Tag Archives: CRA

QP: Questions about “hot meat markets”

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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.

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QP: Cutting and pasting the new food banks numbers

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The PM in the building, just down the hall, making an announcement with Doug Ford, but not in QP, and won’t be this week at all as he jets off to Türkiye later today. Pierre Poilievre was present, however, and he led off in French, and he raised Food Banks Canada’s latest report, and wondered what happened to Mark Carney saying people can judge him by the prices at the grocery store. Joël Lightbound thanked him for the question and recited how many Canadians benefit from programmes like dental care and the Canada Child Benefit. Poilievre complained that the government voted against their Supply Day motion that there is an affordability crisis, and Lightbound responded that Poilievre has spent twenty years voting against help for Canadians. Poilievre switched to English to repeat the question about the Food Banks Canada report, and Evan Solomon got up to first express his thanks for the work Poilievre did in Wainwrigth, before patting himself on the back for programmes the government delivers. Poilievre quoted a line from the Food Banks report, to which Solomon thundered about the benefits that they deliver to Canadians, and insisted that the Conservatives were all talk on because they opposed it. Poilievre took the bait, and listed the things that the government as all talk about (even though most of the items on that list were either torqued or out of context). Solomon got up to repeat his same points with added excitement. Poilievre insisted that the only thing the government was feeding was interest on the federal debt, and Solomon listed the statistics on growth and cherry-picked job numbers.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and denounced Bill C-39 as conservative authoritarian overreach, that this exceeded the wildest dreams of Stephen Harper, and it was no surprise that Conservatives were crossing the floor to the Liberals. Sean Fraser disputed this and praised its goal of building more. Normandin listed groups that are against the bill, and said the only people in favour are the Conservatives. Julie Dabrusin patted herself on the back for all of the green projects that this legislation would support. Andréanne Larouche took over to decry that the same bill is an attack on labour rights, and wondered how the Liberals could be more anti-union than the Conservatives. Joël Lightbound insisted that they only want parties in labour negotiations to get along.

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QP: Commissionaires and deficit numbers

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The PM was in the building but not present, while Pierre Poilievre was in Calgary. After some tearful statements about Wainwright, it was Michael Barrett who led off, and he lamented that the CRA went with an American-linked security firm instead of the Canadian Commissionaires for a contract (ignoring that the Commissionaires are no longer a company that primarily hires veterans). Wayne Long reminded him that politicians are not involved with such decisions and the CRA operates independently, and that the CRA has a policy of prioritising Canadian procurement, and that this was a Canadian-owned firm. Barrett repeated the question, and got the same response. Melissa Lantsman took over and raised the PBO’s latest report and its dire warnings, and demanded the government rein in spending. François-Philippe Champagne replied with the “good news” of our growth figures and the fact that we have the lowest debt and deficit in the G7. Lantsman disputed this, and Champagne carried on with more good news, decrying the Conservatives talking down the economy. Luc Berthold took over to read the same script about the PBO en français, and Champagne listed some benefits available to Canadians. Berthold retorted that every new benefit means more Canadians at food banks (erm, correlation ≠ causation, my dude), and Champagne decried that the Conservatives only vote against supports for Canadians.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he denounced Bill C-39 as an abuse of power, and Steven MacKinnon took the opportunity to thank Albertans for voting in favour of Canada, and then mouthed some platitudes about the bill. Blanchet listed ways that C-39 could be an attack on Quebec or national unity, and MacKinnon shrugged this off. Gabriel Ste-Marie listed the former employers of the Energy Regulator—all former oil executives, but Dominic LeBlanc gave him some bland assurances about valuing science and it only applying to federal bodies.

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The aftermath of the referendum starts now

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While the votes for the referendum are being tallied at the time of this writing, the question is mostly how badly the separatists got stomped, but also what comes next. Even if they get roflstomped, as the kids say, this won’t go away quietly, because the separatists are now better organized, they have voter lists, and they are organizing to consolidate power in the UCP, which means Danielle Smith’s days are very likely numbered. But that also isn’t stopping people like Pierre Poilievre and his chosen Alberta referendum appointee, Dane Lloyd, from feeding more grievance porn to the separatists to keep feeding their movement.

