The PM was in town meeting with premiers and First Nations leaders, but not in the House of Commons. Pierre Poilievre was present and led off in French, worrying about a Quebec headline about rising food bank use, and blamed it on government spending and inflation. (Note: While headline inflation is elevated on oil prices, core inflation is on target). François-Philippe Champagne noted how many Canadians and Quebeckers benefitted from their programmes and that the Conservatives voted against it. Poilievre railed about national debt and inflation and that taxpayers were servicing the debt instead of paying for hot meals, to which Champagne again pointed to the benefits delivered to Canadians and wondered if Poilievre would cut them. Poilievre switched to English to repeat the nonsense that the debt was “out of control,” that this would fuel inflation, and that it was all on the “natonal credit card.” Champagne cited that we have the most educated workforce in the world, we have the ability to build everything, and they are doing everything to build the country. Poilievre accused the government of “cooking the books” and spouted some utter nonsense about the spending being split between “three credit cards,” referencing operational spending, investment, and Crown corporatios, which doesn’t actually make any sense whatsoever. Champagne accused him of talking the economy down and repeated some Build Canada Strong™ talking points. Poilievre decried how much was being spent on interest on said debt, to which Tim Hodgson listed the jobs created by major projects. Poilievre continued to rail about debt interest, and claimed to break it down to how much in taxes a family has to pay for that interest. Champagne suggested he read the Fiscal Monitor to see how our public debt charges are still near historic lows.

Marilène Gill led for the Bloc, and she turned to the party’s usual denunciations of C-39. Dominic LeBlanc accused her of characterising decisions in an inaccurate way, and insisted that moving faster doesn’t mean that standards or consultations aren’t being respected. Gill raised the lawsuit by “youth” about the environment and suggested the government not fight them but move in the right direction. Steven MacKinnon said that young people in Quebec dream about jobs, that they will build with projects like Churchill Falls. Andréanne Larouche then raised the labour provisions of C-39, and MacKinnon dismissed these concerns.

Round two, and Adam Chambers recited some more nonsense about the “national credit card” (Long: Your leader hasn’t done anything in 20 years; Oh, wait, he built six affordable houses), Sandra Cobena accused the government of hiding debts like a gambling addict (Valdez: We are building Canada; Hooray for benefits that help people), Tamara Jansen blamed the need for benefits on the national debt (Robertson: Let me take the opportunity to congratulate the new government of BC, and we are focused on affordability), and Eric Lefebvre read the “credit card” script en français (Lightbound: You never define “inflationary programmes”; Hooray for all of those projects in Quebec, and here are programmes the Conservatives opposed).

It’s constant “national credit card” questions today. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-10-26T18:35:44.285Z

Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe took exception to Carney saying that Türkiye and Canada share values (Fortier: Everyone deserves to live in dignity and security and Canada will never close its eyes to persecution, and engagement doesn’t mean endorsement), and he noted Canada condemned massacres in Sudan while having dinner with one or the perpetrators, being the leader of the UAE (Fortier: We will meet with them to see how we can collaborate).

Scot Davidson worried about bare food banks and blamed “inflationary policies” (Church: Those same Canadians ask when the Conservatives will support programmes that help them; We are bringing down costs and making massive investments in training), Jagsharan Singh Mahal read the same script (Sidhu: Hooray for benefits we are delivering), and Gérard Deltell read the same script en français (Gainey: Hooray for the national school food programme!; 

Round three saw questions on Stelco and Stellantis jobs (Joly: You guys are all talk while we have them on notice; Joly: The CEO made commitments he needs to keep), immigration levels (Diab: We are in control of our own destiny and we are working on a deeper trans-Atlantic future; Sidhu: Hooray for trade with Europe, and we have room to grow; MacKinnon: There will be no open borders pact with the EU), repealing the tanker ban on the west coast (Hodgson: Hooray for Pacific Link and the existing plans for LNG; Our plans will export more in partnership with First Nations; Your province is working with us to get projects built), demanding an appeal for a “drug trafficking” case in BC—which was about safe supply (Sahota: We have passed reforms, but we will let the public prosecution service make their own decision), demands by First Nations to withdraw Bill C-39 (Battiste: First Nations leaders are meeting with the first ministers right now).

Ned Kuruc pronounces the Conservatives’ “five point steel plan” and the first item is to get a deal with the Americans. Just like that. (There is no deal to be had, guys!) #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-10-26T18:51:49.168Z

Conservatives are raising a moral panic about immigration from the EU.FFS #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-10-26T18:56:14.435Z

THERE IS NO OPEN BORDERS PACT WITH THE EU! This is such disingenuous bullshit. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-10-26T18:57:34.469Z

Overall, it was a bit of a dog’s breakfast, with some of the absolutely dumbest talking points about the national debt as a “credit card,” which it most certainly is not, how it’s somehow fuelling inflation, which it absolutely is not, and that this is the reason people are going to food banks, which again, it absolutely is not. But does the government call bullshit on any of this? Of course not. Instead, we just get the same mindless talking points about how great our economy is doing in comparison to the G7, and that the Conservatives voted against government assistance programmes. Everything the Conservatives claimed could easily be disproven and the real causes of the food insecurity could be discussed, but does anyone bother? Of course not. And frankly, the fact that nobody shuts down the “national credit card” bullshit is just disheartening. Why do we keep letting MPs get away wth the absolute dumbest talking points? It makes no sense.

Otherwise, I would like to commend the Bloc for actually calling out the government for their appalling statement about our shared values with Türkiye last week, which is a betrayal of everything Canada stands for on the world stage. This government needs to be held to account for the fact that they have denigrated our foriegn policy and reduced everything to base transactionalism and putting our reputation up for sale, but our official opposition has no interest in doing so, becuase they don’t actually care about those things, and would rather try and score points and get clips on other completely disingenous nonsense. This is not accountability, and thankfully the Bloc is actually trying to provide some if no one else will.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Jagsharan Singh Mahal for a medium-grey three-piece suit with a white shirt and a light blue turban and matching paisley tie, and to Michelle Rempel Garner for a sleeveless black dress. Style citations go out to Anna Gainey for a burgundy button-up collared dress with tan florals under a taupe sweater, and to Kerry Diotte for a medium-blue windowpane patterned jacket over blue-grey slacks with a white shirt and a dark blue and purple diamond patterned tie.