The PM was finally present, for a few minutes anyway, in advance of the budget release. The other leaders were also present, and Pierre Poilievre led off in both French and English to once again demand the all fuel taxes be scrapped in the budget. Mark Carney reminded him that the budget would be tabled in a couple of hours. Poilievre stayed in English to accuse the government of “cooking the books” on immigration, and Carney pointed out how far down the numbers were, including the slowest population growth in decades. Poilievre continued a hysterical rant about immigration levels, and Carney insisted that they had “taken back control.” Poilievre then accused Carney of “cooking the books” on government debt, and Carney patted himself on the back for cutting “operational spending,” and quipped that Poilievre only knows how to tear down and not build up. Poilievre gave a smug smile and said that he doesn’t know how to build up billions of dollars in debt, and then moved to the questions on Telesat. Carney pointed out that the process began in 2007 and that he hasn’t made any decisions around it. Poilievre insisted that the contract was awarded this August, and again demanded to know who he discussed it with. Carney again said he wasn’t involved in any decisions around it, and suggested Poilievre read the National Security Strategy and said that they would Build Canada Strong™ in space.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he read out the Liberal Women’s Commission’s denouncement of Bill C-39. Carney said that Quebeckers and Canadians want to build and build faster and deployed his slogan about one project, one review, in one year. Blanchet then quoted a Quebec union leader’s concerns about the bill, whom Carney has consulted with, and Carney gave some boilerplate about respecting her and the right to strike. Blanchet then raised the AFN national chief’s concerns about the bill, and Carney patted himself on the back for the meeting between Indigenous leaders and premiers, and that she was aware of the need for the bill.

Round two, and Poilievre got back up to insist that Carney was “nervous” in his response about Telesat and insisted there was a conflict of interest (MacKinnon: You well know that we have world-leading rules around ethics), Michael Chong demanded a “credible” fiscal anchor in the budget (Long: In a few hours we will table the budget; The fundamentals of our economy are extremely solid), Sandra Cobena insisted the government was hiding debt (Turnbull: You are so committed to the pessimistic world view; We have the strongest position in the G7, and we are leveraging this to the hilt), Dan Mazier raised the Food Banks Canada report to claim there was “inflationary spending” (Chartrand: Manitoba is a powerhouse of aerospace but you voted against supporting it), and Luc Berthold recited the script about deficits and debt in French (Lightbound: We have one of the strongest position in the G7, while we give money to families).

Mario Simard railed about “greedy” oil companies profiting off of the war in Iran and demanded they be cut off from public funds in the budget (MacKinnon: We will continue to invest in clean energy like Churchill Falls; Let’s talk about energy investments, like $6 billion in tax credits for Churchill Falls).

Brad Redekopp worried about immigration targets (Diab: We will not budge from sustainable levels; We have made reforms to restore sustainability), Tony Baldinelli extending the wine sector support programme (Gobeil: Read the budget when it’s released) and demanded tax cuts (Church: We did cut taxes and you should read the budget), and Anna Roberts read a script about food banks (van Koeverden: We are helping with affordability by building housing like this project in your riding).

Round three saw questions on the Telesat contract, over and over and over and over again (MacKinnon: We have stringent ethics guidelines), interchange employees at the Major Projects Office (LeBlanc: You should be careful before saying things that are not true; We undertook to provide the committee with the information; Hodgson: This programme has been in place for decades and the office is creating thousands of jobs), parole decisions (Anandasangaree: We brought in transformational legislation on justice; Sahota: Crime is down and extortion is down thanks to our changes), corporate handouts versus non-market housing and healthcare spending (Turnbull: Wait a little over an hour), and American tech giants coming to Canada for subsidies (Solomon: Permitting for data centres is the purview of the provinces and we have outlined principles).

When the Liberals heckle Jivani when he stands up, he waves to them and says “Nice to see you here.”Speaker: That is cutting into your time. Jivani asks about the Telesat conflict of interest allegations.MacKinnon: No one can match you in describing their friendships. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-11-05T19:55:15.970Z

Overall, it was an above-average Budget Day QP, which are normally quite boring, but it was still a day that was not terribly illuminating. While we did get a number of the performative demands for things in the budget and the typical response of “Just wait a couple of hours and see,” but then we got the whole line of questioning around Telesat, and the building of a conspiracy about their former problems and the contract they received, and friendships between the prime minister and people involved at the company, and so on, and the Conservatives were very specific in demanding to know whether any discussions had been had, which Carney didn’t explicitly answer when he said that he was not part of any decision involving the company. It’s the kind of thing that Poilievre tried to build a gotcha clip out of, and which a number of his MPs all returned to over, and over, and over again in the third round, in both official languages, for which they all got the same answer. As for the howls about the supposed conflicts in the Major Projects Office, I don’t know why Dominic LeBlanc just didn’t say off the top that he had committed to getting that information to the committee, and then just repeat that answer. But I’m not one of this government’s comms “geniuses,” so what do I know?

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Rachel Bendayan for a grey suit with a white shirt and a loose black tie, and to John-Paul Danko for a dark blue three-piece suit with a white shirt and a dark purple tie and pocket square. Style citations go out to Buckley Belanger for a purple velvet-like jacket over a white shirt with a purple paisley tie, and to Helena Konanz for a brown quasi-leopard print collared long-sleeved top under a black jacket with half-sleeves and matching slacks.