Sitting 61 — November 26, 2025

The Prime Minister faced the opposition directly in Question Period, with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre seizing on weekend comments in which the Prime Minister reportedly said "Who cares?" when asked about speaking with President Trump on trade. Poilievre contrasted this with the Prime Minister's election-campaign promise of "elbows up" negotiating with the United States, and pointed to doubled auto tariffs and tripled softwood lumber tariffs since the government took office. The Prime Minister did not directly address the "Who cares?" remark but pointed to Indonesia's tariff reduction on 95% of Canadian goods, the $70-billion UAE investment commitment, and Canada's position as the country with the lowest U.S. tariffs among trading partners.

The impending MOU with Alberta on energy development—to be announced the following day—dominated the remainder of Question Period. Conservative MPs mocked the planned announcement as a "worthless piece of paper" and a "fake pipeline photo op," arguing that section 92(10) of the Constitution grants exclusive federal jurisdiction over interprovincial pipelines without requiring provincial veto. The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources repeatedly invited Conservative members to "buy a ticket to Calgary" to witness co-operative federalism in action. The Bloc Québécois revived the 1995 referendum controversy, with the Bloc leader accusing a previous Liberal prime minister of having "cheated, lied, and hidden" during the sovereignty vote, while Liberal ministers dismissed the intervention as focusing on "past squabbles."

Budget debate on Bill C-15 continued with Conservative members criticizing defence spending levels—alleging actual spending barely exceeded 1% of GDP—and highlighting Canadian Armed Forces members who must access food banks. Liberal members defended investments in the military, the middle-class tax cut, and supports for tariff-affected industries. The government announced $500 million in additional supports for the steel and lumber sectors during the sitting. Private Members' Business featured Bill C-219, the Sergei Magnitsky International Anti-Corruption and Human Rights Act, with broad cross-party support and a commitment from the sponsor to work with the government to strengthen the bill. The sitting also included tributes to Louis Plamondon, who was about to break the parliamentary longevity record, and statements marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.