This is exactly the problem with the "Lead Not Leave" crowd and the federal Conservatives in this referendum debate—they refuse to disavow any of the manufactured grievances, so they just keep feeding the separatists' machine. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/opi…

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-10-18T02:16:11.388Z

But it’s not just the separatists, but also the other questions from Smith’s noxious nine questions, which has a lot of immigrants worried about their futures, and is creating a worse environment for everyone involved. Scapegoating immigrants is a Very Bad Thing, but don’t worry, Poilievre thinks he’s clever when he says “It’s not the immigrants, it’s Liberal immigration policy!” Yeah, that’s not what people hear, and frankly, it’s not the lesson that the white nationalists that make up the separatists are taking. The fact that Poilievre doesn’t get that isn’t surprising, but he’s also not nearly as clever as he thinks he is, and that’s a problem.

Meanwhile, the Carney government’s responses are not exactly encouraging either. It sure sounds like they are already capitulating on the immigration question, talking with the province about how they can do more to accommodate Alberta’s wishes (remember two years ago when Smith complained she needed MOAR IMMIGRANTS and that Justin Trudeau was hobbling their economic growth as a result?) This just rewards their bad behaviour and scapegoating. And now Carney himself is essentially opening the door to constitutional talks, but says he needs there to be consensus, but this just sounds to me like inviting trouble. Premiers can’t even get their shit together long enough to finally deal with interprovincial trade barriers, and now you want them to start finding ways to come up with constitutional amendments? How is this remotely responsible given the urgency of the crisis that Carney keeps insisting we’re in. Completely irresponsible behaviour, and I would say he should know better, but it’s not like he’s exactly paying too much attention to how federalism is working these days.

Danielle Smith Needs Albertan Separatists To Keep It Together Todayyoutu.be/eB_hFFSZboM?…

— Clare Blackwood (@clareblackwood.bsky.social) 2026-10-19T14:43:34.058Z

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2026-10-18T23:08:01.909Z

My Latest:

  • For National Magazine, I delve into Friday’s Supreme Court of Canada decision on how “rape-shield” laws don’t automatically extended to questions on past sex work.
  • My weekend column points to the choice that Danielle Smith now has with the UCP—kick out the separatists, or let them drag her and her party to defeat.

New episodes released early for C$7+ subscribers. This week I'm with @hscoffield.bsky.social to talk about the Canadian Tax Observatory's recent reports on the "Mega Deductions" and the Disability Tax Credit. #cdnpoli

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-10-19T04:13:40.097Z

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QP: People can’t eat press releases

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The PM was absent, even though he was in the building, while Pierre Poilievre also stayed away. That left it up to Luc Berthold led off in French, and he retreaded yesterday’s talking points about the government’s increase in American procurement dollars instead of investing in Canada. Joël Lightbound was theatrically outraged that Berthold was so dismissive about the plans for building new icebreakers, or VIA Rail trains. Berthold said that the government was all talk with no results, and accused the prime minister of sending more money to the US because that’s where the bulk of his investments were located. Lightbound said that those investments mean 17,000 jobs in one riding, and 5300 jobs in another. Kyle Seeback took over in English, and he also decried the fact that there was an increase in procurement dollars going to the U.S. Lightbound shrugged this off as beneficiaries include some in his colleague’s riding. Seeback insisted that these dollars were just illusions, and Lightbound turn insisted that there was a decision to increase Canadian content, which included the LAVs in his colleague’s riding. Andrew Lawton took over to ask the same question, but louder and smarmier, and this time Tim Hodgson listed Jon’s from major investments, and said that the Conservatives can’t tell the difference between someone investing in Canada and someone who is crapping on Canada, which the Speaker cautioned him about. Lawton tried again, louder and with even more egregious smarm, and this time Stephen Fuhr patted himself on the back for the procurements they have announced.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and decried the ability of the government to simply override environmental standards using their Henry VIII powers. Stephen MacKinnon said that going faster doesn’t mean fewer standards (erm, really?). Normandin suggested that Carney was trying to govern by decree, and Dominic LeBlanc shrugged this off as Normandin trying to get a clip for TVA. Mario Simard took over to ask the same question, and Julie Dabrusin patted herself on the back for their clean electricity plans such as Churchill Falls.

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QP: Totally true stories about very real constitutents

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The PM was off to New York, while Pierre Poilievre was also absent. That led Pierre Paul-Hus to lead off in French, and he touted the supposed Conservative Economic Action Plan™, and demanded that the government adopt it. François-Philippe Champagne responded by listing off the second quarter growth numbers from other G7 countries, and the fact that Canada was at the top of the list. Paul-Hus said that this wouldn’t help affordability, and Champagne insisted that they are taking action, and demanded the opposition support their bill to formally lower the gas excise tax. Melissa Lantsman took over in English to read a couple of sob stories before demanding the government adopt their plan. Champagne trotted out the “take no lessons” line before again exhorting them to support the gas tax bill. Lantsman claimed that the Conservatives identified $150 billion in wasteful spending, and Champagne retorted by wondering why the Conservatives voted against affordability measures. John Brassard then got up, and read more sob stories, but in a sanctimonious tone, and this time, Gregor Robertson got up to tout that rental costs have come down and they are helping with the rental housing boom. Brassard tried again, and Robertson praised the enhanced GST credit. 

