Sitting 21 — September 15, 2025

The House returned from its summer recess for the first sitting of the fall session, with debate on Bill C-3, the Citizenship Act amendments concerning lost Canadians, taking up the majority of government orders. Bloc Québécois member Sébastien Lemire began the debate by welcoming colleagues back while expressing reservations about the bill's scope, arguing that previous iterations had been improved through committee work and that the current version required similar scrutiny. The debate touched on the complexities of citizenship by descent, the processing capacity of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, and the need to balance righting historical wrongs against creating open-ended entitlements.

Question period featured the Prime Minister's first appearance in the chamber since the summer recess, with Pierre Poilievre opening with a series of exchanges on government accountability and the economy. The opposition leader noted missed promises on economic growth, spending, and the budget, while the Prime Minister pointed to the largest tax cut for 22 million Canadians and the GST cut on new housing as delivered commitments. Canada-U.S. relations featured prominently, with Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet challenging the government's claim of having the world's best trade agreement with the United States, noting the continued tariff uncertainty. The government maintained that over 85 per cent of exports to the U.S. remained tariff-free under the existing agreement.

Housing dominated many exchanges, with opposition members citing the 13 per cent decline in housing starts and characterizing the government's $13-billion housing bureaucracy announcement as an expensive failure. Public safety questions focused on bail reform and the broken justice system, with Conservative MP Frank Caputo citing specific cases of violent offenders released on bail. The environment emerged as a new flashpoint, with Bloc member Patrick Bonin accusing the government of abandoning climate policy to fast-track resource projects under Bill C-5. The government defended its environmental record while emphasizing the need for energy development. Labour questions addressed the use of section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to end the Air Canada flight attendants' strike and the temporary foreign worker program.