour of given their other questions on immigration), and now the theatrical concern over Stelco. It’s incongruous, but somewhere along the way when the Conservatives decided to start courting (private sector) unions, this appears to be the result. I do wonder how they are managing the cognitive dissonance. 

Otherwise, I will note that Patty Hajdu seemed to have eaten her Wheaties this morning, as she was pretty feisty in her responses, both when it comes to calling out the Conservatives for demonising immigration, and when there was that particular sob story about single mothers who can’t find jobs and somehow it was the federal government’s fault, and her response about telling the Conservative MP to tell those mothers that he voted against supports for them was something we don’t often see in that manner from this government, who tries to stick to the rule of if they can’t say anything nice to not say anything at all. The questioner deserved it, but we don’t see this kind of hitting back often enough.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Peter Fragiskatos for a dark grey three-piece suit with a white shirt and pocket square with a pink and purple paisley tie, and to Christine Normandin for a scoop-necked black dress with a white looping pattern across it. Style citations go out to Dominique O’Rourke for a loose black top with gold and grey florals and black slacks, and to Blaine Calkins for a light grey suit with a black shirt and a light grey striped tie.