Yves-François Blanchet rose for the Bloc, and denounced the omnibus bill tabled yesterday as destroying what was built around labour and the environment. Dominic LeBlanc dismissed this as exaggeration while the country is in crisis. Blanchet tried again, and took a swipe at the Liberals for their swing between what they supported under Trudeau versus Carney, to which Steven MacKinnon shrugged this off, and dismissively said that they would have a chance to debate this. Blanchet worried that all climate measures are being scrapped and handed over to American-owned oil companies. LeBlanc listed Quebec projects the government is supporting.

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QP: Ministers not proving their ability to know their files

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The PM was still at the G7 in France, while Pierre Poilievre was also absent, and for some reason, Branden Leslie led off with a shouted recitation of the “recession” script, and François-Philippe Champagne suggested that the Conservatives were not happy but he bought good news about the highest level of foreign direct investment and the second-fastest growth in the G7. Leslie cited people turning to GoFundMe pages to afford to live, and Champagne assured him that Canadians don’t want another clip, they want action, and he listed measures the government has taken. Gabriel Hardy took forward in French, read a weeks-ago talking point about the prime minister talking about the level of affordability before reading today’s clip-bait about GoFundMe pages. Champagne accused the Conservatives of hypocrisy for their voting against programmes to help people. Hardy suggested that people want the government to stop what’s not working, and that government spending was driving the country into recession. Lightbound suggested the number of people in Hardy’s riding getting that GST credit would disagree. Shannon Stubbs picked up the metaphorical baton to angrily read the day’s script, including the GoFundMe mention, and this time Tim Hodgson listed programmes that are getting underway. Stubbs railed about the prime minister’s in-flight catering and meandered into the “inflationary spending” talking point. Steven MacKinnon got up to wonder what the Conservatives are for if they vote against all measures to help people.

Yves Perron led for the Bloc, and complained about the programming motion on Bill C-22 and time allocation on Bill C-30. MacKinnon took a swipe at the Bloc for opposing the high-speed rail project and all of good things it would bring. Perron kept up his complaints about these “gag orders” that prevent MPs from doing their jobs, and to keep civil society from realising the abuse in those laws. MacKinnon said they would not apologise for working on the priorities of Canadians, like high-speed rail. (Erm, lawful access is not this, guys). Claude DeBellefeuille took her own crack at complaining about the motion on Bill C-22, and Lightbound said he wouldn’t apologise for taking action on things like transit…which again, is not lawful access.

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Roundup: Preparing to gut environmental laws

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The federal government is openly musing about changes to the Impact Assessment Act and the Fisheries Act in order to speed up project approvals, which sounds like it could be a dubious proposition. Federal Sources™ still insist that they will need Indigenous consultations and “robust” environmental assessments for projects, but if they keep “streamlining” these processes, they’re not robust. And then you just get more litigation. They don’t seem to learn this lesson.

The Conservatives, meanwhile, continue to demand that all environmental laws be repealed as “anti-development,” and continue to propagate falsehoods about projects that didn’t move ahead for reasons that have nothing to do with the assessment regime. They seem to have no concept of the fact that there are other factors at play, whether it’s the crash in oil prices in 2014, or the fact that there were no customers willing to sign long-term contracts that would make these projects viable enough to pursue.

https://twitter.com/andrew_leach/status/2052386968798118276

https://twitter.com/andrew_leach/status/2052388610519994589

And then there are the oil companies themselves, who continue to try and flex their influence in order to scrap environmental laws. While whinging that any carbon pricing makes them uncompetitive (blatantly untrue given the credits in the system), Canadian Natural announced yesterday that they are moving ahead with two steam-driven oilsands projects, but still holding off on expanding one of their mines. Looks like they can still operate within the regulatory environment, even while grousing about it. These companies are not fragile babies who are one look askance away from insolvency, and government needs to stop treating them as though they were (while the Conservatives really need to stop credulously believing everything that these companies say).

https://twitter.com/andrew_leach/status/2052386215593439714

Ukraine Dispatch

Ahead of its ceasefire, Russia fired dozens of more drones into Ukraine, hitting a kindergarten in Sumy, claiming Ukraine violated their own ceasefire first. President Zelenskyy has warned that if Russia continues to violate the ceasefire, then Ukraine will carry on with its long-range strikes.

