In the wake of the panic over the first Trump 2.0 pronouncement about Canada, the PM was present for QP, though his deputy was not. All of the other leaders were presented for a second day in a row, and Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and immediately demanded a “Canada First™” plan for the border and security, and claimed the government had no plan other than a Zoom call, and blamed Trudeau for the “chaos” at the borders. Justin Trudeau responded that he had a good call with Trump last night and that he underscored how well they have worked together for decades in order to create prosperity for all, and insisted that they would always defend Canadian jobs in an non-partisan way as a team. Poilievre said the call didn’t work because Trump threatened with tariffs a few minutes later—not true—and brought up softwood lumber and Buy America, and claimed Trudeau had not gotten any gains for Canada, and claimed Trudeau broke the immigration system. Trudeau said that there are international students who come to Canada, and after they complete their studies, they return home in the majority of cases, and they have a system when they don’t return, and praised their latest immigration changes. Poilievre switched to English to again demand a ”Canada First™” approach, and claiming that Trudeau didn’t have a plan other than a Zoom call, and listed a number of specious issues. Trudeau again noted that he did speak with Trump, and that they had a good conversation and that he was working with the premiers. Poilievre again claimed that the tariff announcement was after Trudeau’s call, and then lent credence to Trump’s nonsense about drugs and the border. Trudeau noted that Poilievre was making stuff up, that the call was after the announcement, and that it was time to work togetherness rather than engage in partisanship. Poilievre, flailing, tried to claim that the timing was somehow worse, and then claimed that Trudeau was putting a “tariff on jobs” and demanded tax cuts and an end to the carbon levy. Trudeau said that again Poilievre was making stuff up, and if he wanted to re-criminalise marijuana, he should just say so.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, noted the disruptions all around, and wanted the “rebate” cheques extended to seniors. Trudeau noted that everyone gets the tax cut, but talked around the issue with somewhat hollow platitudes. Blanchet wanted the threshold for the cheques pulled down so seniors could get the cheques, and Trudeau noted that people are struggling in different ways, and listed programmes to help like child care, dental care, and enriched OAS and GIS.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and demanded a plan to fight back, because bullies only respect strength. Trudeau said that rather than panicking, they are engaging in constructive dialogue with all sides, and that they will stand up for jobs and prosperity. Singh repeated his demand in French, and Trudeau reiterated that they are need to take action in a way that isn’t out of panic.

Round two, and Andrew Scheer got up to repeat the “Canada First™” talking points (Sidhu: You wanted us to capitulate the first time around; Champagne: We are engaging seriously and methodically), Melissa Lantsman gave the same talking points with slightly more hostility (Bendayan: You wanted us to back down last time but we stood up for workers; Our relationship with the U.S. is mutually beneficial), and Luc Berthold gave the French version of the same script (Champagne: We won’t capitulate, and we have been engaging American counterparts for months; We have had record investments and we will have a leadership position in the low-carbon economy).

#QP is full of panicked flailing. https://t.co/s2pL9TXUo7

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) November 26, 2024

Simon-Pierre Savard Tremblay demanded Supply Management be protected immediately (Champagne: We will stand up for all of Quebec’s sectors), insisted the border was a sieve (LeBlanc: We didn’t just start to understand the issues now, we have been supported the border agencies for years).

Laila Goodridge demanded a crackdown on all drugs (Saks: Every life lost is a tragedy, and we have invested over $1 billion on protecting lives, and we have worked with the Americans on precursors; When you guys were in government, you cut drug treatment and border agents), and Adam Chambers listed some non sequitur statistics to demand tax cuts (Bendayan: Our plan is good for Canadians and bad for the Conservatives; Anand: We do have a Canada First plan, which is why we have the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio, lower inflation, lower interest rates, and we can help Canadians with our new plans).

Goodridge is breathlessly demanding an authoritarian crackdown on all drugs. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-11-26T19:46:37.975Z

Heather McPherson decried that seniors, students and people on disabilities are not getting the cheques (Bendayan: All Canadians will get the GST holiday, and there are lots of seniors and people with disabilities are working and will get the rebate), and Gord Johns read a script with more of the same (Bendayan: Same answer).

Round three saw questions on “Canada First™” flailing (Bendayan: You voted against tax cuts and now you are opposing our GST holiday), enforcing people leaving when their visas expire (Miller: These include tourist visas, so it’s not all temporary foreign workers), demanding support for a Bloc bill on criminal enterprises (LeBlanc: We are open to supporting good ideas, but there are already provisions in the Criminal Code to seize assets), blaming the current government for the state of the armed forces (Blair: You cut funding while we reinvested, and you voted against every dollar just like you voted against Ukraine; Gould: You voted against every increase), deficits (Bendayan: You voted against our tax cuts and now you don’t want to support our tax holiday; You are opposed to helping Canadians), making billionaires pay (Bendayan: Our government has done the most to ensure they pay their fair share), and concerns about Asia Paper in the forestry sector (Champagne! we did a national security review and they are bound by undertakings).

Bezan stumbled all over today’s new slogans.Looks like he might not get his gold star at caucus tomorrow. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-11-26T20:02:36.376Z

Blair: I have talked to members of the a Canadian Forces and not one has told me that they need another vacuous slogan. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-11-26T20:05:09.723Z

The absolute revisionist history coming from the Conservatives right now on defence spending is quite something. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-11-26T20:07:13.254Z

No, Rachel Bendayan, the “GST holiday” is not good policy. Not one economist has endorsed it. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-11-26T20:09:39.678Z

Overall, it was a bit of a gong show with three political leaders flailing, but Poilievre’s flailing was this odd spectacle of mendacity and adding the threat of Trump to his existing “Canada’s Broken” list. It’s hard to think of anyone reacting any worse to Trump than most of these current leaders, who played right into his hands by doing this performative attempt at toughness (to say nothing of the premiers who are readily throwing people under the bus). Trudeau, however, has not been all that reassuring when it comes to just saying that he had a good call with Trump, and I think he needs to offer something more (without giving away his full hand) than just saying they’re having constructive dialogue. I get that Trump is a chaos machine and it’s counterproductive to panic (most especially like Singh), but resorting to the same tone of bland pabulum reassurances is not threading that needle.

Otherwise, it was a little bit sad and hilarious at the same time to watch the Conservatives trot out their new “Canada First™” slogan and jam it into everything else they were saying, to the point where some of their MPs were stumbling over it because this was yet another slogan they needed to repeat, in a frankly degrading fashion. The has also been a sharp increase in the absolute amount or revisionist history coming from the Conservatives as they try to make the case that Trudeau is unfit to deal with Trump, and while we did get some pushback from some of the government members today, I suspect we’ll need a lot more of it, and a lot sharper, in the weeks to come, if they have any hope of breaking through the noise.

The Speaker of Ukraine’s Parliament was here for #QP and got to witness the panicked flailing over Trump, and the robotic slogans. I’m sure it filled him with so much confidence.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-11-26T20:17:34.722Z

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Melissa Lantsman for a tailored burgundy suit over a white collared shirt, and to Peter Fragiskatos for a tailored dark grey three-piece suit over a white shirt with a matching pocket square and a dark blue tie. Style citations go out to Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay for a slightly too-large dark grey suit over a light grey waistcoat, white shirt and a comically oversized patterned tie, and to Rosemarie Falk for a puffy light grey top with pink and yellow florals over black slacks. Dishonourable mention goes out to Ginette Petitpas Taylor for a mustard yellow jacket over a black collared to and slacks.