The PM was in town but absent, possibly napping after arriving back home at 3 AM. Pierre Poilievre was present, and he led off in French, demanding that the prime minister cut all diesel taxes in the budget tomorrow. Steven MacKinnon reminded him that the price increases were because of the conflicts in the Middle East, while the Conservatives voted against help for Canadians. Poilievre then listed the perceived conflicts of interest around Telesat, and demanded an accounting for them. Mélanie Joly defended Telesat as a great Canadian company that needs support. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his performance about demanding the prime minister cut all diesel taxes in the budget tomorrow. MacKinnon got back up to point out that the Conservatives have systematically opposed measures to help Canadians. Poilievre went on a rant about American companies pushing biodiesel as part of his demand for an end to diesel taxes, as he continues to claim that clean fuel standards are “taxes.” Julie Dabrusin delivered the usual lines about helping Canadians, and noting that there is a biodiesel facility just outside of his riding that benefits the farmers in his riding. Poilievre returned to his line about there being two economies, and then repeated the accusations around Telesat. Joly got back up to praise Canadian companies like Telesat being key to our sovereignty. Poilievre claimed that they raise theatrical distractions if they get “caught with their hands in the cookie jar,” and repeated his accusations. Joly noted the long-standing poilcy around supporting firms like Telesat and wondered if Poilievre was in it for American firms.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, listed items that the government has capitulated on the Americans on, and wondered about if they are the “masters of our destiny.” Joël Lightbound listed projects like Churchill falls that the Bloc should support. Normandin listed further environmental capitulations and that “masters of our destiny” was supporting their own priorities. Lightbound listed benefit programmes that the Bloc have not supported. Jean-Denis Garon demanded compensation for Quebec for asylum seekers and to not re-index certain benefits, and Lightbound listed further supports for Quebec firms by the government. 

Round two, and Michael Chong again asked about the government’s fiscal anchors (Long: Hooray for tomorrow’s budget; We will build the strongest economy in the G7 while supporting those who need it), Melissa Lantsman demanded affordability in the budget (Church: You talk about affordability and inflation then you won’t say what you’ll cut; You oppose ways we bring about affordability), Philip Lawrence read some nonsense about deficits fuelling inflation (Turnbull: Our budget tomorrow is so aptly named, while yours would be called “servants of surrender”), Eric Lefebvre railed about balanced budgets (Joly: My parliamentary secretary was an excellent Quebec finance minister, while you guys don’t understand why we are in a fiscal crisis; MacKinnon: Stay tuned for our budgetary plan to Build Canada Strong™).

Gabriel Ste-Marie again pointed out the criticisms from the Liberal Women’s Commission about Bill C-39 (Dabrusin: We will make our regulations more effective but not weaken them, while we build major projects to bring down emissions), and the objections from the national chief of the AFN (MacKinnon: The head of Quebec’s labour congress is in agreement that we should do more to avoid strikes and lockouts).

Shuvaloy Majumdar listed Carney’s shifting positions on trade and tried to tie this to the by-elections (LeBlanc: You are trying to connect points that don’t exist; You are trying to attribute motivations to actions that don’t exist), Jacques Gourde tried this line of questioning in French (LeBlanc: Same answer), and Shannon Stubbs turned to the allegations about private sector staff seconded to the Major Projects Office (LeBlanc: Here are sectors they include, and the interchange system has existed for decades; Hodgson: You want to think about conspiracy t the MPO but we are creating thousands of new jobs).

Round three saw questions on the seconded MPO employees yet again (Thompson: I have good news for your riding in that the Chinese tariffs on lobster and crab have been removed for the next two years; Hodgson: Rather than dream up conspiracy theories, why don’t you talk about what the MPO did for Churchill Falls; The MPO did good things for Darlington in your riding; MacKinnon: The MPO helped the Robert’s terminal in Vancouver; There are winners from the MPO like the port of Montreal; Lightbound: You talk about helping people but always vote against it), the investment in Cohere (Solomon: This will create thousands of jobs; We are not going to wait others to build digital asbestos when we can build it here safely; This is about investing in Canadians, not picking winners or losers), back to Telesat (MacKinnon: We already have a rigorous ethics system), the demand letter to the owners of Stelco (Joly: They have three days left before we sue), the recoveries of those injured at CFB Wainwright because of differences in benefits between reservists and regular members (McGuinty: There are 27 still in hospital, and I will get back to you on this), non-market housing (McKelvie: Here are results of our investments). 

The Conservatives going after big corporations makes me wonder if they decided to trade places with the NDP. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-11-04T19:57:48.527Z

Aaron Gunn needs a refresher on how to tie a tie, and not look like a goof-off for the camera. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-11-04T20:02:05.963Z

There is a commotion as Jamil Jivani stands up to ask a question. (That question is the conspiracy theory around Telesat and ethics screens). #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-11-04T20:07:39.975Z

Overall, while the pre-budget questions are to be expected, the questions on the Telesat issue appear to mostly be innuendo and attempted scandal-mongering which Carney did address in the media while he was at the CHOGM earlier in the week, and Mélanie Joly could have repeated his answers rather than just fly into paeans about how great Telesat is. As for the use of seconded/interchange staff at the Major Projects Office, the allegations of conflicts of interest have not been helped by a lack of transparency from the government on this, and while it’s true that interchange has been around for decades (and that the government has given it a braindead Build Canada Strong™ rebrand), the fact that there has been a lack of disclosure makes it easier for the Conservatives to build conspiracies. The government should know this by now, but what do they do instead? Pat themselves on the back for all of the “good work” that the MPO allegedly did for projects that were far along in the pipeline before it was even created. There is a bette way to do this, but they refuse to do the right thing.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Sandra Cobena for an eggplant suit with a white crew-necked top, and to Sean Fraser for a tailored navy suit with a white shirt and a pink/purple paisley tie. Style citations go out to Jonathan Rowe for a powder blue jacket over a white shirt, dark blue slacks and a skinny navy tie, and to Tamara Kronis for bock dress with a grey leaf pattern. Dishonourable mention goes out to Rebecca Alty for a mustard jacket over an off-white top and black slacks.