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QP: Zombie statistics to justify gas tax whinging

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The PM was in town but not at QP for reasons unknown, while Pierre Poilievre was off in Toronto giving another speech to the Canadian Club. That left it up to Luc Berthold to lead off in French, dredging up the false zombie statistic about the number of Canadians who are a mere $200 away from insolvency (guys, that stat doesn’t say what you think it says, and it’s never been accurate), before whining that the government voted down their Supply Day motion on removing all gas taxes (even though the clean fuel standard is not a tax, or even a charge). Steven MacKinnon listed all of the supports for Canadians that the Conservatives voted against, before noting that wages in Canada have been rising at 4.7 percent year-over-year, while that figure is just 3.5 percent in the U.S. Berthold complained that gas is twenty percent cheaper in the U.S. than in Canada, called the government’s policies inflationary, and again made a plea for the government to cut all gas taxes. MacKinnon reminded him that in February (the last month for which there are statistics), inflation was at 1.8%, which is within the Bank of Canada’s target band. Melissa Lantsman took over in English to repeat the same first question, and Tim Hodgson got up to remind her that they already cut gas taxes by 28¢/litre with the consumer carbon levy, and have the enhanced GST credit and income tax cut. Lantsman also complained that their Supply Day motion was voted down, and again all gas taxes be cut, and Hogson noted that while this government cut gas taxes by 28¢/litre, the Americans have not cut theirs at all. Shuvaloy Majumdar took over and made the same plea to cut gas taxes, and this time Sean Fraser got up to expound on the two visions of Canada, where the Conservatives’ was to cut taxes for the wealthy while the Liberals are building a strong economy. Majumdar repeated the falsehood about $200 from insolvency, and Patty Hajdu got up to proclaim how much families are saving thanks to the current government.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and she raised the issue of the added aluminium tariffs, to which Dominic LeBlanc appreciated her concern, and he assured her that they were working on the issue, and that he has raised it with this American counterparts. Normandin worried about businesses suffering from this, and LeBlanc repeated his assurances. Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay took over to ask the same again (because they need more clips), and LeBlanc repeated the same assurances yet again.

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Roundup: The dumb mistake of not planning to run for a seat

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We are less than a week away from the NDP leadership race, and once again, we’re hearing incredibly dumb things like the fact that the four candidates who don’t have a seat saying that they won’t be in any hurry to try and get one, never mind that there will soon be a vacancy in Beaches—East York (when Nate Erskine-Smith makes the jump to provincial politics), and it’s a progressive Toronto riding that should be something the NDP could hope to actually win if they tried.

I cannot stress enough that getting a seat at the earliest opportunity is critically important, and we have seen plenty of examples of what happens when a leader doesn’t get a seat. Jagmeet Singh refused for the first year, because he wanted to run in Brampton, and figured that he could just show up for caucus meetings on Wednesdays, and hold a scrum in the Foyer, and that would be just fine, but it wasn’t. He was quickly made irrelevant in the national public discourse, and it wasn’t until he could get a seat—swallowing his pride to run in Burnaby instead—and be in Question Period daily that he at all filtered into the national consciousness and was a relevant player. Likewise, Bonnie Crombie, Ontario Liberal leader, didn’t run for a seat at the earliest opportunity and was irrelevant by the time the election rolled around and just failed utterly. Having a seat matters, and it boggles the mind that nobody understands that.

Meanwhile, it has been noted that this is the first NDP leadership race in well over a generation where there is actual disagreement between the candidates, particularly with Avi Lewis and the rest. And I think it’s more than just different visions, but different tones where Lewis fails to grasp that his tone in the past cost the party seats in parts of the country. And I get that you have pollsters saying that the party shouldn’t discount the fact that there is an audience for Lewis’ message, but I would also point out that much of that message is geared toward extremely online American Democrat fans, where the policy proposals are largely irrelevant to the circumstances in this country, or at least broad swaths of it. It’s somewhat hilarious that there is an absolute blindness to this fact while they chase those votes, ignoring the readily available votes that could be on the table if they actually listened to the people who are supposed to make up their voter base.

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2026-03-20T22:56:01.423Z

Ukraine Dispatch

A Russian attack on the Zaporizhzhia region killed four, while power infrastructure was knocked out further north.

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