The PM was absent, off in Montreal for a digital asbestos announcement and the start of his EU summit. Pierre Poilievre was present, and he led off in French, and he accused the PM of trying to distract Canadians who can’t afford food or housing with the “associate member” conversation with the European Union, which got “rejected,” and noted that nine members of the EU haven’t ratified the existing trade agreement and wants an assurance that they will do so. Steven MacKinnon good up to praise the summit with EU leaders, and said that they were hoping to collaborate on a number of areas beyond trade. Poilievre switched to English to make the same accusation with the dated accusation that it was a “Seinfeld summit—a meeting about nothing.” (Who makes Seinfeld references anymore?) MacKinnon said the only one who knows about Seinfeld is Poilievre who wakes up and lives the same day every day, before praising the summit and the cooperation beyond trade. Poilievre insisted that the recurring nightmare was what Canadians live when they can’t afford to live, blamed government spending on inflation (false), and said the PM acts like George Costanza, running around the office trying to look busy. MacKinnon says that Poilievre acts like Kramer who just walks into the room and says something weird, before he praised free trade and collaboration with Europe, particularly on defence and procurement, as well as cooperating on democracy. Poilievre then got up and smirked, said everybody loves Kramer, and says that what’s weird is the EU’s carbon border adjustments and demanded that our goods not be subjected to them. MacKinnon noted that among the cooperation includes energy and patted himself on the back for west coast LNG going to Germany. Poilievre went into a rant about affordability and called this agreement another PR stunt, to which MacKinnon reminded him that the trade agreement with Europe is in effect even if not completely ratified, and that we are on track to doubling our non-US exports. Poilievre accused then of hubris for praising announcements they have not kept, and he then railed about beef and pork exports and called the summit a “nothingburger.” MacKinnon listed areas of cooperation and threw in a few Carney slogans along the way.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and she too worried about the carbon border adjustments and how the federal abandonment of climate policy could negatively impact Quebec. MacKinnon insisted this was misinformed and listed the areas of cooperation once again. Normandin repeated her concerns that even if Quebec continues its carbon prices, their exports could still be exposed to those tariffs. MacKinnon praised how green Quebec’s aluminium sector is, and suggested that if they were concerned about GHGs, they should support high-speed rail. Mario Simard raised the auditor General’s report on pesticide management and how this too could impact trade with Europe. MacKinnon ignored this and just praised areas of collaboration.

Round two, and the very masculine Jacob Mantle raised the AG’s report on FINTRAC (Turnbull: We are taking concrete steps and are creating a financial crimes agency, which you should support; We have given the RCMP additional resources), Pat Kelly read the specious nonsense about deficits and inflation (Turnbull: We know inflation is driven by the war in the Middle East and we have been giving help to Canadians), Kelly Block read the same (Belanger: Here is what we are doing for Saskatchewan), Gérard Deltell recited those same lies en français (Lightbound: We have been focused on affordability; We have the best fiscal position in the G7), and Tamara Kronis read that inflation is eating into the school food programme and demanded to see the figures (Church: I was at that meeting and everyone is happy that this programme is helping). 

Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe railed about the Gérin‑Lajoie Doctrine, Quebec’s “official policy” on international relations and that federal officials don’t know about it (Fortier: We recognise Quebec’s interests and work together with them).

Arpan Khanna railed about bail and intimate partner violence (Sahota: We did tighten it in Bill C-16 and provinces need to apply the changes; We have already made changes), Frank Caputo read the same into the camera (Fraser: We added specific provisions on this very issue and the provinces need to do their part; We were working together on your bill and that cooperation seems to be at an end), and Michael Guglielmin demanded support for his bill after a home invasion in Toronto (Sahota: I just heard about this case, but it’s up to provinces to apply the law).

The federal ministers are actually pointing out that provinces need to resource their justice systems! #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-10-29T18:46:33.221Z

Round three saw questions on the “innovation exodus” to the U.S. as a wedge on immigration (Leitão: Innovation is a major concern and we have a talent attraction action plan, and it’s working), the National Security Strategy as a wedge for immigration (Anandasangaree: Hooray for the strategy!; The strategy is all-encompassing; You need to do more than Control-F to read a document), the PM’s wife’s role on the oceans strategy (MacKinnon: We have a number of ocean protection programmes and we have more announcements coming, but ministers remain responsible for spending; Why aren’t you excited about Churchill Falls), tariff relief for a steel company (Leitão: A letter contains a commitment to assistance is not useless; We have helped Algoma Steel pivot), housing affordability (Desrochers: You have no plan while we have lowered rents), seeking support for the Conservatives’ “family plan” (Church: We have been delivering affordability and greater benefits for families), the subsidised fishery company that fired Canadian workers (Klassen: You are trying to spin a single project in 2024 about plant processing equipment, and hooray our supports), federal taxes on diesel (MacKinnon: You should support high-speed rail), a denunciation of Bill C-39 (Grant: We have the best science and the best standards), and inflation (Turnbull: The Bank of Canada is independent). 

Apparently headline inflation that might tick up to 3.5 percent is “soaring.”The target range is between one and three percent. Why are the NDP so illiterate? #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-10-29T19:11:27.697Z

Overall, today was a prime example of a parliament that is failing in its duties to hold the government to account. We had the Auditor General release a series of reports today, of which a single question was asked about one of those reports, being FINTRAC. The new National Security Strategy was released this morning, and the only time it got mentioned was to wedge it as a demand to cut immigration levels. The government announced $1.6 billion in equity for a digital asbestos company while the market bubble is on the verge of popping, and it got no mention at all. What did get mentioned was the manufactured outrage over the deficit and the fictional effect it has on inflation and the Bank of Canada’s decision to raise rates, which went against what the Bank said in its reasoning. We got some concern trolling over the EU talks, which were entirely for the sake of social media clips. We got some tough-on-crime nonsense that the critics know the federal government is not responsible for. And of course, we got a cringe-worthy back-and-forth about Seinfeld, which went off the air 28 years ago. Is anybody bothering to do their jobs anymore?

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Tamara Kronis for a black leather jacket over a white scoop-necked top and black slacks, and to Brendan Hanley for a dark blue suit with a light blue shirt and a dark violet tie and pocket square. Style citations go out to Buckley Belanger for a black suit with a burgundy shirt and a grey and blue striped tie, and to Kelly Block for a sleeveless white jacket over a black top and slacks. Dishonourable mention goes out to Helena Konanz for a black and yellow patterned top under a black sweater and slacks.